Jim Reid - Dead End Kids

  by Anthony Strutt

published: 7 / 7 / 2006

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Review

This is the second solo CD single from the former Jesus and Mary Chain member, whom had their whole Warners back catalogue re-released two weeks ago on Rhino as remasters, but sadly in the UK as single CDs and not as dual discs as they were in the USA. 'Dead End Kids' has been in Jim's set for a few years now, and is as strong as any of his songs with the Jesus and Mary Chain. The song is about a screwed up kid. Jim has backing now from Phil King on guitar, who appeared on the last Jesus and Mary Chain album 'Munki' which as it came out on Creation has sadly not been remastered, and Laurence Colbert from Ride on drums. They give 'Dead End Kids' a big feel. It has the classic line of "I'm a rock'n'roll amputation" which sounds so cool coming from Jim. 'If You Gotta go', the main B side, is a cover of a Bob Dylan song from the 60's, although it was not finally issued until the early 90's on the 'Bootleg Series Volume 2'. On record it sounds more like the Velvet Underground while live it sounds like Dylan, but Jim does it justice in both cases. It is one of my favourite tracks at the moment. The last track is a demo of 'Dead End Kids'. It is a home demo and was recorded with a drum machine, but it still sounds great even in this earliest form.

Track Listing:-

1 Dead End Kids
2 If You Gotta Go
3 Dead End Kids (Demo)