“Sometimes Always” by The Jesus and Mary Chain featuring Hope Sandoval

"Sometimes Always" opened the campaign for Stoned & Dethroned, the Jesus and Mary Chain's fifth album, going out through Blanco y Negro in 1994 as the record's first single. William Reid wrote it and plays guitar on it, and the Scottish band turn it into a duet: Jim Reid trading lines with Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star.

It's a song that lets its tune breathe. The guitars are acoustic and slide, lazy and sun-dazed, with Ben Lurie on bass and guitar and Steve Monti on percussion, and Dick Meaney mixed it. Jim Reid's weary drawl and Sandoval's hazy murmur circle each other, rough and smooth in the same breath.

It was a modest hit in Britain, stirred up the American alternative scene, and critics have since singled it out as one of the album's best songs.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.