- See all the Ratings
- Add my Rating now
(Sony)
It has become clear, 14 years on, that the black protest sample from 1990’s “Come Together” was intended as Primal Scream’s manifesto: “gospel, and rhythm and blues, and jazz: all those are just labels. We know that music is music.” Even though this compilation begins after the band had already changed their stripes once, with their rebirth as acid house sampologists in 1990, it nonetheless includes at least two radical direction changes: the retro Stones-worship that nearly killed their career after Screamadelica, and then the neo-industrial aggressive electronica of their last three albums. You need to look to Madonna and U2 to find a stylistic chameleon this resilient. It’s all here on this well-weighted retrospective: roughly four songs from each of their five post-1990 records, starting with the untouchable cool groove of “Loaded” and ending with the Sergeant Pepper meets Art of Noise ambience of “Autobahn 66”, off 2002’s Evil Heat.
With the exception of “Loaded”, much of Screamadelica now sounds dated to me. The whistles of “Don’t Fight It, Feel It” I find particularly hard to take, while the ballpark organs of “Come Together” only just avoid naffness. And crucify me, but “Higher than the Sun” now sounds gimmicky, over-produced and self-parodical. On the other hand, in the current AC/DC charged climate, “Rocks” and “Jailbird” sound incredibly contemporary, and remind you that whatever silly drug-addled mumbojumbo Bobby Gillespie might succumb to (imagine making an entire concept album about your favourite 70’s B movie), his conviction is always palpable.
The second half is the most interesting, 2000’s Exterminator (Swastika Eyes, Kill All Hippies) being the awesome and terrifying creation it is, and the “Some Velvet Morning” cover off Evil Heat is an enthralling black joke, with Kate Moss singing the chilly psychedelic chorus on the back of a gothic Depeche Mode riff. Kowalski, an ode to the speed (get it?) junky hero of “Vanishing Point”, aside from being another apocalyptic industrial groove in the school of Meat Beat Manifesto and PWEI, also implements the lesson Andy Weatherall taught them on his epoch-defining remix of “Loaded”: the cool road movie sample maketh the hit.
Primal Scream have always done brilliant collaborations. The work of Weatherall and the Orb on Screamadelica is legendary, not to mention the Chemical Brothers’ inspired remixes of “Jailbird” (sadly missing from the limited edition bonus disc) and “Stuka” (present), Massive Attack’s take on “Exterminator,” dub legend Adrian Sherwood’s interpretation of “Living Dub” and the Automator’s respectful rendition of “Kowalski” (both present). They also made the smart move of commissioning gifted graphic designer Julian House to do the militaristic sleeve for Exterminator. Given this talent for picking the right wingman, it is not surprising that the limited edition remix CD is on a par with the untampered collection. Call me sentimental but the standouts are Andy Weatherall’s contributions, with Sabres of Paradise on “Jailbird” and Two Lone Swordsmen on “Stuka” and “Some Velvet Morning”. Minimalist and techno purist in flavour, the technophobic menace of these versions makes the originals sound like nursery rhymes.
Five albums is a good stretch to put on a best of, especially when those albums map a lot of the big things that happened to English music in the 90’s. We wanna get loaded, and we wanna have a good time.
