Primal Scream – Riot City Blues / 2006 Columbia / 13 Tracks / http://www.primalscream.com / http://www.columbiarecords.com / Reviewed 20 October 2006

Primal Scream always surprises me. When I last heard them, they were doing an electronic type of thing (and I think that was about 200). This time, the band has gotten onto the retro rock bandwagon and ion “Country Girl”, have made a track that even The Rolling Stones would be proud of. This retro style presents itself again during “Nitty Gritty”, and Primal Scream seems to revel in this specific, time-based sound. There are hints of acts like Iggy Pop and the MC5, but the bulk of their influence during this track is much more in the Rolling Stones vein.

The inclusion of a set of soul singers in “Nitty Gritty” puts everything over the top; Primal Scream is not a band doing a 1966 style in 2006, but has teleported themselves back to that year. The first track that does not seem to have quite the energy of the rest of the songs on the disc has to be “Suicide Sally & Johnny Guiltar”. In this track, Primal Scream goes into a coke-speed David Bowie impersonation and what really seals the deal for me has to be the shrill guitar solo that takes center stage during the middle of the track. “When The Bomb Drops” is another track that is slightly less hooky than the rest of the songs on “Riot City Blues”.

The only thing that brings the track up to an above-average state is the very emotional guitar line that acts as a glue between the other parts of the track. Primal Scream goes absolutely off their tracks with “Little Death”, a track that is their equivalent to the final scene in Apocalypse Now. There is a high amount of tribal like arrangements that start up the track, which promptly goes into a rich and strung-out set of vocals and instrumentation. While there may be a weak track or two during “Riot City Blues”, the thing is that Primal Scream has tracks that are so amazing (like the aforementioned “Country Girl” and “Little Death”) that the disc is raised up higher than it would normally be because of them. Primal Scream have successfully reinvented their sound, and I know I will be checking out the band every few years to see if they have changed their sound any more since the last album. Primal Scream has deserved all the British (and European) #1s that they have received in the last few months.

Top Tracks: The 99th Floor, Country Girl

Rating: 6.6/10

[JMcQ]