Happy Anniversary: The Jesus and Mary Chain, Darklands

28 years ago today, brothers Jim and William Reid released their sophomore studio album, an effort which not only confirmed that their 1985 debut, Psychocandy, wasn’t just a one-off but also made the band’s fans more comfortable in theorizing that The Jesus and Mary Chain might actually have some staying power.

Given how many additional albums the band would subsequently release, it may seem surprising that anyone might’ve actually been uncertain about the state of the J&MC, but to put things in perspective, they’d just cut ties with their manager – the legendary Alan McGee – and drummer Bobby Gillespie had decided to step out from behind his kit and leave the Reids behind in favor of making a proper go of it with his own band. Given the success that Gillespie ultimately found with Primal Scream, it was obviously the right call, but his departure left Jim and William a man down. What to do, what to do…

As history records, of course, what they did was handle the drum duties on Darklands by their own damned selves, thank you very much, simply programming whatever they needed for the songs they’d written and taking care of their percussion needs electronically. The end result still turned out to be a very strong album, one which included such classic singles as “April Skies,” “Happy When It Rains,” and, of course, the title track.

Although the production duties on the album were split between Bill Price and John Loder, it’s possibly not coincidental that the poppier songs were all helmed by Price, given that Loder’s back catalog features engineering work for – among others – Big Black and Shellac, Ministry, Fugazi, and the one and only Crass. Price, meanwhile, worked with the Sex Pistols and the Clash as well as Harry Nilsson and The Marmalade, a blend which clearly reveals a man who was as comfortable working with discord as he was with harmony.

Alas, the Reids definitely tended to favor the more discordant side of things during their live shows, both with their music and their antics, resulting in a bit of trouble for the brothers during a gig in Toronto while touring behind Darklandsrhin. That, however, is a story for another time. For now, let’s just listen to the album again, remember how great it is, and hear how well it’s held up.