Music Banter - View Single Post - Brad Stengel's Magical Musical Orgy of Sound

Brad Stengel · 10-21-2008, 05:15 PM

#30

The Brian Jonestown Massacre
"Thank God For Mental Illness" (1996)

For me, The Brian Jonestown Massacre are pretty hit or miss. 'Methodrone' has one good song, 'Take it From the Man' is patchy, but for the most part, this is a pretty solid album. Every one of their records from this period emulates a certain era of the Rolling Stones, and this one is their raw, country-tinged take on 'Beggars Banquet'.

The album opens up with 'Spanish Bee', just a guitar strumming at first, and then expanding into this epic reverb filled chorus. It's one of the best on the album, the greatest being "The Ballad of Jim Jones", the song that got me into this band. With a great melody, just acoustic guitar and harmonica, and lyrics about Jim Jones, mastermind behind the Jonestown suicides, it makes for the best moment on the album. In fact, if every other song on this album sucked, it would still be worth getting just for that one.

The thing that I love most about this album is the final track- "Sound of Confusion". I had dismissed it as a tossable noise collage at first, until a friend of mine showed me that if you skip past the first ten minutes or so, theres four more songs buried in there! These songs dont sound anything like the Beggars Banquet-sque tracks before-this is the Brian Jonestown Massacre as a mid 90's rock band, and its on these that you can hear Anton Newcombe's other influences like The Velvet Underground and My Bloody Valentine. The second of these secret tracks (they have no name), is easily the second best track on the album, and probably my second favorite BJM song of all time.

Of course, The Brian Jonestown Massacre are that band featured in the documentary 'DiG!', also featuring the Dandy Warhols-who suck. People tend to be pretty split on BJM, they either dismiss them as mediocre, or worship the shit out of their leader, Anton Newcombe. For me, this is their only great album. Theres a good deal of other songs from different time periods I enjoy, but "Thank God For Mental Illness" is where they struck gold. And did I mention this album was recorded for something like $16? And it sounds much less lo-fi then most old Pavement and GBV? Even if you're not a fan, you have to admit after listening, that that, is pretty amazing.

85/100

10-21-2008, 05:15 PM	#2 (permalink)
Brad Stengel This Space for Rent Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 815	#30 The Brian Jonestown Massacre "Thank God For Mental Illness" (1996) For me, The Brian Jonestown Massacre are pretty hit or miss. 'Methodrone' has one good song, 'Take it From the Man' is patchy, but for the most part, this is a pretty solid album. Every one of their records from this period emulates a certain era of the Rolling Stones, and this one is their raw, country-tinged take on 'Beggars Banquet'. The album opens up with 'Spanish Bee', just a guitar strumming at first, and then expanding into this epic reverb filled chorus. It's one of the best on the album, the greatest being "The Ballad of Jim Jones", the song that got me into this band. With a great melody, just acoustic guitar and harmonica, and lyrics about Jim Jones, mastermind behind the Jonestown suicides, it makes for the best moment on the album. In fact, if every other song on this album sucked, it would still be worth getting just for that one. The thing that I love most about this album is the final track- "Sound of Confusion". I had dismissed it as a tossable noise collage at first, until a friend of mine showed me that if you skip past the first ten minutes or so, theres four more songs buried in there! These songs dont sound anything like the Beggars Banquet-sque tracks before-this is the Brian Jonestown Massacre as a mid 90's rock band, and its on these that you can hear Anton Newcombe's other influences like The Velvet Underground and My Bloody Valentine. The second of these secret tracks (they have no name), is easily the second best track on the album, and probably my second favorite BJM song of all time. Of course, The Brian Jonestown Massacre are that band featured in the documentary 'DiG!', also featuring the Dandy Warhols-who suck. People tend to be pretty split on BJM, they either dismiss them as mediocre, or worship the shit out of their leader, Anton Newcombe. For me, this is their only great album. Theres a good deal of other songs from different time periods I enjoy, but "Thank God For Mental Illness" is where they struck gold. And did I mention this album was recorded for something like $16? And it sounds much less lo-fi then most old Pavement and GBV? Even if you're not a fan, you have to admit after listening, that that, is pretty amazing. 85/100 __________________ These is the musics I own: http://rateyourmusic.com/collection/BradStengel/oo Last edited by Brad Stengel; 10-21-2008 at 06:57 PM.