New Music: Happy Mondays: "Jelly Bean (extended mix)"
Who needs the Smoking Gun when you've got Shaun Ryder? On the heels of a "trainwreck" Coachella performance (which hopefully won't be repeated when they perform June 13 and 14 at NYC's Nokia Theatre as part of In the City of New York), the extended mix of Happy Mondays' comeback single starts off like someone's taking Ryder's rider: "Anything you request, we will get ya," comes the Madchester icon's unmistakable, distorted shout. What Ryder wants, apparently, involves jelly beans. OK, drug users, what's that slang for?
Unhappily, "Jelly Bean" indulges in unfocused synth-and-guitar drone, with a baggy-era bass groove and plenty of Ryder's drunk-sounding slur-- including a soaring, stupid chorus. "Now that I am naked, I'm a lady," Ryder declares. And keeps declaring, as the single drags on for nearly six minutes of musings about Ryder's fictitious female body parts. "I make crazy babies," he adds. These days, Working for a Nuclear Free City are making much better Mondays songs, thanks, and I'm just glad Ryder isn't my mother.
MP3: > Happy Mondays: "Jelly Bean"
[from Uncle Dysfunctional; due on Sanctuary UK]