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(Limited Addition, 2003)There was a lot of action in the seven years between this and the group’s previous 7” in 1996: Five albums, two mini albums, four 12”s, two CD EPs, a few record labels, and a busload of band members hired and fired. The BJM seemed tired and directionless on its first post-TVT album, Bravery Repetition and Noise, and the poorly-attended shows I saw around that time had me wondering if the end was nigh. So maybe my expectations had been lowered, but I was genuinely excited by this single when it came out – seemed like a real comeback. And heck, it still sounds fantastic six years later, the music energized and carefully assembled. “Prozac vs. Heroin” is a moody, surprisingly stately mini-epic, its echo-y backing vocals and beautifully layered guitars giving it a denser, richer sound than most prior Brian Jonestown material. The B-side, “Nailing Honey to the Bee,” is even better, a return to the driving Between the Buttons-style rock of Give It Back!, but with tighter playing and more attention to loud-soft dynamics. One of their catchiest songs, and a decent approximation of the BJM’s live sound in those days. There’s a cutesy vinyl surprise here as well, as the B is a double groove that also features “The Pregnancy Test,” a gently spaced-out keyboard-loop instrumental quite different from the band’s usual attack. Really: a great single then, and a great single now – this lineup very much had it together, and the concerts and album (…And This is Our Music, which repeats “Prozac” and “The Pregnancy Test”) that followed were supremely enjoyable. Yeah, it fell apart soon after with the release of the Dig movie and Newcombe’s annoying descent into total onstage self-parody – not to mention a couple of sub-par records – but this is one of their best, and is as “must-hear” as anything in the group’s intimidatingly-large catalog.
(Stanton Park/Tangible, 1996)If you’ve ever read my unwritten autobiography, Forty Years of Beard, you know that the lone source of joy in my otherwise disappointing life is baseball. And sometimes that gets in the way of my listening to and writing about all these crazy records. Like last night, when I went out to Yankee Stadium to see the Blue Jays lose instead of staying in and reviewing the Brian Jonestown Massacre. Or right now, when I’m following the end of a crucial Padres-Dodgers game instead of giving my full attention to “Never Ever.” Oh, wait; the Dodgers just won. Good news, I guess. Excellent job by Hiroki Kuroda. Now, this BJM single is certainly no seven-inning, three-hit, one-earned-run performance (I knew you could do it, Hiroki), but it’s still mighty fine. Middle of the rotation stuff for sure, maybe better. It’s a minimal, Spacemen 3-esque primal psych-guitar workout on “Never Ever” (which was previously released in a far different version – I’m on the fence about whether or not to consider it the same song at all – under the name Acid in 1993); imagine “Heroin,” musically, if it never built to any climax. A lovely womblike atmosphere. Very warm-sounding. “Feelers” is lo-fi raga-rock, moaning vocals and sitar giving it the oomph it needs to come off a success instead of just a silly toe-dip into mystical trippiness. Even if neither song is especially tight or brilliantly constructed, this record creates the most consistently satisfying and overtly psychedelic mood of any Brian Jonestown single, and I’m tempted to consider it more Tim Hudson than Jamie Moyer.You collectors in the crowd should know that “Never Ever” is included on the CD version of Spacegirl, and “Feelers” is on Their Satanic Majesties’ Second Request (in an extended alternate version; I actually prefer the single, which has a great droning keyboard part that isn’t present on the LP), so don’t sweat it too hard if you can’t find the 7”. Instead, sweat the fact that Kaz Matsui is on the disabled list with an anal fissure. Have you heard about life? It’s not so fair.
(Candy Floss/Tangible, 1995)Hey, here it is! The big fruggin’ leap forward! The Brian Jonestown Massacre that some of the world sorta knows and maybe kinda loves! That cannily copped Stones-y menace really shows up here on “Cold to the Touch” for the first time in the sleazy, breathy vocals and dirty, trebly guitar. Plus Joel Gion’s famously-hot tambourine slappy-slap! It’s the sort of ragged, psych-tinged r’n’r that has remained the BJM’s bread and butter for over a decade, and heck, they had it perfected from the get-go. The even-more-wonderful “Anemone” has femme-vox and successfully goes for a groovy, hypnotic, head-nodding effect as opposed to the stoned rockin’ of “Cold…,” but it’s clearly from the same backwards-lookin’ brainspace as the A and makes for a nice flip. So yeah, this is a single that pretty much kicks your pants down the street bigtime, EXCEPT!!!! EXCEPT!!!! EXCEPT!!!! Except both songs appear in almost identical versions on Their Satanic Majesties’ Second Request (“Anemone” is slightly different)! Which means that this pre-album taster surely got millions of wallets ready to spend back in those sexy days of 1995, but it’s kinda, uh, pointless now. Just buy the LP.…or buy my 7” for BIG BUXxX on eBay. Come on, friend!
(Candy Floss/Tangible, 1994)It’s back to that dense shoegazey sound on “Hide & Seek,” this time with more fast-paced dreamrock action than we’ve heard previously. Great tom-heavy drumming and feedback-laced guitar, and, finally, there’s appropriate emphasis on the vocals. With that catchy lead-gtr part and vocal line, “Hide & Seek” is among the best of the early BJM songs, and you can count your lucky whatevers that it’s now widely available in HOT-POOP fidelity on the CD reissue of Spacegirl and Other Favorites, though that seems to be a radically different (and inferior!) mix – if not a totally different take. Gimme the CD’s clarity and the single’s mix... who can do that for me? WHO?Next up is a live recording of “Methodrone” (NOT included on the Methodrone album; go figger), a song that has a lot in common with the era’s crop of blissed-out spacerockers in its delicate, guitars-only beginning that eventually builds to a pounding, repetitive, fuzz-laden climax. There is, however, a humorous, mood-puncturing curveball at the end as the whole thing dissolves into lounge piano – well done. Top-notch single overall, and the first hands-down winner of a disc in the BJM catalog. Hard to find a copy these days, but you could do worse than paying a few extra bucks to have one of these handy.
(Bomp/Tangible, 1993)Unlike the early-’90s Britishisms of the band’s first single, the snaky guitars and rhythms of “Convertible” hint at an Eastern influence, something that was to become far more prominent on later records as Newcombe refined his technique and expanded his arsenal of instruments. Here, however, we have mid-’90s Brian Jonestown Massacre in embryonic form, releasing what sounds like a rough run-through for a demo, its fine vocal unfortunately buried. The song is similar in feel to the Acid 45 that was included in the same 6x7” set (“The Tangible Box”), and, as with that single, “Convertible” opens with a silent lockgroove cut into the vinyl. On the other side, “Their Satanic Majesties 2nd Request (Enrique’s Dream)” is a druggy guitar-effects collage with samples of a hellfire preacher laid atop it. Entertaining to hear once, but it’s mostly of interest for lending its title to a BJM album three years down the road.Bomp used to sell “Convertible” both individually and as part of the complete set, and around 2002 or 2003, as stock dwindled, they were hawking copies signed by Anton Newcombe.
(Bomp/Tangible, 1992)The debut single from a very young Brian Jonestown Massacre. Like Ride and early Blur, this record sees the BJM working at the intersection of shoegaze and pop, particularly on “She Made Me” (which is also titled “She Moves Me” on the label): the shimmering waves of guitar are present, but there’s a standard verse-chorus-verse structure and a definite emphasis on the beat, as the borderline-baggy drums are right up front in the mix – the slower, less percussive recording heard on the Methodrone album is comparatively lifeless. “Evergreen,” which also shows up on Methodrone in more polished, finished-sounding form, is looser, spaced-out psychedelia that gets lost in its own echo-laden dreaminess and simply doesn’t have the A-side’s kick... stick with the LP version of this one. It’s interesting – and a little surprising – to hear these early Brian Jonestown songs, where the music is driven by atmosphere rather than attitude, and the lyrics and frontman are of little or no importance. Interesting, yes, but not necessarily better, as this style doesn’t seem as well suited to Newcombe’s songwriting strengths or his undeniable talent for loudmouthed rabble-rousing. Still, it’s a pleasant genre exercise, and a successful enough imitation of then-current British styles.
(Bomp/Tangible, 1993)
"Never, Ever" was released as part of the scuzz-psych "Tangible Box," a 6x7" SF sub-scene document that had #1 Brian Jonestown Massacre cheez Anton Newcombe's fingerprints all over it. If not the entire BJM recording under a different name, Acid is at the very least Newcombe singing and (probably) playing guitar. 1993 was early in the game; none of the snottiness or modstomp for which the band is best known shows up here, nor does the My Bloody Valentine-worship of the Methodrone album appear. Trebly and percussion-free, "Never, Ever" -- later re-recorded minus the comma as a BJM single -- is repetitive, lo-fi nod-off music with the type of hypnotic, echo-y guitar loveliness that was all over early Spiritualized. "Thoughts of You" exists along the same lines, though with a bit more energy and aural meat...instead of a Lazer Guided Melodies demo, it's a Taking Drugs To Make Music To Take Drugs To track ("track" ...HA!!). Though clearly the labor of amateurs, there's at least enough close study of the relevant blissed-out forebears in evidence to make the whole thing work. Warning for your needle ("needle" ...HA!!), friend: both sides seem to start with silent lockgrooves. Sneaky sneaky, boys.
(Limited Addition, 2003)
