VIA PRESS RELEASE | Third Man Records is proud to announce the 65th installment in their long-running quarterly vinyl subscription service The Vault, The Jesus and Mary Chain’s Psychocandy 40th Anniversary Edition.
Included in this set is a 2xLP version of Psychocandy cut at 45rpm, a live recording from St. Andrew’s Hall in Detroit from 1987, and a metallic gold 7” featuring “Jesus Fuck” b/w an early (and previously unreleased) demo of “Just Like Honey.” Sign-up is open now through July 31 at midnight CST.
1985: As the last detached murmurs of post-punk slowly crest into the earliest whispers of shoegaze, standing there in a world all their own, cutting a profile both unique and incomparable is The Jesus and Mary Chain. With equal influence gleaned from The Stooges and The Shangri-Las, The Velvet Underground and The Beach Boys, the band released the unassailable godhead album, Psychocandy.
In celebration of this recording, one of the most important and watershed albums of all time, Third Man Records is humbled to announce Psychocandy: 40th Anniversary Edition as the 65th release of their Vault quarterly subscription series.
Anchoring this set is a 2xLP version of Psychocandy cut at 45rpm. It is not hyperbole to say this might be the loudest cut…not only of this record but of any record…you will ever hear. The high-speed treatment here affords the sonics a heretofore-unseen clarity in the band’s utilization of controlled feedback.
And such dynamic range! You will struggle to find a record better suited for this treatment. Crank it loud, and it just does not break up. Distortion has never sounded so clear. It was cut by Warren Defever at Third Man Mastering using super high-definition 192khz transfers of the original 1985 mix and featuring the classic JAMC line-up of Jim Reid, William Reid, Douglas Hart, and Bobby Gillespie.
Additionally, unearthed specifically for the anniversary is a crystalline live recording from St. Andrew’s Hall in Detroit from 1987. Perfectly balanced with songs from Psychocandy and its equally as beautiful follow-up Darklands, two takes here (“Taste of Cindy” and “April Skies”) appeared as non-album b-sides in 1988, but the rest of the songs on this 2xLP swath are all previously unheard and absolutely mind-blowing in all the best of ways. Mixed back in the day by William Reid and Brian Young, from multitrack soundboard recordings.
The original album is packaged in a sumptuous two-pocket gatefold jacket housed in a slipcase. It is pressed on 180-gram psycho candy-colored vinyl, with the live discs on darkest black 180-gram vinyl, and it lives in a classic double-wide spine single-pocket jacket.
And the metaphorical cherry on top is the pairing of the absolutely savage improvisational fan favorite “Jesus Fuck” with the wildly early (and previously unreleased) demo of “Just Like Honey.” These two songs, better than any, highlight the brilliant musical chiaroscuro of the Jesus and Mary Chain, the perfect tenuous blend of light and dark, unparalleled hypnotic pop melody, and bombastic overdriven feedback noise. Pressed on metallic gold vinyl, this 7-inch quintessentially captures the contrasting beauty of what makes this band so groundbreaking.
Sign up now through midnight central time July 31st only at www.thirdmanrecords.com/vault.
