Honey's Dead
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Honey's Dead is the fourth studio album by the Scottish rock group The Jesus and Mary Chain on Blanco y Negro Records in 1992. The title refers to one of the band's early hits, "Just Like Honey", and is intended to demonstrate a complete departure from their earlier musical style.
The album's first single, "Reverence", attracted some controversy for the lyrics "I want to die just like Jesus Christ", and "I want to die just like JFK". Banned by Top of the Pops, the track received airplay in the United States on the alternative radio stations.
Honey's Dead was recorded in the band's London studio, the aptly named "Drugstore", with accomplished engineer Flood and future JaMC producer Alan Moulder on board (not to mention a considerably larger bankroll).
Alternative and Campus radio stations picked up "Far Gone and Out" which remains one of the band's most popular singles to date. The Mary Chain shared the bill during parts of Lollapalooza 1992 in the U.S. with Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Ministry, Lush, Ice Cube and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Anheuser Busch even used the samples of "Sugar Ray" as a background bed for their Bud Ice television commercials in 1993.
The album posts a close second in sales to (1994) release Stoned & Dethroned (which contains the hit single "Sometimes Always" with Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star). The Reid Brothers alternate between singing duties on tracks (most likely coinciding with songwriting duties).
Track listing
- "Reverence"
- "Teenage Lust"
- "Far Gone and Out"
- "Almost Gold"
- "Sugar Ray"
- "Tumbledown"
- "Catchfire"
- "Good for My Soul"
- "Rollercoaster" (new version of song originally issued on an EP in 1990)
- "I Can't Get Enough"
- "Sundown"
- "Frequency"
Band Members
- William Reid: guitar, vocals on tracks 4, 7, 10, 11, and 12
- Jim Reid: guitar, vocals on tracks 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, and 9
- Steve Monti: drums, percussion
All tracks by Reid/Reid. Produced by William Reid/Jim Reid. Engineered and mixed by Alan Moulder, except for "Rollercoaster" (engineered by Flood, mixed by Alan Moulder).
Trivia
The track "Tumbledown" contains a sample of Einstürzende Neubauten's "Tanz Debil" (Kollaps, 1981) starting at 1:25 and lasting for roughly 18 seconds.
Although "Rollercoaster" is listed as "copyright 1990" (while the rest of the album is "copyright 1992"), the version here is not the original 1990 EP version. This version features live drums (presumably by Monti) and does not have the echo on William Reid's voice, and is likely a re-recorded version from the album sessions.