The Power Of Negative Thinking: B-Sides & Rarities

What's most surprising is the strength of the original B-sides, such as the shoegazed summer dream "Happy Place," girl group siphon "Suck," and bassist Ben Lurie's "Rocket," which could easily reside on any of JAMC's studio LPs and absolutely trump anything by the band's innumerable acolytes.

Rarely does a track on this set demand skipping, and even the scant missteps are worth at least a few listens--like any great band, the JAMC lived and learned.

These guys were rubbish as careerists, essentially banishing much of their stronger material to the depths. So think of The Power of Negative Thinking as the great unveiling.

This is a great collection of B-sides, cover, demos, acoustic versions, and more from the brothers Reid. [Fall 2008, p.90]

Well yes, there's that ear-splitting explosion of aural nihilist expressionism, but still it's thrilling and has lost little of the initial impact. [Dec 2008, p.120]

The only danger of such an exercise being the risk of tarnishing the legend. But there's no problem here. [dec 2008, p.100]

The Power Of Negative Thinking is a weighty, absorbing, often hugely entertaining and occasionally thrilling curio. JAMC completists will love it, but four CDs’ worth?

Devoid of the melodies that lurked beneath the feedback on their remarkable debut album Psychocandy, they give a flavour of what their chaotic, violent gigs must have sounded like, but if the Jesus and Mary Chain had only sounded like that, no one would have cared.

Cool is a fleet-footed concept, and revisiting JAMC--particularly the new content--is a genuinely pleasant experience. [Fall 2008, p.105]

With its handsome hard-cover packaging, clear-plastic paper-stock photo galleries, candid liner-note interviews (conducted in early 2007), and ridiculously detailed Pete Frame-drawn family tree poster, the set provides a handy opportunity for newbies to play catch-up on the band's history-- and for anyone who first came into contact with the Mary Chain via the closing credits to "Lost in Translation," only to be scared off by "Psychocandy's" torrential noise.

It’s hard to snipe at a bloated box set like this when so many of the songs are just downright spectacular.

Four discs of this kind of horseplay might be too much for casual fans, but feedback freaks will savor the nuclear noise pop.