Evil Heat

by

Primal Scream

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Manchester's Primal Scream are what hundreds of untalented L.A. bands aspire to be: A swaggering, smirking Molotov of fist pumping anthems and drug induced slow jams. It's the aural equivalent of a back alley knife fight between punk, glam, house, psychedelia, rock, and all out noise. And they make it sound so easy too. Well, in all honesty, if I could get Robert Plant (Led Something-Or-Other), Kevin Shields (My Bloody Valentine), Jim Reid (Jesus And Mary Chain), and supermodel Kate Moss (!?) to pop into the studio one day and muck about on MY newest album, I'd think I was pretty frickin' cool too.

In the two and a half minute first single, "Miss Lucifer," the band effectively grabs you by your nether regions, squeezes tightly and politely asks "Do I have your attention yet?" It's a hyper-kinetic burst of sleazy techno-punk that makes you want to run around the room and break things. (It also marks the first time I ever used the "repeat one song" button on my CD player. I listened to it about five or six times in a row on the way home from work tonight. I'm lucky I made it home in one piece.)

Ringleader Bobby Gillespie screeches and yowls and snarls and poses his way through the album, getting by more on charisma and a good punk sneer than real singing ability. The lyrics are, admittedly, jingoistic and inconsequential, but are nonetheless fun. "Skull X" and "City" are relatively straightforward garage punk tunes. "The Lord Is My Shotgun" sports the distinctive harmonica work of Mr. Robert Plant and a drum machine beat reminiscent of NIN's "Closer" for a song that sounds like the middle ground between both bands. "Deep Hit Of Morning Sun" and "Autobahn 66" offer some chemically-inspired psychedelia as a change of pace from all the breakneck rocking out. "Rise" is a call to action set to a steady, almost military drumming while the delicate, organ-laden "Space Blues #2" ends the hedonism with a nice denouement.

If there's a weak link here, it's in the limited edition bonus DVD. The video for "Miss Lucifer" is awesome (Devil chicks dancing at a rave? A guy shooting lightning out of his hands? How can you go wrong?) and the video for "Autobahn 66" is solid, but the live tracks fall well short of what they could be. Gillespie looks bored out of his mind, standing stock still through uninspired renditions of "Skull X," "Rocks," and "Swastika Eyes." How anyone could perform this music without getting hyped up is beyond me. (A chemical cocktail before the show, perhaps?) But if you want to display the band in the best light possible, why include footage where the lead singer looks half asleep? The band all acquit themselves well enough, but it isn't until "Kowalski" and "Movin' On Up" that Bobby shows any signs of life at all. It's worth watching for the "Miss Lucifer" video, but it could have been much more.

At a moment in time where jock rock is waning and cooler-than-thou garage rock is on the rise, it's a pleasure to hear vets like Primal Scream offer a nice alternative to the same ol' same ol'.

Pretty basic stuff covered in electronic fuzz. It's cool sounding but not that challenging musically. But they do build on this basic bedrock with additional electronic layers and tangents which are kinda trippy. The songs themselves are rather repetitive. "Rise" and "Miss Lucifer" are particularly lukewarm and monotonous. A bit tired really. And the lyrics are pretentious and just try too hard to be cool, but still, they're easy to ignore.

Many will no doubt like the repetition and other aspects I'm criticising. Jim Reed of Jesus & Mary Chain sings on "Detroit" and, although that band made surf music with heavy guitar distortion (the early stuff at least), a lot of their music is basic, simple chord progressions (although my fav album of theirs HONEY'S DEAD has a lot more going for it). Anyway, if you like that band you might go for EVIL HEAT even though it's basically electro.

Things get better starting with "The Lord Is My Shotgun" which is cool and subversively intense. Robert Plant of all people blows some harp on it. None of this album is as good as Kevin Shields' My Bloody Valentine, but he contributes some cool acid-wash guitar to EVIL HEAT. And "Some Velvet Morning" and "Skull X" get a bit more musical, too.

Pretty good album, not bad, but not great.