The Brain Jonestown Massacre – ‘Tepid Peppermint Wonderland’: a Retrospective (TeePee Records)

Whilst browsing in the library the other day I perchanced upon a new copy of this double CD collection, presumably put together to coincide with the resurgence of interest in the Brian Jonestown Massacre as thousands of folks previously unaware of their work witness the band’s larger than life presence and dysfunctional antics in Ondi Timoner’s excellent and successful film Dig!, and head to the record shops to find out more.

As one of those aforementioned folks, and as someone who felt the BJM actually came across as a pretty cool band in the movie despite all the idiocy and nonsense, I figure this should be a pretty entertaining listen well worthy of the 90p rental charge.

So what’s the verdict? Well be aware when reading what follows that I’m an incurable lover of ‘60s rock kitsch, and shake your head sadly and mock and deride me all you like, but shit man, I can’t help what I feel, and what I feel is that this is really rather fucking good!

Shamelessly and entirely retrogressive, compositionally and lyrically conservative, egocentric dilettantes living out obsolete rock star fantasies, obnoxious time-wasters, "Oasis with phaser pedals & better haircuts"... all of these are perfectly valid criticisms of the Brain Jonestown Massacre, but alla that’s just so much water off a duck’s back once this gear actually hits my stereo.

Let’s be clear from the outset that what we’re dealing with here is a 100% proof tribute to the '60s, direct from the mind a single-minded obsessive whom you can imagine probably saw footage of the 'Stones circa Aftermath on TV some time in early childhood, and instantly decided life on earth didn’t get much better than that. Subsequently he probably picked up the Nuggets box set, the first Velvets album, some Byrds and Love, whatever, but he clearly knows what he likes and anything post-'69 or with less than 18 guitar strings in evidence is out the fucking window.

Cool with that? Good – let’s tuck in! Because the things Anton Newcombe likes about '60s music are substantially the same things I like about it, and whatever else there might be to say about him (and unfortunately there is much to say), his talent for pushing his fever dreams of imaginary psychedelic pop glory out of his head and into living, breathing reality is second to none. Take any number of songs from this collection, and you can be sure that if I’d discovered them hidden away on a 2nd hand LP or post-Nuggets compilation, they’d get an instant “HELL YEAH!” reaction and earn an honorary place on my mental list of prime psyche gear. Admittedly, there’s nothing particularly freaky, noisy or unprecedented going on here to excite the ears of serious heads or collectors, and furthermore the dice are probably loaded in the bands favour here in that this is a selection of the best tracks culled from a far larger body of work, and the quality still starts to sag a little on the second disc..... but for anyone who still gets a kick out of that elusive alchemy of beautiful and faintly mysterious multi-layered guitar textures, foppish rock n’ roll swagger and dazed n’ confused, lysergic emotional reverie that characterises the best mid-‘60s flower-punk - well make no mistake, the BJM got it DOWN.

And there’s over two straight hours of it here! So you can do what you like unbeliever – I’m gonna wash my pyjamas, turn up the heating and put the fuckin’ kettle on, cos this one’s gonna be seeing me straight through to spring.

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Also, another point worth mentioning, and one which was surprisingly left unexplored by Dig!’s otherwise exhaustive trawl of the rivalry between the two bands (possibly for legal reasons?), is the amount of stuff the Dandy Warhols have directly and unapologetically ripped from the Brain Jonestown Massacre back catalogue;

So rev up your downloading machines, and have a listen to the BJM’s “When Jokers Attack” (recorded 1997) and the Warhols’ “Godless” (recorded 2001?), and tell me that wouldn’t be actionable in court.

But then, the BJM stole pretty much the entirety of the Byrds “Feel a Whole Lot Better” for their song “This is Why You Love Me”, and in essence their entire career is based on thinly veiled tributes to stuff recorded before they were born, so swings and roundabouts.

At the end of the day I’m glad they exist.