What can I say. I've been to loads of Mary Chain concerts. The first time on the automatic tour back whenever that was. I was so scared as my parents kept telling me people died at rock concerts. But I was such a fan I threw all that away to go. I just had to go. And then it did feel more dangerous than today. Today in the benign and orderly queue the people behind were chatting about problems with their decking.
But this review was basically meant to be about William as a guitarist. Don't get me wrong it would not work without Jim. His vocal are magic, his swagger is still 50% of what makes it work. He is the the glue of cool that holds it all together. And his songs like Teenage Lust, sheer genius.
But William needs to be rated for the genius guitarist that he is. Listening at the concert he drives and makes those songs. One minute with pumping chords to keep it going. The next with lead licks to make your head split open.
And the sound of the guitar is never what you'd expect. It's never just a nice fat juicy bland sound. It's either high pitched and irritating, or super distorted and mental. With blues from a gun it changes from chunky, and I mean really chunky, rhythm to weird riffs. It's clever, really clever.
Most guitarists are like rhythm or lead. His playing is a like a mad artist mix of both. And that's the crux of it. The Mary chain are artists. Probably more so than most musicians. I would in actual fact rate them as some of the best current contemporary artists. Hence the review on ArtTop10.
At the end some random guy I'd never met before turned to me and said with passion: "Fabulous!" Correct.
Review by ArtTop10.com Founder Robert Dunt, www.robertdunt.com
