Barbed Wire Kisses

Rock · 1988 · 16 tracks

Barbed Wire Kisses

The Jesus and Mary Chain

A gritty collection of B-sides and rarities where 60s pop hooks collide with abrasive sheets of feedback and cold drum machine rhythms.

April 1988 · Blanco Y Negro

Barbed Wire Kisses is the sonic equivalent of a black leather jacket slick with rain. It captures The Jesus and Mary Chain at their most creatively volatile, serving as a bridge between the total white-noise chaos of their debut and the more structured, gothic pop of their later work. The album thrives on the friction between sweetness and violence: Jim Reid’s detached, breathy vocals deliver melodies that sound like they were plucked from a 1960s girl-group record, only to be buried under layers of screeching guitar feedback and the relentless, mechanical thud of a drum machine.

Tracklist · 16 Tracks

01

Kill Surf City

3:13

02

Head

3:52

03

Rider

2:12

04

Hit

3:30

05

Don’t Ever Change

3:35

06

Just Out of Reach

3:07

07

Happy Place

2:23

08

Psycho Candy

2:59

09

Sidewalking

3:35

10

Who Do You Love

4:04

11

Surfin’ USA

2:58

12

Everything’s Alright When You’re Down

2:40

13

Upside Down

2:59

14

Taste of Cindy

2:02

15

Swing

2:28

16

On the Wall

4:50

Moments Worth Listening For

The transition from the hip-hop influenced beat of Sidewalking into the screeching feedback of the guitar solo

The moment the wall of noise drops away in Kill Surf City to reveal a sugary surf-rock melody

The haunting, skeletal cover of Can's Mushroom that strips the song down to its eerie rhythmic core

The way the feedback on Who Do You Love? mimics the sound of a jet engine taking off over a blues riff

Where This Album Departs

How does Barbed Wire Kisses sound next to the rest of The Jesus and Mary Chain's catalogue?

Whispered+3.0σ

The vocals lean far further into whispered than the rest of the catalogue.

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