Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Chicago Tribune
Los Angeles Times
Mojo
NME	8/10
Pitchfork Media	7.8/10
Q
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
Select	5/5
The Village Voice	B−

Automatic is the third album by Scottish alternative rock band The Jesus and Mary Chain. The group on this record is basically the core duo of brothers William and Jim Reid with a drum machine providing percussion and even a synthesizer filling in on bass guitar. The only other credited musician was Richard Thomas who joined the touring version of The Jesus and Mary Chain as a drummer. Thomas drummed on "Gimme Hell" and was a former member of Dif Juz. He also made appearances on Cocteau Twins' 1986 Victorialand LP and This Mortal Coil's 1986 Filigree & Shadow.

Although released to generally poor reviews at the time (with the aforementioned synthesized drums and bass being the biggest point of contention), Automatic contains their most successful single in America up to that point, "Head On" (later covered by Pixies). Critical and fan reception has improved with the passage of time. Pitchfork Media wrote in 2006: "Conventional wisdom wrongly calls (Automatic) the dud," of the JAMC's discography, but that in hindsight the album "feels like a career peak" and has been a fan favourite.

The last two tracks, "Drop" and "Sunray", do not appear on vinyl LP versions of the album.

All songs written by Jim Reid and William Reid.

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