YOU can only play 'Psychocandy plus hits' on the festival circuit for so long: Damage and Joy is kind of a make-or-break affair for the ragin' Reid bros.
Happily, the first JAMC LP for nearly 20 years offers a lengthy 14 track listen peppered with new gems currently adding much needed sparkle to their road-weary setlist.
Stylistically, D&J picks up on the laconic, fuzzy rock and roll flavours of their 1998 swansong Munki and the burned-out alt-country vibe of their under-rated Stoned & Dethroned LP.
There's at least one new JAMC classic here: Presidici (Et Chapaquiditch), finds Jim packing Kennedy-era buzz phrases, rock and roll nostalgia and assorted amusing rhyming dictionary nonsense ("I was misunderstood, Christopher Walken's in a terrible mood") into a catchy self-help pep talk pop package offset by William's sublimely simple guitar work.
Other stand-out moments include the skronky, wonky Primal Scream-esque Simian Split ("I killed Kurt Cobain, I put the shot right through his brain"), fragile Velvets-y comedown War On Peace, the upbeat three chord throb of All Things Pass, Mood Rider's gloriously melodic slow-motion guitarfest and the swelling, brass and farty synth-augmented anthemics of Los Feliz (Blues and Greens).
File under 'mostly divine'.
