Because We Don't Do Everything Together - Primal Scream

MINE

I'd ummed and aaahed about going to this gig for a while - chiefly because all the tickets sold out and were being hawked on eBay for ridiculous sums.  But then!  They moved the venue to a larger one, issued more tickets, and finally I got to go and see one of The Albums That Changed My Life being performed in its entirety.

Screamadelica has been reviewed in these pages before, when I wished for a fairy godmother to grant me a trip to see just this show.  You know how I feel about it, so I won't be telling you about the songs.  What I will tell you is that Bobby Gillespie is still as skinny as a streak of pelican shit, has his own hair and a well-developed dress sense, and the band... the band can play their bloody socks off!

Although it was in a way quite fabulous to see them at Selina's, a venue I used to frequent a lot in my youth - it's just down the road from a few places I've lived in over the years - in many other ways it was awful.  There are much better venues in Sydney these days, and just because you can fit more people in to see a band, doesn't mean you should.  Also, this was the first time I'd been screened by the Coogee Bay Hotel's new identification system - which scanned my fingerprint!  How high-tech and deeply Big-Brotherish. 

But although I'd timed my arrival so I'd miss the support act (sorry about that, but going to a band on my own means they get the heave-ho) the distinct lack of bar facilities per head of punter meant I saw the first two songs off the album while waiting in line for a drink.  I'd had the foresight to stand in the line closest to the stage, so managed to shake my tailfeather while waiting - that is until some gurning twat proceeded to pant and sweat all over me while - get this - trying to pick me up!  Truly, it was hard to resist the temptation to point out I was old enough to be his mother's younger sister (ahem), but I must admit thinking to myself "That Revlon Photo Finishing Powder was well worth the cash" - well, it was either that or his drug-addled eyesight.

After grabbing two vodka-and-somethings I found a place to stand at the side of the stage where there was just barely enough room to breathe.  Fortunately Screamadelica  has some nice quiet songs in the middle section.  Unfortunately the Essex Girl in front of me was using them to discuss something (her truly appalling haircut?) with her boyfriend.  In fact, the whole place appeared to be backpacker central, and it reminded me just exactly why I've enjoyed our move one suburb down the coast - less Likely Lads and Lasses throwing up on the footpath every weekend.

After the album was through, the lads came back on stage for a bunch of great songs from other albums - Country Girl, Jailbird, Suicide Bomb and Rocks - after which I quickly ducked outside and into the first cab I could find, before that crowd came boiling out on to the pavement.  I wouldn't have missed it for the world, even though I had seen them before ('95 Big Day Out).  These guys can play.  That gig was stifling hot and they rocked its collective socks off.

VERDICT: Vital!

Sorry there's no pics - I am truly useless with a camera phone, and most cameras generally.

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/

Regurgitator - Mish Mash

YOURZ

This isn't the best Regurgitator album. But for the barest millimetres, the pointy stick could have landed on a number of better ones, like their debut Tu Plang or their poppy follow-up, Unit.  But it didn't.

It's not a bad album, as 'Gurge albums go. It could've been covers of Oasis songs or Dan Brown put to music but thankfully, it's not. The big(ish) claim to fame regarding this album is it was recorded during their 'Band In A Bubble' show of a few years ago, where the band and a few extras locked themselves in a glass house for three weeks in the middle of Federation Square in Melbourne, Australia.

They were filmed from every angle as they struggled to write and record songs and also cope with the fact they were being watched 24/7.  There were inspirational moments, arguments, fights, silliness and lots of malarkey.  The tracks written and recorded in the Bubble were then polished and released as Mish Mash.  At the end of the three weeks, the band came out of the Bubble to perform to a huge live crowd.  Quan Yeomans, guitarist and vocalist for the band, soon moved to Hong Kong, where he currently resides.  Make what you will of this.

Mish Mash is an appropriate title for the album as is does seem to be bits and pieces of everything lumped together.  This isn't a particularly bad thing as throughout their career, Regurgitator have made a habit of reinventing themselves, sometimes numerous times within a single disc.  Previously, this added to their overall charm and kept the listener on their toes.  With this album, though, I think there's a bit more mish than mash.  But the energy of their tracks is undeniable.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP (at least for the first half of the album, anyway)

MINE

When I think of Regurgitator, one emotion always flows to the top of my consciousness - regret. You see, I had the chance to see them play for free in '96, when I left accounting to study broadcasting, but because I hadn't heard any of their music I opted out of following my fellow students to the concert. I was a bit older than them, and frankly the name of the band just put me off. They came back raving about how good it had been.

And then I heard Tu-Plang. And I realised this was exactly the sort of live act I love - mixing genres, providing a good hard dance beat with some rockin' guitars and unafraid of electronica. The sort of sound that prompted me to be up front for Primal Scream and later got me to fall in love with Apollo 440.

However, I'm not that keen on Mish Mash. The first song's really good, the sort that reminds me why I like them so much, some are so-so and some are a little patchy. But it's reminded me that I need to establish exactly which songs from all the albums in our collection are the booty-shakin' variety, and put them on my Shuffle for pumping at the gym.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP (skip the boring ones)

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

In our collection we also have Tu Plang, Unit, Eduardo And Rodriguez Wage War On T-Wrecks and Love and Paranoia