LPCDreissues: Looking forward to the past

180 gram gatefold LP
1989's Automatic is the third album from Glasgow alternative rock institution and was engineered by Alan Moulder. At this point in their career, J&MC was essentially a duo - brothers Jim and William Reid and a drum machine. The dark, twisted pop - sometimes soaked in feedback, sometimes pounded out with drum-machine backing - of Automatic contains their most successful single up to that point, "Head On" (later covered by the Pixies). Pitchfork wrote in 2006: "Conventional wisdom wrongly calls this the dud. With the band reduced to the brothers only, things go artificial: the drum machine is foregrounded, the bass is played on keyboards, the feedback’s on vacation. In that space, the Reids take their biggest shot at doing full-on pop, something that feels like a career peak".
Tracks - Side A: 1. Here Comes Alice 2. Coast To Coast 3. Blues From A Gun 4. Beteween Planets 5. UV Ray Side B: 1. Her Way Of Praying 2. Head On 3. Take It 4. Half Way To Crazy 5. Gimme Hell"