The Power of Negative Thinking: B-Sides & Rarities


The Power of Negative Thinking: B-Sides & Rarities is a box set compilation album by Scottish alternative rock band The Jesus and Mary Chain, released on November 19, 2007.
It consists of material from the Barbed Wire Kisses, The Sound of Speed and The Jesus And Mary Chain Hate Rock 'n' Roll compilations, alongside unreleased tracks and rarities from throughout their career; including early performances, unheard demos, re-mixes, alternate versions of some songs and bootleg recordings.

Reception

Matt Collar of Allmusic felt that the collection represented the band in a "more honest portrait"... "than even the studio albums reveal. Often mischaracterized as gloomy, goth rock misanthropes -- only partly true -- JAMC were in truth huge fans of '60s sunshine pop, surf rock, and even hip-hop and aspired to a kind of D.I.Y. Phil Spector Wall of Sound aesthetic that found them substituting Spector's strings and horns with walls of feedbacking guitar." and concluded "Ultimately, The Power of Negative Thinking isn't the whole JAMC story, but it's the whole story behind the scenes and A-side singles, and sometimes the B-sides. Even better."
Aaron Brophy of Chart Attack observed, "When you look at it carefully, what the Chain attempted to do was nothing short of redefining the parameters and reigniting the spirit of rock 'n' roll. That's a lot to put on the shoulders of a couple angry brothers from Glasgow who dressed in too much black, but few others since them have done as much to advance the sound of old school rock 'n' roll."

Personnel