Ahhh, Stoned And Dethroned. The “what the fuck are they doing!?” for many longtime Jesus And Mary Chain fans. After four albums of brazen, loud, catchy rock music, the Reid brothers mysteriously left their distortion pedals at home. Stoned And Dethroned is largely semi-acoustic, devoid of feedback and anything but loud.

The thing is, it’s still a really good record.

Couldn’t get it for a while. Out of print. But Warner’s brought it back, along with other JAMC records, and tossed in some bonus features to boot (see below).

The Jesus And Mary Chain never got their due when it came to songwriting. Fact is, few could take two or three basic chords and craft the kind of simple yet memorable melodies like these guys. Yet the focus was always on the noise, the feedback, the attitude and their legendary early shows – 20-minute walls of noise. They could write good pop tunes, but no one talked about that. So maybe, just maybe, Stoned And Dethroned was a reaction to the perception people had of the band, an attempt to show the world that, hey, we can write great songs, even when they’re quiet.

Some might say the attempt failed miserably, spelling the end of The Jesus And Mary Chain as a semi-popular band. But the dirty secret few want to admit is … it’s actually a really good album, packed with good songs and singable melodies.

Don’t feel bad, guys. Bigger rock bands than you have fallen in the same way. Take a gander at Smashing Pumpkins and their ill-advised (yet still brilliant) record Adore, the death knell of one of the 1990s' biggest bands, all because a band known for RAWK! decided to play it quiet for an album. You fellas tried to bring the noise back in your follow-ups, Hate Rock N’ Roll and Munki, but like the Pumpkins grand failure, Machina, the damage had already been done.

Stoned And Dethroned has a lot going for it. The opener, Dirty Water, is pretty damn nifty. Sometimes Always features the amazing, lovely, I-wish-she-was-on-more-albums vocals of Hope Sandoval in 2:20 of pop goodness. The “big” single, Come On, is just plain good, catchy stuff. And that’s just in the first four tracks. Solid stuff from start to finish that may not bring the noise, but certainly brings the melodies.

Added bonus? This new re-release by Warner Music. After falling out of print, the Jesus And Mary Chain catalog is coming back, and with some extra features to make them worth your dollar.

These new releases are pretty sweet not just for new fans who couldn’t get Jesus And Mary Chain records in North America over the last few years, but also for longtime fans. They’re all two-sided discs; one side a CD, the other a DVD. On one side you get the album as you’ve always known and loved it. On the other, Nifty New Stuff (tm). First, you get a Dolby enhanced version of the album that sounds just great on a home theater system. If you’ve moved into the home theater age, this is exactly how you want to hear your music. As an added bonus, Warner Music/Rhino includes three music videos – Sometimes Always, Come On and Snakedriver. (Wait … Snakedriver? As in, from Honey’s Dead?) – on this new release of Stoned And Dethroned.

No, it’s not going to make longtime fans who have all the albums rush out to buy them all again, but these should be very enticing to anyone thinking about checking out the band, and the Dolby mixes make for a nice upgrade for fans who only want the best of the best.

Sure, sure, Psychocandy, Honey’s Dead and Automatic are all better records … but that doesn’t mean Stoned And Dethroned stinks. ‘Cause it doesn’t.