This year The Jesus And Mary Chain turn 40, marking the anniversary with a brilliant new record titled Glasgow Eyes and a forthcoming autobiography. There are a lot of tales to pack in: East Kilbride brothers Jim and William Reid formed the band in 1983 to cure what they saw as a music scene that needed saving. The medicine they prescribed came in the form of Velvet Underground-inspired rock’n’roll, their songs combining the pop euphoria of 60s girl groups such as The Ronettes with frazzled bursts of guitar feedback.
The production in their music got cleaner as the records progressed but that was no reflection of the relationship between the often-warring Reid brothers – there’s a reason for the long gap in between albums six and seven. They split up in 1998 and reunited in 2007, but it took another decade before they made an album together again. Glasgow Eyes shows that they have momentum behind them again, the sound of a band eager not to trade on past glories.
