Tepid Peppermint Wonderland

Retrospective spans BJM’s 10+ year career. I know more about the antics and rivalries of BJM and Anton Newcombe than I do about their music. I think they'll always be that type of band. I'm still pretty ambivalent after this comprehensive listen. The songs which are a mix between 60s era psychedelia and shoegazer are pretty solid­noisy and fuzzy. I can dig the hazy, atmospheric feels. Lots of attitude and swagger as well. I used to think Newcombe was a British junkie (until Dig!) since he sings with an accent. I've been told that BJM is more of a live band, and I can see that since there's a tendency for the songs to eventually sound like background music­--something not so compelling to it all.

CD1
1. "Intro" with a religious/hippy cult leader rambling on over gospel and rock vocals. [5:36]
2. Pretty trippy. Shrill "who who" chorus. [2:54]
3. Sounds like Dandy Warhol’s "Godless", with the same ghostly feel. [3:43]
4. Interesting melody in the background­--can't make out what it is. Sounds like woodwind almost. [3:24]
**5. Nice mid-tempo song with nice drum crescendos. [4:14]
**6. More stoner rock. With a bit of breathy female harmonies. [3:59]
**7. Country/bluesy feel. [2:12]
8. So much fuzz. Layered vocals but still mostly indiscernible. [3:44]
9. Noisy. Don't even try to make out the vocals. You can hear how the vox rises and falls, which in itself is a pretty good effect. [4:30]
10. Smooth female vocals. Dirty rock feel. [5:27]
11. Good lead in. Pretty solid track. [5:17]
12. Gloomy, melodic. Vocals, in contrast, seem a little upbeat and poppy. [4:17]
13. Very sparse acoustic. Sounds a little like Robert Smith/The Cure. [3:14]
**14. Anchored by cool riff, and swaggering lyrics.[2:55]
15. Typical haze, there might even be strings in the mix. Lyrics again barely there, but you hear the lines "They will be done" clearly, ­which has a nice effect given title of song. [3:54]
16. Has an epic droning feel. [7:14]

CD2
1. FCC: Shitty (x2). A previously unreleased track. [2:38]
2. Really sounds a little like the song "Cars". [3:39]
**3. Drops the British sighing and adds a distant beeping loop. [3:29]
**4. Nice female and male vocal interplay, and downplayed psychedelia. [3:23]
5. Includes acoustic guitar melodies over a drum machine­--pretty layered. [2:28]
6. Live track recorded at WFMU. [3:29]
7. Another one recorded at WFMU. [4:18]
8. Double male vocals. Angry, scorned men. Bit of country guitars. [2:23]
9. Neat intro but doesn't keep. [4:09]
10. Kind of a redneck feel to this sort of narrative song. [2:01]
**11. More effective double male vocals. Funky mid-song freakout. Sex and religion "double entendres" [3:21]
12. What song did they totally "steal" here? [1:53]
13. Jabs at the Dandy Warhols. [2:46]
14. Another one recorded at WFMU. [6:26]
15. Male and female vocals. [4:42]
16. FCCs: "fucking bitch", "fucking". Another jaded man song. [2:14]
17. Harmonica laden with lyrics consisting entirely of "heys" and "yous" [4:54]
**18. Sounds cheaply recorded and real country-ish; from the signing to harmonicas. [2:15]
19. Hand claps, harmonica, and the occasional female join in. Another country track. [2:39]
20. Narrative song that starts off with him stealing a car. [1:27]
21. Ramblings for redemption. [2:19]
22. Opus for a junkie hooker. [8:29]