I recently went back to Automatic. It was pretty good! The Jesus and Mary Chain went full rock ‘n roll on Automatic, and that of course turned many people off. No more of the sugary pop that was on Psychocandy or Darklands, the Reid brothers are bad to the bone on this one. As usual with them, I detect a strong Lou Reed influence all over this album. It’s like they took the title track from White Light/White Heat, gave it a modern, harder-rocking sound and enough tricks to fill an album with it.

It works. Automatic is a slick and cool album that represents the JaMC’s posturing sense of style very well. They actually explored some rockier songs on Psychocandy, like “The Living End,” for example. The noise fuzz is mostly gone on this album, but the band (or duo, rather) sounds the most confident yet—perhaps a little overly confident, but I think that attitude works in the album’s favor.

I’ve also heard people complain about the synthesized bass and drum machine on Automatic, but they give the album a very mechanical, motor-like chug (and Bobby Gillespie is the world’s most mediocre drummer, so it doesn’t matter that he’s gone). With confrontational song titles such as “Here Comes Alice,” “Blues From a Gun,” “Head On,” “Take It,” and “Gimme Hell,” it’s clear Automatic is an album moving at full throttle, windows rolled down with the wind blowing through the Reid brothers’ hair.

Once the initial shock of Automatic being a different direction for the band wears off, hop in your coolest ride, roll down the highway at top speed, and give Automatic another chance. I can’t be the only one who doesn’t regret it.