Brian Jonestown Massacre - Never Ever

(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.

Brian Jonestown Massacre - Cold To The Touch

(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!

Brian Jonestown Massacre - Hide & Seek

(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.