Pitchfork

Front page photo by Eirik Lande

Think back-- way back-- to April of last year, when we told you about a box set of Jesus and Mary Chain rarities being put together by Rhino Records with curatorial assistance from JAMC founder Jim Reid. Well, it took a little longer than expected, but the four-CD, 81-track box set is all ready to go for a September 30 release. And apparently both Reid siblings, Jim and William, were involved in its creation.

It's called The Power of Negative Thinking: B-Sides & Rarities, it's got quite a few tracks precious few humans without the Reid surname have ever heard, and it'll be packaged in a fancy 6" x 10" gatefold shell packed with plenty of extra swag. There's interviews with both Jim and William Reid. There's rare photos of the band throughout their storied history. And there's a double-sided poster sporting artwork from the band's singles on one side, and on the other, a hand-drawn family tree charting the band's ever-changing lineup. If you don't mind forgoing the dry goods, the set will also be available digitally.

Note to Jesus and Mary Chain obsessives: Yes, everything that was on 1988 rarities compilation Barbed Wire Kisses is on this box set... except for the live cover of Can's "Mushroom". No, we don't know why that's missing.

The JAMC have a handful of shows on the docket throughout the rest of the year, including a short but sweet West Coast run in the middle of next month. And then that new album, right?

The Power of Negative Thinking:

Disc one:

01 Up Too High (previously unreleased)
02 Upside Down
03 Vegetable Man
04 Suck
05 Ambition
06 Just out of Reach
07 Boyfriend's Dead
08 Head
09 Just Like Honey (demo Oct. '84)
10 Cracked
11 Taste of Cindy (acoustic version)
12 The Hardest Walk
13 Never Understand (alternate, previously unreleased)
14 My Little Underground (demo, previously unreleased)
15 The Living End (demo, previously unreleased)
16 Some Candy Talking
17 Psychocandy
18 Hit
19 Cut Dead (acoustic)
20 You Trip Me Up (acoustic)
21 Walk and Crawl (previously unreleased)

Disc two:

01 Kill Surf City
02 Bo Diddley Is Jesus
03 Who Do You Love
04 Everything's Alright When You're Down
05 Shake
06 Happy When It Rains (demo)
07 Happy Place
08 F.Hole
09 Rider
10 On the Wall (Porta Studio demo)
11 Surfin' USA (April outtake)
12 Here It Comes Again
13 Don't Ever Change
14 Swing
15 Sidewalking
16 Surfin' USA (summer mix)
17 Shimmer
18 Penetration
19 Break Me Down
20 Subway
21 My Girl

Disc three:

01 In the Black
02 Terminal Beach
03 Deviant Slice
04 I'm Glad I Never
05 Drop (acoustic remix)
06 Rollercoaster
07 Silverblade
08 Lowlife
09 Tower of Song
10 Heat
11 Guitarman
12 Why'd You Want Me
13 Sometimes
14 Teenage Lust (acoustic version)
15 Reverberation (Doubt)
16 Don't Come Down
17 Snakedriver
18 Something I Can't Have
19 Write Record Release Blues
20 Little Red Rooster

Disc four:

01 The Perfect Crime
02 Little Stars
03 Drop (re-recorded)
04 I'm in With the Out Crowd
05 New York City
06 Taking It Away
07 Ghost of a Smile
08 Alphabet Street
09 Coast to Coast (alternate take, William Reid vocals, previously unreleased)
10 Dirty Water (demo, William Reid vocals, previously unreleased)
11 Till I Found You (previously unreleased)
12 Bleed Me
13 33 1/3
14 Lost Star
15 Hide Myself
16 Rocket
17 Easylife, Easylove
18 40,000K
19 Nineteen666

JAMC:

07-16 Seattle, WA - Showbox SODO
07-17 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom
07-19 San Francisco, CA - Shoreline Amphitheatre (Download Festival)
07-20 Los Angeles, CA - Gibson Amphitheatre (Download Festival
08-09 Osaka, Japan - Summer Sonic Festival
08-10 Tokyo, Japan - Summer Sonic Festival
10-31 Buenos Aires, Argentina - Club Ciudad
11-08 Sao Paolo, Brazil - Planetta Terra Festival