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Nice Scream

Primal Scream - Echo Dek | Primal Scream - Vanishing Point | Tricky - Pre-Millennium Tension

Primal Scream - Echo Dek Creation/Sony

This years' excellent Vanishing Point album pointed to a rediscovery of Primal Scream's sonic adventurousnes previous effort Give Out But Don't Give Up lacked. In keeping with this, the Scream have gone and handed Vanishing Point over to dance guru Adrian Sherwood to remix and generally fuck about with. Remixing an album is an interesting concept in theory, exploring and expanding the original range of sounds, and in this case it's mostly paid off. At its best, 'Vanishing Dub' takes the frazzled grooves of 'Out Of The Void' to their final conclusion and 'Dub In Vain' is a white-noise drenched take on 'Medication'. 'Last Train' ups the beats on 'Trainspotting' and 'Revolutionary' settles 'Star' into a laid back groove. It's going to take a few listens to get your head around some of the sounds on this album, and in keeping with another 'Scream tenet, this is probably best heard on some pretty wicked drugs! The inclusion of two near identical versions of 'Stuka' perhaps could have been reconsidered, and the definitive versions of these songs are still to be found on Vanishing Point, but Echo Dek still proves an interesting curio. - Chris Butler

Primal Scream - Vanishing Point Creation/Sony

Select Article Opening the album with a series of unearthly echoes and sounds for a minute or so before the music proper begins, the sense of foreboding is increased. Have Primal Scream - the band who could only manage the limp, derivative Give Out But Don�t Give Up after their utterly shagadelic, zeitgeist defining Screamadelica album, who nearly spontaneously combusted more times than in living memory, and were widely regarded as has beens - have they finally got it right again? Well, I can say a resounding YES! When the album finally does splutter into life it is with the awesome, churning �Burning Wheel�, and it sets the agenda for the rest of the album - we�re talking basslines here, and fucking big ones, while we�re at it! The dance vibe of Screamadelica and the Stones-by-numbers of Give Out� have largely gone, though this does combine some of the better elements of both, added to the massive dub influence which underpins this album�s druggy, comedown atmospherics. The apotheosis of this is the dehumanised undulations of �Stuka�. Sung through a vocoder, Bobby Gillespie flatly intones "All my friends are gonna die young.." while the bass rises and falls around him. �Kowalski�, written as music to accompany the road movie �Vanishing Point� has got one of the biggest, dirtiest basslines this side of the Chemical Brothers, and the song is one of the most frantic, claustrophobic pieces of music you�re likely to hear. The instrumentals provide the some of the album�s really great moments - the sinuous trip hop strains of �Trainspotting�, previously heard on the soundtrack to the film of the same name still sounds unimpeachably cool, while �Get Duffy� is the lightest moment here, and has probably the only decent clarinet solo EVER. The real corker is �If They Move, Kill �Em�. This is wah-wah heaven, sent further into the stratosphere by an absolutely killer horn section! If you thought the Beasties had cornered the market in 70�s cop show/hip hop amalgams, think again, pal! �Medication� marks a brief return to the rockin� sounds of the previous album. Hell, it�s almost a rewrite of �Rocks�, but where Give Out� was all hollow bluster, �Medication� is how it should have sounded - fucked up, dirty, and pleading for some "�medication, to fill this hole." Bobby Gillespie�s vocals are his best ever, managing to capture the mood of each song - from the menacing whisper, counterpointing the maelstrom around him in �Kowalski� to singing a cover of �Motorhead� through a Darth Vader mask. His voice is to the fore in single �Star�, a sedate, horn drenched paean to rebellion and empowerment, featuring Augustus Pablo on melodica. As he croons �Every brother is a star, every sister is a star..�, while the Memphis Horns gently work their magic in the background, it�s one of the loveliest moments they�ve committed to record - a political song, but it�s not in your face. Primal Screams biggest problem has been how to follow up the masterpiece that was Screamadelica. They fell flat with their previous effort, perhaps trying too hard to differentiate that album from its predecessor. This though, is the �Scream just being themselves. As songs like �Star� and �Out of the Void� show, there�s more to these guys than junkie chic - they really do have a brain, and just as importantly, a heart. Don�t make the mistake of comparing Vanishing Point to Screamadelica, because that would be pointless - because that was then, and this is now. The Primal Scream of now have just happened to have made the album of the year, and you really can�t ask for much more. - Chris Butler

Tricky - Pre-Millennium Tension Island/Mercury

It is at quite an alarming rate that "trip hop" is becoming mainstream, I mean, how many commercials lately have started to feature a sub-Portishead backing track? Now it's good to see one of the main proponents of the style slinking back into the shadows again, for this is not a remotely commercial record. Not a record to slip into the CD player for a nice bit of "interesting" musical accompaniment to a dinner party. This is a soundtrack to smoke too much dope to, for when you are that annoying person who thinks the police are about to burst in at any moment. Claustrophobia and paranoia define this record from the opener "Vent" - the perfect musical accompaniment to an asthma attack, to the oppressive, almost industrial sounding "Bad Dreams". The overall mood only really lets up slightly on the sweet-but-tough "Makes Me Wanna Die" & the weird harmonica driven "Sex Drive". This record has a feel to it not unlike Joy Division's two albums. Though vastly different in terms of sound, all these records share a sense that there is something not quite right going on in its little world, which (fortunately) does not repel the listener, but instead draws you into its own dense and scary world. Make sure you're alone, turn all the lights out, and put this on. Paranoia never sounded quite so compelling, but then how do you know you can trust me to tell you ... ? - Chris Butler