It seems that bloggers are contractually obliged to post April Skies during the fourth month of the year but I thought I'd mess with the programme a bit and post it and the end of the month rather than the beginning.
A lot of Jesus And Mary Chain purists look down on Darklands. It gets cast as a bit dull and polished compared to Psychocandy (mind you, almost anything looks polished compared to Psychocandy). But there's no doubt in my mind April Skies is a thrilling and electrified slice of mid- 80s indie- rock, the sound of 1987 (and days in 6th form) as much as any other song I can think of- the crashing drum machine intro and bassline, Jim's lower register vocal, all self loathing and unrequited love, and William's guitars ringing out.
When Sidewalking came out in 1988, a hip hop boom box inspired non- album single, eight minutes of snarly Mary Chain swagger about missing the last bus home, a live version of April Skies was on the B-side of the 12", on tour in Detroit.
3 comments:
Darklands is a brilliant album and I much preferred it to Psychocandy at the time. Not a bad track on it. Sidewalking is really innovative but still sounds thrilling, and thoroughly pop too, not an easy balance to strike.
I'm very much on the side of "love Darklands"... and Sidewalking too, a great single.
Darklands very much like its predecessor blew me away when it came out. So different but just as good. It, 1000 Years of Trouble and the emerging House scene made 87/88 in Aberdeen tolerable.
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