The Jesus and Mary Chain - Munki
By
Jesse Mullen
“Everybody loves me goes away” sings William Reid, on the album’s second track, “Birthday.”
“And I’d kill myself, if that would make them stay.” With Munki, The Mary Chain made their most ambitious artistic statement, on their final record. (Released in the summer of 1998, they would break up, that September.) The stylistic ground they cover is astounding. From the three-chord trad rock of “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll,” to the spaced out indie pop electronics of “Birthday,” to the Trip-hop of “Perfume” (which features Hope Sandoval on lead vocals), to the nu-industrial-chug of “Virtually Unreal,” the sad, weary folk of “Never Understood,” the tripped-out, anti-fast-food rant “Commercial,” and the suicidal tendencies of “Black,” it’s safe to say that Munki is an absolute mess. But what a glorious mess it is, and as any open minded listener will find, it is definitely worth your time. The record begins in a highly energized fashion, with the high speed train rocker “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll.” Kicking off with a muscular drum beat, Jim Reid is already delivering one of his world famous throat-y vocal performances less than two seconds later. That Jim was approaching 37 years of age, and William approaching 40, you’d never know. Although the record displays the maturity of two 15+ year veterans going at it, it is performed with youthful exuberance, and sounds like something made by much younger, hungrier musicians. Next we move onto the depressing synthpop ballad, “Birthday.” It is one of the only instances where the brothers share vocals on a track in the band’s history, with William singing the first half of the verse, Jim singing the second half, and William singing the chorus, while being backed up by Jim. A truly beautiful song. While not reaching the majestic heights of “Birthday,” following track “Stardust Remedy” is a fast paced rocker, paying tribute to speed. How fitting. In the lyrics, Jim Reid also declares his love for The Velvet Underground, and in particular, their track “Sister Ray.” It should come as no surprise then, when the track following the next track (William Reid’s “Fizzy”) is entitled “Mo Tucker.” What should come as a surprise, however is that Jim handed it over to his sister Linda. Even more surprising yet, is how well she does with it, managing to sound an awful lot like her older brother. The lyrics deal less with the velvets drummer, than with gender inequality in the rock world, showing off Jim’s feminist side, questioning why women aren’t given a fair chance to shine. The album takes a much more experimental turn on the blissed-out “Perfume,” complete with a droning guitar, a moaning vocal from Hope Sandoval, a slow breakbeat, and a nasally, tripping vocal from William. The next track takes us back to Jim, with the technology-skeptic “Virtually Unreal.” Key lyric: “Looking at the TV/Maybe I should blow it away. Looking at the TV/Maybe I should throw it away.” It goes on to mention/name drop B.B. King (RIP), and Jesus Christ, in that order. As it should.
Next, we move onto “Degenerate,” a dirty rocker that The Mary Chain had long perfected. A cop revenge fantasy written by William, but sung by Jim, it is the story of a man who kills a police officer, and is, in his own words “A car crash,” “Diseased,” and a Cokehead.
LP number two begins with the stunningly dark and dirty “Cracking Up.” Written and Sung by William, it is Jim’s favorite Mary Chain single of all time. The lyrics are pure self-deprecation, Mary Chain style. “Some said I was a freak” sings William, in his strained, wrecked voice.
“I AM a freak.” This is driven home with a low, staccato blues riff, played by William, and harmonized with perfectly by rhythm guitarist, and JAMC longstay Ben Lurie. (It should be noted that the music video for this track borders on pornography, rather fittingly.)
Next, is the epic garage/psych-rock opus “Commercial.” built on droning single notes, grandiose drum fills, and at nearly 7 minutes, it borders on excessive. It is certainly the most self-indulgent track The Mary Chain ever recorded. “McDonald’s is shit, McDonald’s is shit. Burger King is hell/McDonald’s is shit” sings William, somewhat successfully, over the din. “I don’t wanna.” (He would later re-record this track after The Mary Chain broke up, in his solo project, Lazycame.)
Next is Jim’s “Supertramp,” which borrows the drumbeat from The Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows,” the last track on their magnum opus Revolver.
The majestic “Never Understood” is the most contemplative song on the record. “I think I’m going back to school/’cause I’m tired of being a fool.” William goes on to talk about the downfall of America, Religion, and The Rolling Stones. He also cuts down Cool Britannia, in a time when nobody had the guts to criticize Tony Blair. Kudos to him. In addition, it seems to predict the end of the band. “I think I’m going out of style/I think I’ve known it for a while/I think I’ve known it with a smile/I think I’m going home.” I can barely get through this one without crying.
William sings the next song as well, “I Can’t Find The Time For Times.” “I think I’m going insane” he sings over a warm chord progression.
Jim takes the next one, a track entitled “Man On The Moon,” which wouldn’t be out of place as one of Lennon’s compositions on Let It Be. It fails to impress however, as the overly simplistic lyrics, and staid arrangement cause it to fall flat. Not even Jim’s stellar brass arrangement can save this one.
The next track more than makes up for it, however, as William delivers the stunningly depressing “Black,” which seems to refer to the way he was treated by the other members of the band towards the end. “No one here is on my side/Nothing here is mine.” Mixed by Alan Moulder, it has a sharper, bolder sound than those mixed by the brothers. Jim admitted that he and Ben were wrong in the way they treated him towards the end of the band, in a 2011 interview, citing the “cliques” that formed in the group, due to their preferences of different substances (Jim and Ben did coke, while the eternally mellow William preferred weed.)
One only needs a quick glance at the lyrics to “Black” to see the parallels. The track also contains something of sentimental value to Mary Chain fans; an answering machine recording, from the late Nick Sanderson (drummer in the band, during the mid-90’s) to Ben. Sanderson passed away in 2008, due to illness. RIP Nick. Things take another turn for the worse, however, on the drunken lounge song “Dream Lover,” with it’s dated sound, and lack of grace. Bear in mind though, this is an album of 18 songs, and two weak songs aren’t really going to cause that much harm in the long run. If anything, it will make you appreciate the great songs even more.
One of those great songs is next however, as the album, and The Mary Chain’s recording career, comes to a close with the Shoegazing/Noise Rock classic, “I Hate Rock ‘N’ Roll.”
Written and sung by William, and recorded while his voice was still intact, it’s a pure nails on the chalkboard masterpiece. And thus endith The Mary Chain’s last record.
The Jesus and Mary Chain were dropped by Blanco y Negro in 1997, and found a new home with Sub Pop in the US, and old buddies Creation in the rest of the world, in 1998.
Upon release, the record received mixed reviews from critics, and charted outside the top 40 in the UK. Pitchfork, while giving the record a somewhat positive review (7.1/10), accused the brothers of not trying anything new. I honestly have to wonder if the reviewer even listened to it. The record is easily their most diverse, and is dripping with pre-millennial paranoia. I have to wonder what a Mary Chain album would have sounded like in the early 2000’s. I’m sure I’m not alone. But alas, it was not meant to be, as on September 5th, 1998, tensions within the band, particularly between Jim and William, and William and Ben, came to an ugly head onstage. Jim and Ben had been up all night, getting fucked up the night before, and Jim had continued drinking into the next day. When it was time to go on stage, he could barely stand. He stumbled on, along with William, and he couldn’t sing the songs. Within five minutes of getting onstage, he and William were screaming in each other’s faces. William left, and never returned, forcing the remaining quartet to finish the tour. After that, The Mary Chain announced their break up, William moved to Los Angeles, and played a few acoustic shows in 2000 (performing the gorgeous “Never Understood” at at least one show), and started a new solo project “Lazycame” which continued the trend of the more experimental sound of tracks on Munki, particularly “Perfume” and “Commercial.” Jim formed Freeheat (which he admits was just an excuse to have fun and do some drinking on stage), with Ben Lurie and Nick Sanderson, as well as Romi Mori. But, after those side projects fell apart, and the brothers released the side project album Sister Vanilla, in collaboration with their little sister Linda, offers started to come in for large scale headlining slots at festivals. In 2007, The Jesus and Mary Chain officially reunited for the first time in nine years, to play their hits at Coachella Music and Arts Festival, in Indio, CA. The brothers also promised an album on the horizon, but unfortunately, it never materialized, and only one track from the sessions, the churning “All Things Must Pass” was ever released, on the Heroes soundtrack nonetheless, in 2008. As of this writing there are no official plans for a new Mary Chain record. Which is a shame, because it would be interesting to hear what kinds of songs they would write now. On the other hand, maybe it’s best that they went out on a relative high note, and let the past be the past. They’ve come home.
Sub Pop/1998
