The Jesus and Mary Chain: Barbed Wire Kisses

by Zoë Howe

Musically, culturally and even in terms of sheer attitude, the Jesus and Mary Chain stand alone. Their seminal debut album Psychocandy changed the course of popular music, and their iconic blend of psychotic white noise and darkly surreal lyrics that presaged the shoegaze movement continues to enchant and confound.

Zoë Howe's biography is the fierce, frank and funny tale of the Jesus and Mary Chain, told by the band members and their associates for the very first time. The story begins in the faceless town of East Kilbride, near Glasgow, at the dawn of the 1980s with two intense, chronically shy brothers, Jim and William Reid, listening to music in their shared bedroom. What follows charts an unforgettable journey complete with incendiary live performances, their pivotal relationship with Alan McGee's Creation Records and those famous fraternal tensions―with plenty of feedback, fighting, and crafting perfect pop music along the way.
It is high time this vastly influential group and sometime public enemy had their say.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Biography, Music Biography

320 pages, Hardcover

First published May 19, 2014

About the author

Also writes as Zoë Street Howe

Reviews

[Ben Winch]

You wanna know why the Mary Chain are great? Find the album Barbed Wire Kisses. (Or, since it’s deleted, find “deluxe editions” of Psychocandy, Darklands, Automatic – they’re on Spotify – and assemble as below.) First, check out “Sidewalking”, peak of their classic/avant thing (and a more even balance of those ethoses than Sonic Youth ever managed). At 15, six months into my guitar apprenticeship, I could not only play it but learnt it by ear, and could make it sound half-decent with my bassist friend Reed “Bleed” Cathcart and a Roland drum machine. Plus, it was contemporary, not “Transmission” or Seventeen Seconds or Ziggy Stardust. Made it to #8 on the UK charts in ’88. That’s some phenomenon. In terms of their benevolent/provocative effect on mass culture, you ask me, it’s their high-water mark. First single “Upside Down” (40,000 copies, sleeves folded by the band in manager Alan McGee’s flat) may have barnstormed the indie charts, but that was UK-only, a modern legend you could read about in the music papers, and in any case it’s here on Barbed Wire Kisses too. The thing about this album, as compared to Darklands (too fey, too classic) or Psychocandy (too smothered in dirt) is it’s got some of everything – every trick, technique or mood they’d used by then and would continue to use for all of four more (you ask me) lacklustre albums, during which time I tuned out completely, could have cared less, and not till I bought discounted CDs of the first three albums in the early 2000s did I accept it: the JAMC had a major effect on me. Still can’t stand the later albums though. Still think by “Sidewalking” they’d covered all the territory. Still think when original member Douglas Hart left (chops or no) they were done for. Started to believe their own schtick, maybe? “Head On” came out and it rocked, sure, but it was just “April Skies” sped up, with a new cynicism in Jim’s vocal that gave them away: they were playing the game. And “Blues From a Gun”? That was “Sidewalking”. Take these two songs and extrapolate them and you’ve got 75% of the rest of their career.

But enough moaning! Check out “Head” (lost track from Psychocandy, too minor, too soundtracky, too avant for that “buzzsaw pop” album). Want more noise? “Just Out of Reach”. Wanna taste of Darklands romanticism? “Don’t Ever Change”. Major-key pop? “Happy Place”. William does Billy Idol? “Head”. Wanna know a secret? It’s William singing, on two tracks out of three, here. Conspiracy by Jim and WEA to keep the darker brother down? Or just that he’d conjure this shit on the spot as the clock rolled for end of the session, the single cut already and only the b-side up for grabs? If it were me and I was writing this book, I’d have pressed for more information about the sessions. Zoe Howe tries, to be fair, but either the band aren’t telling or they don’t remember (possibly unlikely given they had a no-drugs-or-liquor in the studio policy until, you guessed it, Automatic). And anyway, that’s my criticism with all these books.

You wanna know why the Mary Chain were great? You’ll learn a thing or two from the early chapters here – much of it encapsulated in the earlier Creation Records book, sure, but not so much that it makes this book pointless. Things I learned: the brothers’ father gave them 500 pounds when he was laid off from his factory job and they bought a Tascam Portastudio (analogue 4-track), back when such a thing was high tech, with which they recorded the demo that sold them to Alan McGee. I read (for the second time, but in detail) about Bobby Gillespie’s discovery of that tape and the connection that formed between him and the other three because of it. From here, it was partly a rehash, but there was information (a little) about the recordings, the early trip to Europe, and yeah that whole riot-causing new-Sex-Pistols speel that McGee and the music weeklies cooked up together. A double-edged sword (as the band make clear): the infamy sold records, got them signed to Blanco y Negro (subsidiary of Warner’s), but what the fuck did they want with signing to Warner’s anyway? And from then on, it was never (in the eyes of the media) about the music. Good to read: they regret the decision; they did change with Automatic and know it; the bit about no drugs during recordings in the beginning. While McGee sold them as rock ’n’ roll animals, these were just three shy kids (and the outgoing Gillespie) with paper-dry wit and serious pretensions to greatness.

Of course after “Sidewalking” I could really give a shit. From there, the story descends into inanity. The same drug stories, the same band politics, the same “if I could do it again” and defensive assessment of recordings (you ask me) increasingly bereft of wider significance – same as any band in a downward spiral (except this wasn’t a band, but two guitarist/singers and a revolving cast of back-up musicians). Lollapalooza ’92, that was the turning point. Illusions were shattered. Going on early afternoon after Pearl Jam high on coke without lights or smoke machine, looking pasty and ill while the other bands chugged protein shakes and did bench-presses. Interesting to know, I guess, but depressing to read. In short, I don’t jibe with this “impressive canon of work” theory that Zoe Howe outlines in her preface. To me, they burnt brightly and briefly – like Joy Division, like Nirvana. Three albums only, but they were enough. Living legends.

Oh, and whatever I’ve said about the book here it’s good to see it out. As band biographies go it ain’t bad, but it ain't earth-shattering. Meantime 33 1/3 do Psychocandy in 2016. Me, I woulda preferred Barbed Wire Kisses (nothing against Psychocandy, just I’m sick of hearing about it). Meantime, I don’t suppose anyone remembers that Marianne Faithful lyric?

Barbed Wire Kisses track listing:

Kill Surf City
Head
Rider
Hit
Don’t Ever Change
Just Out of Reach
Happy Place
Psychocandy
Sidewalking
Who Do You Love
Surfin’ USA
Everything’s Alright When You’re Down
Upside Down
Taste of Cindy
Swing
On the Wall (William’s 4-track demo)
Cracked
Here it Comes Again
Mushroom
Bo Diddley is Jesus

(20 tracks, 12-15 of them as good as their best, but “Kill Surf City”, “Surfin’ USA”, “Mushroom”, “Bo Diddley is Jesus” I could live without. Replace with “Ambition” (Subway Sect cover) and “Vegetable Man” (Syd Barrett) and you’ve got all the missing pieces of the early Mary Chain story. The “Sidewalking” 12-inch – avant dance-noise discord Bolan Boogie – wouldn’t hurt neither. Yay-hey-hey.)

[Niklas Pivic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though William Reid chose not to be involved in the making of this book, his brother, Jim, did. And so did a lot of other players from the days.

Howe writes the book pretty straight forward, dodging the usual tripe and drunken debauchery that often plagues music biographies by seeming obligatory when it's rarely so. The Mary Chain are described as a lot of moping persons who created music that defined the 1980s somewhat and influenced bands and artists for all time forth, probably.

I wish there'd have been pictures in the book - there are none, bar the cover image.

They wanted to sound like the Shangri-Las and Einstürzende Neubauten at the same time, and they somewhat did, while sounding like nothing else out there:

Musically the brothers had a voracious appetite, listening to bands such as the German industrial group Einstürzende Neubauten, The Beatles, The Birthday Party, The Doors, Dr Mix and the Remix, and 1960s girl groups like the Shangri-Las. But if they had to pick one single group who had the most impact on them, it would have been the Velvet Underground. When they brought home the The Velvet Underground And Nico album (famously bearing Andy Warhol’s image of a banana on the cover), what ensued was tantamount to a religious experience. It was sweet and bitter, ‘psycho and candy’, all on one record.

They walked off stage if bored and practically did what they wanted to do, except for cater much to the media. And they didn't like their peers very much:

‘The whole Scottish scene turns our stomach,’ says Jim. ‘The Welsh as well,’ grins William. ‘And the Irish,’ shrugs Douglas, dourly. (from a Sounds interview with Sandy Robertson, 1985)

And yes, they were viewed as different, by all:

Their parents tried to be understanding of their sons’ often insular behaviour – their mother once bought William a key-ring with the inscription ‘I’m not weird, I’m gifted’ written on it, which cheered him immeasurably.

And they didn't care much about virtuosity:

‘I don’t even think we auditioned Bobby,’ Jim Reid admits. ‘We just said, “Can you drum?” “Yeah, a wee bit.” “Right, OK.”’

Sounds like when Alan McGee thought of John Moore to join The Mary Chain:

Jim says of those early meetings: ‘We’d kind of spotted John around the place; he was almost like a weird stalker. At the Sonic Youth gig John came up and said, “I saw you the other night.” I thought, Oh God, is he coming on to me or what? What’s going on? He was a bit of a hustler, you could see that. He’d spotted the drumming spot was vacant and he was going to go for it. It was McGee as well, he said, “There’s this bloke who looks just like William, and he wears leather trousers. I think you should get him.” We’re like, “Can he drum?” “Er . . . oh, I don’t know about that.”’

...and speaking of drumming:

They actually wanted a drummer, but they couldn’t find anyone who was right. ‘We auditioned dozens of drummers,’ says Jim. ‘Purely on ability, we could have got one easily, but we wanted somebody we could spend ten weeks on a tour bus with. We kept getting these guys that started going on about what type of sticks they would use. We didn’t give a fuck what type of sticks they were going to use! It’s a bit of wood, you moron!’

The band didn't care much for being "correct" with the media:

The journalist asked how they felt about being described variously as both the best and worst group in the western hemisphere. William replied, after a contemplative pause, ‘My favourite colour is gold.’

They loved their fans, who in some cases were as saddening as the band:

Douglas Hart says: ‘I loved playing places like that because they were a bit like the places we grew up in. I remember in Preston this kid came up to me, really young, strange-looking guy, and he said, “I’d like to start a band.” I was like, “You should, you should!” And he said, “But I’ve got no friends.” God, what a thing to say. Kind of beautiful. It haunted me. I always wondered what happened to him.’ This poignant exchange must have accessed a part of Douglas that would surely have felt similarly isolated – another outsider from an outsider town – had he and the Reids not found each other in East Kilbride when they did.

On The Smiths:

The other problem for the Mary Chain, Mick observes, was that The Smiths were increasingly stealing the Mary Chain’s thunder as the decade wore on. ‘People began to see The Smiths as the band of the 1980s,’ he explains. ‘But I still think Psychocandy was one of the albums, if not the album, of the 1980s.’

On picking support acts for their tours:

‘I was friends with the label that had just signed Nine Inch Nails, TVT. The guy played me this stuff and I said, “Yes, that sounds like a band that should open for us.” I sent the records to Jim and William. They couldn’t care less: “Hey, you like them? Fine.” Couldn’t give a shit.’

All in all, the book's a labour of love and doesn't pander to the author's ego, but is about the band. Go read if you're into JAMC.

[Marti · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the best book about the Jesus and Mary Chain only because it is the only book about them. Granted, I knew next to nothing about their personal lives or career trajectory other than they were -- like the Gallagher and Davies brothers -- rather antagonistic towards each other. That much is true. However, the whole thing felt superficial like most of it was gleaned from newspapers.

Generalities are repeated over and over about how anti-social they were, how they couldn't be in the same room for long without getting into a fight, and how they had to get really drunk before shows. However, the music was better when both brothers collaborated. They were determined to achieve success despite their crippling shyness. Somehow, they recorded a demo good enough for Alan McGee, of Creation Records, to see something in them. Though they were influenced primarily by American rock and roll and surf music, they layered in so much feedback that most people hated it (except for McGee and Bobby Gillespie who filled in on drums before he left to focus on Primal Scream).

The rest as they say is history. McGee convinced the brothers to come down to London play at the Living Room. The only way they could get on stage was by getting completely blotto, something the band continued to do until 1998 when they self destructed.

I was unaware that their early shows attracted a lot of violent hooligans which did not help their image when it came to get bookings. Venues got trashed and objects hurled onstage which the band always managed to escape. Invariably, the brothers tended to shoot themselves in the foot by always getting drunk before going on television and getting into fights with each other. They were banned from most of the British music shows like TOTP and Old Grey Whistle Test.

It's too bad they couldn't just make the records in the seclusion of their own studio and skip the touring. But then they hated working together in the studio too. It's easy now to see why I thought their live show never came close to their records. And I am glad we did not try to approach them when we saw them walking down the street with Lush in New Orleans during Lollapalooza (they hated the tour and most of the other bands of course).

I can't help but think that in the hands of someone like Neil Strauss [who wrote the funniest book about Motley Crue, a band I do not even like] it would have been a lot better.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've never considered myself a die hard The Jesus and Mary Chain fan but they are a band that I've admired for a while. I've loved Psychocandy since I first heard it in my late teen years and Darklands has been in consistent rotation for me over the last year. That being said I was not very aware of the rest of their discography or legacy outside of these albums and the aspect that they made a name for themselves early on for noisy, destructive shows. 

While I am a huge fan of music, books on music and various bands/scenes have ultimately underwhelmed me. While reading a book like this is a refreshing change of pace from my typical reading, I should really learn that these books aren't the most fruitful reading experiences. Typically this kind of book is a glorified Wikipedia article and doesn't really offer much beyond the basics. I will say that author, Zoë Howe, does do a better job than most but I still felt like much of this book was pretty standard; something that I think more so has to do with The Jesus and Mary Chain themselves.

The Jesus and Mary Chain is an amazing band on record. They have a unique and innovative sound that is referential of those before them while being something completely new. Their sound has persisted in influence on bands to this day and overall they exude the essence of cool. That being said, their story of being a band is rather plain.

All of the stereotypical topics of a band's biography are here; drug abuse, sibling rivalry, a disconnect with fame, etc. I really didn't find much from this book that warranted The Jesus and Mary Chain being the subject over any other band. This book is for the die hard fans and the die hard fans alone. I'm not sure a casual fan or unfamiliar listener would get much out of this.

Personally, I did find the insight into the changes in sound between Psychocandy and Darklands to be insightful, as well as more of the aspects of the 90's (particularly the section on Lollapalooza 1992). While I enjoyed these sections they were few and far between and often very brief. I will also add as a disclaimer that my Chicago Public Library copy of this book had multiple pages torn out, including the last 6, so I technically did not get the full story but I'd say 99% of it.

[Kurt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall, a disappointing read. I breezed through it pretty quickly, even though I found the author's prose annoying to the point that I often found myself rolling my eyes at the end of the sentence "cappers" she'd throw in. I could edit this and make it better. As a linear, chronological telling of the history of the band it works pretty well, and I do like the subjects and subject matter well enough to maintain interest. It's just that I felt like it was aimed at a teenage reader, and most of the mary chain's audience probably aren't teenagers anymore. I guess I will still have to wait for the mary chain book I'd like to read to be written, (which will never happen.) I would like to have something deeper. The mary chain's material is so psychologically rich that not to have William's input almost seems like the project would be destined to fail. Just as the band itself is the two brothers, the book needs that, too. It seems that William made a wise choice in opting out, because the book just feels like writing from a british magazine, or something. Unless someone like Nick Tosches comes along and writes the definitive JaMC bio we will just have to take what we've been given, which is still worth reading. I would like to know things like how and when they met Hope Sandoval, some of the intricacies of that relationship ( not the physical intimacies, just how it played out ), why did the brothers butt heads so often? A lot of these questions are left unanswered. We know that the brothers are shy loners and misfits, but we don't really have any of the internal, psychological depth fleshed out. To the writers credit, maybe it's just that the brothers are so evasive and elusive that there's nowhere else to go but where she went. Still, I don't think so. There are more ways to tell a good story than a straightforward narrative. Final analysis: read it for what it is, but don't expect to be blown away.
I want more.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good book that fills a gaping hole in the world of music biographies. It covers all the highs and lows of the band's influential discography and tumultuous career. Expect all the best anecdotes about their reputation for 15 minute shows and failed interviews, infighting, boozing, and especially, noisily innovating a pop-punk fusion at a time when new wave dominated the UK charts.

Two things prevent this from earning a 5-star review:
One, I think it's a bit too sympathetic to attribute all the Reids' drunken antics to their social anxieties. There's not much criticism or discussion of negative consequences here. The author really takes the position that their reputation is much maligned, but some of their behavior seemed genuinely destructive. And two, I read an advance copy of this US publication of the book, and there were no photos. I hope the physical book has some photos in it, because look at that cover. Perfection.

[Peter O'Connor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the Jesus and Mary Chain before and now I love them even more. This pair so cantankerous and miserable still manage to take the music world by storm purely by tipping it on its head. Uncompromising and seemingly disdainful of everything and everyone around them (this was the Wham! era, remember), this is a great tale of the band that inspired so many to change their take on what music was all about. Most biographies are interesting for all of the accounts of the other musicians they cross paths with - this one is more interesting for the fact that they go out of thier way not to cross paths with any of them. Zoe Howe knows her stuff gives everything just the right amount of weight to make this a must read for any fan of Indie music.

[Bob Schnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of William and Jim Reid, the core of the band the Jesus and Mary Chain, is about as murky as their sound. Shy, drunk and with an aversion to interviews, the brothers were always enigmatic. Zoë Howe's biography of the band tells at least half of the story. William did not participate but is quoted from various sources. It is about as good as fans are going to get.

As an American fan I was not privy to much of what was written about them in the British press. I knew they were a combative sibling act like the Kinks or Oasis but I wasn't aware of the level of their animosity or how much they had to anesthetize themselves to get on stage. I also learned about their various side projects that I will now have to investigate. Overall, it is a good read with a lot of information that was new to me.

[Michael Parkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great overview and history of the band. Left me wanting for a few more details around some of the on-stage antics, drunken fights, break-ups, etc. While these topics were certainly covered, I like my rock and roll bios the way I like my morning news... *sensationalized*

[Lisastrawberry · Rating 3 out of 5]

truthfully, I abandoned this book months ago. I tried several times to finish it and the writing wasn't all I hoped for. The first part on the making of Psychocandy was fun, just because I wanted to read how one of my favorite albums got made, but that's it. Meh.

[Benjamin Whistler · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Jesus and Mary Chain are fascinating. They're my favorite band. But what I had hoped for was more a snapshot of their lives, of the 1980s, of the [indie] kids who came together to form the JAMC, what their lives were like, who they were and what they liked. For little polaroid pictures of the greatest band of the 1980s. Stories mixed in with dates, a proper history. Instead, the biography is just a collection of what was mostly known already. Some of what I wanted comes through, little things (like McGee's use of green ink in his first letter to them, buying their brothel creeper shoes and stomping in and out of the flat to the chagrin of the neighbors, spending a whole day tripping on mushrooms in front of a metro station only to come down at the same time as they realize the crowd watching them is made up of the commuters who saw them that morning as they left for work), but a lot of it doesn't. For example, did you know that Douglas Hart is a talented filmmaker in his own right? It barely gets touched on in this book and I only found out when I stumbled across an interview from the Criterion Collection in which he mentions his ten favorite movies and the reasons why (including anecdotes that this book should have had, such as the time he was at his girlfriend's for a family movie night with the mother and saw the 1970 movie 3 Women on TV, which the mother thought was utterly perverse, to which Douglas responded, "it’s one of the best films I’ve ever seen," losing any approval the mother had for him). Things like that, the personality mixed with the bits and pieces of the times, the nostalgia, are what people would want in a book that takes on the JAMC, a book that slices into them the way their music first sliced into the ears (and hearts) of listeners back in 1985. But 1985 feels completely missing from this book. They're rendered "anybodies," which is maybe appealing to the shy Reid Brothers themselves, but not to us, who want to know the band that altered the music landscape in 1985 and whose style is still seen in bands today. To get a feel for that, to catch a glimpse at that much-wanted-slice of the indie kids who lit the music world on fire and the world they inhabited, you can watch their interviews on youtube, you can look up old reviews of their concerts in the LA Times and in the NYTimes (for an American perspective) or in NME (for a British perspective), with a simple google search. But the burning questions go unanswered in this book. Maybe they're just too personal. Or maybe all the alcohol and drugs have caused Jim's, Willam's, Bobby's, and Douglas's memories to fade too much (though I doubt this).

[Jenny Organa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book! It's thoroughly researched and well written, it flows, despite there being so many voices. The author has done a great job with sorting all those voices, memories, and moments in time to make a coherent story out of it. It feels geniune, as it's not trying to either glorify nor trash the band and/or the people around them. I've been a fan of the Jesus and Mary Chain since the mid-90's and I'm sure that fact influences how I read the book, maybe someone who hasn't heard of the band will find it confusing. I hope peolpe will read it anyway. It's a great window into the world of music in the 80's and 90's and also about relationships, expectations and emotions. It's written with love.

[Book Grocer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Purchase The Jesus and Mary Chain here for just $10!

Superb trawl through the turbulent history of one of the greatest British bands. Filled with a host of surprisingly comical stories, especially when you consider just how dour the Mary Chain were. Much like the band, the book is over too soon and leaves you wanting more.

Alisha - The Book Grocer

[Allan Heron · Rating 4 out of 5]

A hugely enjoyable biography of the Reid brothers' musical exploits. I hadn't been overly familiar with their background so it was the image of the band that was in my mind as I started out on this.

They do get bonus point for their sheer ordinariness but the idea of them being some kind of innocents that just happen to leave a trail of chaos in their wake does wear thin somewhat.

Author Zoe Howe has an engaging writing style and this sits nicely alongside her Feelgoods-related books.

[Luiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't need anyone
Don't need anything
Don't need anybody
I need rock'n'roll

Barbed wire kisses conta um pouco da trajetória do The Jesus and Mary Chain e ajuda a confirmar o quanto esses irmãos esquisitos, do interior da Escócia, encontraram no Rock a resposta para a vida. É um amor pela arte em um sentido quase religioso, que leva a gente para outro lugar, se reconectando magicamente ao universo.

Eu amo essa banda.

[Mancman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderfully comprehensive history of the JAMC and the maelstrom they took with them everywhere.
It doesn’t pull any punches, is honest and candid about the issues and problems, but is clearly a warm homage to the Reid brothers.
There’s a lot of detail in here, and it was a pleasure to read and discover.

[Laurence · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't like the style of the writer much. It felt like the writing was rushed a bit, but I enjoyed the anecdotes and finding out how it was like for the group at the start. It's packed with facts and many people contributed to the book which makes it enjoyable.

[Munsi Parker-Munroe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jesus and Mary Chain are extremely good, and further they have an interesting history that makes for a compelling story. Go read a music biography while listening to the catalogue of the artists you're reading about, it's immersive as hell!

[Kurt Dahlke · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars - a fun precis on JAMC up to about 2010, from numerous interviews and carefully assembled together with additional other sources. Grabbed on a whim from the library, with full knowledge of the Reid's upcoming biography, which I am even more interested to get now!

[b e a c h g o t h · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will never stop loving Jim Reid

[Runar Mar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too shallow and lacks depth in storytelling.

[Enue · Rating 3 out of 5]

My fav part is when Sonic Youth became the ‘US Mary Chain’ 🫠

[Chet · Rating 2 out of 5]

It really pains me to give this book 2 stars. Firstly, because St. Martin's Press was kindly enough to give it to me as an ARC, but also because JAMC was a great band and I love their first few records. I honestly thought this would be a really good read about a band that that I genuinely like, but that I know little about. Unfortunately, though, the band just isn't that interesting. Honestly, the most interesting thing that happens to these guys their whole career is that the crowds became unruly. They dabbled in alcohol and drugs, but not to any great extent. There are a few good anecdotes scattered here and there, but really, they get lost in the plodding story of recording the albums...which is really the only story there is. Things pick up a little near the end, when the band starts to fall apart, but compared to a lot of bands, even that was pretty tame. I'm honestly not sure if the band is actually this uninteresting or if Zoe Howe just failed in her job to make them so, but either way, this book is really only for JAMC superfans. If you, like me, thoroughly enjoy books about music, but you're not a hardcore fan of this particular band, you're probably not going to find much here to interest you. The writing is mediocre (it reads like a really long magazine article that is struggling to fill space), the bands exploits are pretty tame and the Reid brothers are, honestly, pretty unlikable with their constant bickering, complaining and general distaste for pretty much everything and everyone.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been on a tear reading biographies of rock bands. I'm currently reading Stealing All Transmissions, about the Clash's rise to popularity in America.

Jesus and Mary Chain are one of my favorite bands.

I used to play their music on the radio in the 1980s when I was disc jockey at WSIA, 88.9 FM, a college radio station that broadcast left of the commercial end of the FM dial. The music played on that station was alternative.

Barbed Wire Kisses is a riveting, gut-bucket inside account of Jim and William Reid's band The Jesus and Mary Chain and its incarnations over the years with various old and new members.

Sadly, it appears The Chain didn't get the accolades they deserved.

Oasis stole the radio transmissions and "Wonderwall" has pulverized FM radio into dust. Of course I like that song too.

Yet I'm driven witless now that a song like "Take Me to Church" is played every hour on the hour on so-called alternative stations.

Back to the book. It does the Jesus and Mary Chain justice and revives the dialogue about why the Chain matter.

The guys were creative geniuses if searing hotheads as well from what I've read of the band. Reading the book you'll be privy to the truth: the inside-out version of what went on in the band's early years up through the early 2000s.

Read, listen, repeat.

You can now buy their music on iTunes, by the way.

[Maya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly written biography of a fabulous band.

I found the writing to be incredibly shallow. It was hard to keep track of what dates things happened, much less who was where. There were many stories of drunken performances, but I didn't feel like I got to understand any of the characters involved. Howe barely even mentions the Reids' sister Linda until 3/4 of the way through the book; she doesn't tell us how old the brothers are, what their age gap is, basic stuff like that. William and Jim's girlfriends are mentioned very briefly, and even Laurence, Jim's girlfriend who was heavily involved with the Mary Chain, we have no idea how long they were dating or when/why they break up. It's not that I read this book for the gossip, but I wanted to gain some biographical insight on the people, not just on the financials of the label.

I love this band, don't get me wrong, and if this book had a photo set I'd probably keep it. But it doesn't! She even talks about how aesthetically driven the Reids were, and how they took snapshots constantly while recording, but none of the pictures got into the book! How low budget was this project? Was she only working from 1980s interviews published in NMC?

Oh yeah, and the timeline at the back of the book... what even.

The Mary Chain deserve a better biography. I hope they get it.

[Nancy Kho · Rating 4 out of 5]

"...As much as I appreciated the Mary Chain history, what I really loved about this book is that Howe is not above injecting humor into the work, as when describing an awkward early meeting (actually, all meetings with the famously shy Reid brothers were awkward) with a rep from a major label at their manager’s mum’s house outside Glasgow. The manager’s mum had set out cups of tea and pastries; Howe observes, “The path to rock’n’roll stardom is lined with cake. And coke, of course, but mainly, at this stage, cake.” She’s good at finding the ridiculous in the Mary Chain world, as in, for a long time there they were only hiring people into the band that they knew. Even though these people were not musicians. You’re a receptionist for our label? Fine, now you’re our drummer, here are some sticks. As a narrator, Howe feels like the smartest music girl in the room who wants to make sure you see the absurdity as she tells you the story."

For my full review, check out
http://midlifemixtape.com/2015/02/tur...

[Sergio Mori · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved The Jesus and Mary Chain in my early teens. I still love them now, but back then they were the epitome of cool for me, with their big hair, their leather trousers, their stripy t-shirts and their sulky demeanour. On top of all that, of course, was the amazing music, that wondrous world full of feedback and melancholic melodies.

So yes, I loved them. And not only for their records, but because it was through them that I got into The Velvets. I read in an interview they were the Mary Chain's main influence. That's what made me buy 'The Velvet Underground & Nico'. Until then I'd considered Lou Reed just a dinosaur - Hey, I was 13 at the time, don't hate me.

Anyhoo, the book is surprisingly funny and the style is really engaging. I honestly thought I'd probably stop reading after 'Darklands', 'Automatic' at a push, but that's it. But no, it's very hard to put down, even when they talk about records I'm not so familiar with.

Roll on November and the Psychocandy tour!

[David Przybylinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite bands of the mid-80s and still today is The Jesus and Mary Chain. I started listening to them around 1987 with the Psychocandy album shortly after Darklands. I really never knew much about them as a band but I loved the sound.

I saw them on the Automatic tour and have to say that they were one of the loudest bands I ever heard. I was in the front row with the lights flashing in our face hardly being able to see the guys, but my ears rang for days after.

This book gives a lot of insight into the Reid Brothers and the start of the band and the years to follow with all the changes and challenges they faced, especially the fighting with each other.

There's not a lot about the song making creativity, but more the bio story of the band. I really enjoyed reading this book and think Zoë did a great job telling their story.

I highly recommend picking up this book, you will really enjoy it.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good band bio but disappointing that it's not illustrated with photos...I think most rock/pop biographies have photographs of the subject. I found myself skimming it as much of the content was superficial. But I'm glad there's at least one band bio out there of one of one of my favorites bands. Worthwhile for diehard J&MC fans but probably not of interest if you're looking for more of a broad accounting of the 80s & 90s music scene. Great discography at the end.

[Kelly-Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book through Goodreads Giveaways. It was really interesting to learn more about this band. I did not know much about them and I found the book informative, intriguing, and funny at the same time. It felt real. I enjoyed it.