Primal Scream - Screamadelica

YOURZ

Ha, well there you go.  Listening to Screamadelica for this review is the first time I've heard this album.  I remember when it was released and the fuss a lot of my contemporaries made about it.  And of course I remember the singles Movin' On Up and Loaded.  But this is only because these songs were everywhere back then. 

In '91, I was listening to grunge and indie rock, not to raver music.  About the only thing I think I shared with the raver culture back then was the drugs and even then, I would have been considered a light-weight.

So, the dubby Inner Flight and the very classic-sounding Damaged were a real surprise and a treat to hear for the first time.  I was honestly surprised with the depth and substance of the tracks on Screamadelica and the production is simply stunning.  Now I understand the importance of this album, in as much as it was a huge influence on a whole swag of bands but also because it crossed genres and broke down boundaries with impunity.  What a truly excellent piece of music.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

MINE

Was that really 1991?  I was a bit late to the Summer of Love, but by '91 I was embracing my inner drug-soaked hippie with abandon, attending regular raves wearing weird and wonderful costumes, usually consisting of very little, and I know Loaded was a big part of the soundtrack to that time of my life.  So much so that this is the second copy of this CD I've owned.  It's funny, each time I open the case I'm waiting for it to aome apart in my hands and for the disc to crash to the floor, as its predecessor often did.

There's so much on Screamadelica apart from the obvious "We wanna get high!" reference.  I've previously mentioned the opening number is on my funeral wishlist (gloomy guts that I am) and there's more than one gospel reference in this Mercury prize-winning album.  I also love Don't Fight It, Feel It and Damaged.

The only thing I want more than more Primal Scream - especially XTRMNTR and Give Out But Don't Give Up which we really should own - is for a fairy godmother to grant me a trip to London to hear Screamadelica being played live in its entirety, in November.  I can only wish.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information: http://www.primalscream.net/