Sunday, October 20, 2024

Chain gang

If you had to guess who might declare "The Velvets and the Stooges were just like a road map", The Jesus & Mary Chain's Jim Reid would probably be top of the list. And sure enough, his Quietus Baker's Dozen is largely predictable rather than pretentiously obscure, featuring a selection of seminal albums by the likes of the Saints, Suicide, Joy Division and the New York Dolls that were formative influences on the brothers Reid's own band.

It's equally no shock to read him extolling the virtues of the Beatles' Revolver as a true game changer, but the warm words about Mark Lanegan's Bubblegum and in particular Vashti Bunyan's Just Another Diamond Day are more surprising.

And then there's the Cobbs' Trophies For Lovemaking!, an album that he discovered in his luggage after a US jaunt with Freeheat. Of all the things that could have accidentally found their way into his bag following what was by his own admission "more of a fucking drinking and drugs tour of American than a rock and roll tour", he's probably fortunate that it was an obscure record.

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