LOS ANGELES - Scottish brothers William and Jim Reid formed The Jesus And Mary Chain in 1984 and spent the next 15 years creating fuzz-fueled symphonies of cacophony that hum with ragged pop beauty. Before disbanding in 1999, the band helped blaze a trail for the rise of alternative music in the '90s and influenced a generation with its artful mix of sharp-tongued guitar pop and sprawling drones. Rhino Records gets religion with DualDisc reissues of The Jesus And Mary Chain's first five studio albums - PSYCHOCANDY, DARKLANDS, AUTOMATIC, HONEY'S DEAD and STONED AND DETHRONED. Each DualDisc features a remastered version of the original album on the CD side, while the DVD side contains the album remastered in high-resolution stereo along with a trio of videos.

Legendary before they'd even released an album, The Jesus And Mary Chain raised expectations with a string of hit singles and notorious shows where the band sought to provoke through sheer volume and by playing with their back to the audience. The group did not disappoint with their 1985 debut, PSYCHOCANDY, a release cited by music journalists on both sides of the Atlantic as one of rock's most influential albums. The DualDisc version contains videos for "Just Like Honey," "Never Understand," and "You Trip Me Up."

On the 1987 follow-up, DARKLANDS, the band deconstructed their noisy artifice to uncover the menacing sharp-elbowed pop songs lurking beneath, including "Down On Me," "Deep One Perfect Morning," and "Fall." The DualDisc version includes videos for "Darklands," "Happy When It Rains," and "April Skies."

The Jesus And Mary Chain returned two years later with AUTOMATIC, an album that reconstructed the band's wall of distortion without obscuring the Reid brothers' knack for writing irresistible hooks on songs such as "Halfway To Crazy" and "Drop." The DualDisc version features videos for "Blues From A Gun," "Her Way Of Praying," and "Head On."

The Jesus And Mary Chain unleashed another noise-pop classic with HONEY'S DEAD. Released in 1992 and supported with performances at Lollapalooza, the band's fourth studio album is a valentine filled with blistering kisses of corrosive guitar distortion including "Catchfire," "Rollercoaster," and "Teenage Lust." The DualDisc version contains videos for "Reverence," "Far Gone And Out," and "Almost Gold."

For the band's final album with Warner Brothers, 1994's STONE AND DETHRONED, The Jesus And Mary Chain dialed the sonic aggression down to a slow-boiling rage for a set of mostly-acoustic songs. The album featured guest appearances by Pogues vocalist Shane MacGowan on "God Help Me," and Mazzy Star vocalist Hope Sandoval on the hit "Sometimes Always." The DualDisc version includes videos for "Sometimes Always," "Come On," and "Snakedriver."

PSYCHOCANDY: Track Listing 1. Just like Honey 2. The Living Dead 3. Taste the Floor 4. The Hardest Walk 5. Cut Dead 6. In A Hole 7. Taste Of Cindy 8. Never Understand 9. Inside Me 10. Sowing Seeds 11. My Little Underground 12. You Trip Me Up 13. Something's Wrong 14. It's So Hard Videos 1. Just like Honey 2. Never Understand 3. You Trip Me Up

DARKLANDS: Track Listing 1. Darklands 2. Deep One Perfect Morning 3. Happy When It Rains 4. Down On Me 5. Nine Million Rainy Days 6. April Skies 7. Fall 8. Cherry Came Too 9. On The Wall 10. About You Videos 1. Darklands 2. Happy When It Rains 3. April Skies

AUTOMATIC: Track Listing 1. Here Comes Alice 2. Coast To Coast 3. Blues From A Gun 4. Between Planets 5. UV Ray 6. Her Way Of Praying 7. Head On 8. Take It 9. Halfway To Crazy 10. Gimme Hell 11. Drop 12. Sunray Videos 1. Blues From A Gun 2. Her Way Of Praying 3. Head On

HONEY'S DEAD: Track Listing 1. Reverence 2. Teenage Lust 3. Far Gone And Out 4. Almost Gold 5. Sugar Ray 6. Tumbledown 7. Catchfire 8. Good For My Soul 9. Rollercoaster 10. I Can't Get Enough 11. Sundown 12. Frequency Videos 1. Reverence 2. Far Gone And Out 3. Almost Gold

STONED & DETHRONED: Track Listing 1. Dirty Water 2. Bullet Lovers 3. Sometimes Always 4. Come On 5. Between Us 6. Hole 7. Never Saw It Coming 8. She 9. Wish I Could 10. Save Me 11. Till It Shines 12. God Help Me 13. Girlfriend 14. Everybody I Know 15. You've Been A Friend 16. These Days 17. Feeling Lucky Videos 1. Sometimes Always 2. Come On 3. Snakedriver

Related Links: For more information on Jesus and Mary Chain and the other organizations mentioned please visit the following links -- Buy from RHINO.com | E-Card

(Originally Published on July 05, 2006)