Screamadelica

by

Primal Scream

Edit

Primal Scream are a band that move musically in so many different guises & Sounds, that If you became a fan of theirs, through a particular album, there's nothing to say that the next album is going to resemble the previous album, in any...way, shape or form. A band that reflect the musical landscape of the current time, and arguably take contemporary influences and ideas, and fashion albums that bookmark certain

periods in their career.

The year is 1991, and Britain is in the midst of a change in the current movement of music. "Dance Music" has become one of the more dominant sounds to have shaped Britain's music scene. And the majority of the music buying public has become enthralled by it, many acts producing the majority of the dance music, had discovered the drug "Ecstasy" years previous, and were, making scintillating fusions of acid, House, Techno & Alternative Dance. Primal Scream themselves had become no strangers to the Drug, and although their form of all-encompassing rock was extremely diverse, it wasn't truly representative of the explosion of Dance orientated music entering the charts. That's when the band hooked up with highly regarded Dance producer "Andy Weatherall", who'd worked on everything from: downbeat, Experimental techno, IDM, Acid, Dance. And would lend his considerable dance productions skills to embellish the album with a sunny-eyed optimism, and Hedonistic glow, (along with a helping of deep psychedelic / Exuberant arrangements).

"Movin' on Up", begins with a gospel-tinged soaring & joyous chorus, opening everything wide open and turning their previous sound of alternative dance-rock inside out by easing back on the rock dynamics, but not completely abandoning it, and fusing it with a effervescent exercise of modern dance sounds & imagination, with singer/frontman "Bobby Gillespie" singing plaintively "I've found what I'm looking for!!"...what exactly Gillespie has found isn't made entirely clear, (although it wouldn't take a genius to guess), and it's here that throughout the album a lot of the lyrical content can be open to more than one interpretation.

"Slip inside This House", locks 80's rave beats with a slightly psychedelic eastern guitar (possibly a "Sitar"), it's a highly imaginative fusion of two distinctly different sounds, and the influence on the production has "Andy Weatherall's" ideas stamped all over it. Something of a throwback to the days of Warehouse Raves, through a restrained slower melody, this is far more considered & slower paced than anything the band have previously attempted, over which Gillespie cryptically chants "Trip inside".

"Don't Fight It, Feel It" uses a reverberated bass, to elastic effect, over which the tune is stretched over, before the bassline is interupted, with female vocals, and prominent squelchy synths, take precedence, almost neo-psychedelic in approach, and such a monumental step forward for what the band is primarily known for, that it seems impossible to link this new sound, to anything the band have ever previously done. Interestingly the female vocals sing: "I want to Dance to the music, before getting High", alongisde minimal drum percussion, with the occasional euphoric looping keyboard bursts free, with surprising gusto.

"Higher Than the Sun", brings a spooky-ambience to begin with, with various sampled vocal wails, throwing the listener into (slight) confusion, before giving way to a slow horror-soundtrack inspired arrangement, that begins to gather pace, then disjointed beats with synth melodies soar & Conflict against each other, with Gillespie singing a ballad-like "Higher than the Sun" vocal. Layers of booming almost Breakbeat beats begin to take hold....a very unusual track by conventional song structure methods, but still arguably stunning.

The centrepiece track in-amongst this beautifully Euphoric rush of an album, is the breathtaking "Come Together", with a snippet of movie dialogue saying "It's a Beautiful Day", "We are Together", as church organs begin to swirl into the sound, mixed with synchronised hand-clapping (Possibly sampled from an actual Church congregation), and the minimal Drum Hi-Hat gaining momentum, before a gradually soaring arrangement of Dance Beats, begin to thump into action, driving the sound into a truly ambitiously soaked sound of Dance/Gospel Fusion......."Together as one" is the chanted message of the group of female voices singing in harmony, and it quite a breathtaking air of euphoria surrounding it, unquestionably one of the best tracks on the album.

"Loaded", another of the albums strongest tracks, opens with more snippets of movie dialogue, with the sample "We Wanna get loaded & have a good Time", showing the tracks statement of intent, and couldn't be more apt. Trumpet sections soar, minimal dance beats intertwine with everything, and shredding Guitars punctuate halfway through, being interspersed with more Clips of movie Dialogue saying "We Want to Be free, to do what we want to Do!!?", liberal use of backing female choruses, gives the track a level of unity & hedonism, that most conventional dance music couldn't possibly had to emulate....and to end the track with the sampled "We wanna get loaded, and have a good time", is a tremendous closer, for a truly stunning track.

To compare this albums against Primal Scream's previous albums is a redundant exercise, as it so out of step with what they've previously done before, that a reasonable judgement, becomes incredibly hard. This is such a brilliantly realised and produced album, that is such a monumental step forward for the band, that those that listen to it for the first time, will (initially) have difficulty believing it to be the same band. Even more astonishingly, is the fact that even though this was created around the time of the Dance music boom (in the U.K.) in the early 90's, it doesn't sound horribly dated, listening to it some 13+ years later (partly due to Andy Weatherall's incredible production). Few would argue, that this & XTRMNTR are the finest two albums Primal scream have ever made thus far, utterly essential.

Hailed as one of the key dance albums of the nineties, "Screamadelica" is indeed an important and challenging record, even if its "classic" status seems a bit over the top. True, it mixes a lot of different musical styles and references and delivers an impressive combo that includes electro, gospel, pop, soul, rock, shoegazer, funk and a little of everything else. Yet, it has its share of filler moments as some of the songs sound too dated today (the ordinary dance number of "Don`t Fight It, Feel It" or the tedious "Damaged" and "I`m Comin` Down"). It`s a well-crafted album nonetheless, and a couple of parts truly shine (the hypnotic and dazzling "Higher Than the Sun", the infectious "Come Together" or the urban hymn "Loaded"). All in all, "Screamadelica" still sounds somewhat fresh and appealing nowadays, even if it has some flaws, and proves the vitality of one of the most innovative bands around.

Impressive enough yet far from stunning.