Primal Scream: C or D?

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Utterly classic since I never have to hear their little politicalstyle rants. Stones worship aside I like just about everything else.
And they were the namechecked band that gave Christian Slater his indie cred in Pump Up The Volume♪s openning sequence, with a taped copy of Screamadelica sitting on top of the stack. How cutting edge, how undergroünd!

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Monday, 23 September 2002 13:01 (twenty-three years ago)

What bugs me the most about the new Scream LP is that it seems to want to equate noisy (or bad) production with danger. It doesn't stop me listening to the record and liking it, but some of the production sounds like a bad demo and it distracts from what could be an even better album. Maybe it's Kevin S's ears that are fucked, I dunno... maybe it's mine...

In the meantime, love 'em, from indie jangle onwards. Still think they did the worst gig I've ever seen in '94 though.

― Rob M, Monday, 23 September 2002 13:06 (twenty-three years ago)

Is anyone else a tad surprised by the direction this thread is taking? Where are all the haterz?

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 23 September 2002 13:10 (twenty-three years ago)

Afraid of a bitchslap to the head from MEEEEE!!!

― bobby gee, Monday, 23 September 2002 13:12 (twenty-three years ago)

we'll if only Bobby was REALLY here I think all the ''haterz'' would come out.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Monday, 23 September 2002 13:17 (twenty-three years ago)

the most interesting uninteresting band in Blighty - classic

― blueski, Monday, 23 September 2002 16:23 (twenty-three years ago)

I need a few more spins on it but Evil Heat is Vanshing Point to EXTRMNTR's Screamadelica. Darker, noiser, good enough but not as jarringly good/unexpected.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Monday, 23 September 2002 17:51 (twenty-three years ago)

I just heard _Screamadelica_ for the first time a few weeks ago, and I enjoyed it a whole WHOLE lot. I can't believe I had never gotten around to them before, but so it goes.

― Clarke B., Monday, 23 September 2002 18:14 (twenty-three years ago)

Also, I can't understand why so many people dis' Bobby's voice - I think it sounds cool.

― Clarke B., Monday, 23 September 2002 18:14 (twenty-three years ago)

Bobby's terrible singing on "I'm Losing More than I'll Ever Have" melts the ice in my heart.

"Rocks" was a guaranteed floor-filler at Cafe Bleu.

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

― felicity (felicity), Monday, 23 September 2002 19:37 (twenty-three years ago)

Pah Kate Masonic Boom, I am not afraid of yer bitch-slapping skills, coz we've DONE THIS ONE BEFORE!@#!@# I like "Gentle Tuesday" B/C ov thee k-k3wl rickenbacker 12-string solo @ thee end, but I think everything else they have EVER done is utter rubbish. I have seen them live twice as well. Once for their grunge bandwagon jumping 2nd album, which was actually OK coz they did rock a bit, and the LOUD elecktric guitars drowned out little BBBYZ horrid voice. I saw them on "Screamadelica" tour, and my god did it sux0r. High point ov gig - noticing that wee bobby could not even manage to clap his hands in time! Awful. I think that BBBy should give up music, and spouting off rubbish in music paperz, and he should dedicate his life to Ms St Claire's happiness & pleasure. A compromise most agreeable I'm sure. (BTW I think the h4t4z have already dissed PRML SCRM before on more than one occasion, & might not feel like going through it all again)

― N0RM4N PH4Y, Monday, 23 September 2002 19:47 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh, and co-incidentally, I have been thinking about actually writing my bobby g / alex from blur prison bitch scenario slash lit. Should I do it?

― N0RM4N PH4Y, Monday, 23 September 2002 19:50 (twenty-three years ago)

pleaSE! what a hunkfest

― felicity (felicity), Monday, 23 September 2002 20:01 (twenty-three years ago)

For the next record, Primal Scream should let Shieldsy write all the songs and call it "My Bloody Valentine" in a clever twist.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 23 September 2002 23:03 (twenty-three years ago)

justyn had it right from the start. i'd rather listen to adventures in stereo.

― keith (keithmcl), Tuesday, 24 September 2002 00:36 (twenty-three years ago)

How come there's always some idiot who says they liked the first song a band released but nothing else. That just sucks. Starting thread NOW.

― paul b, Tuesday, 24 September 2002 21:16 (twenty-three years ago)

five months pass...

i don't know if this little gem has been discussed on ILM yet, but it caused me much merriment. It's from a Q interview where readers send in questions. Bobby Gillespie's turn was up:

Reader:
"A few years ago i blagged a ticket to an icelandic music festival, travelling with primal scream and prodigy. on a day off, after taking a coach up a very steep mountain road to a glacier, you threw an embarrassingly girly fit, refused to travel down with the rest of us, and demanded a hellicopter. remember?"

Bobby G:
"haha! Right, what happened was it took hours to get up there and the whole time I thought the bus was going to topple over the edge, and i was really cold too. when we got to the top, i just went 'get me fucking out of here'. and this guy put me in a jeep and drove me back at 90mph - that was really exciting, like being in some crazy road movie. as for demanding the hellicopter, yeah i probably did. Hey, that's fair enough. I'm a lead singer in a fucking rock and roll band! Why not?"

I love the way he tries to regain some macho pride by saying "that was really exciting, like being in some crazy road movie". Bobby gillespie: man of the people, indeed.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Saturday, 1 March 2003 21:41 (twenty-three years ago)

the interviews with Bobby are quite funny.

the music, on the other hand...

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Saturday, 1 March 2003 21:48 (twenty-three years ago)

...is often incredibly funny.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 1 March 2003 21:49 (twenty-three years ago)

so its comedy. and that's bad. right?

interviews with bobby are funny bcz he's a bit of a fule!

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Saturday, 1 March 2003 21:51 (twenty-three years ago)

Worst. Band. Ever. Except MC5.

― Cozen (Cozen), Saturday, 1 March 2003 22:10 (twenty-three years ago)

cozen, we have just connected!

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Saturday, 1 March 2003 22:12 (twenty-three years ago)

i've not once been able to sit through a full album of theirs. some of them have some interesting moments, sometimes ("Rocks", "Kill All Hippies") but i don't think this redeems them. there's something in their music that makes me very uncomfortable, but not in a good way.

― Dave M. (rotten03), Saturday, 1 March 2003 22:21 (twenty-three years ago)

I expect I've said this here before, but I love them and have (I think) all their records and lots of bootlegs too. And I adore Bobby G (albeit probably not as much as Kate does, and I've never met him). They've provided some of my favourite and least favourite live moments, sometimes minutes apart. I remember seeing them once with a pal, and Loaded was absolutely magnificent, one of the best performances of a single track I've seen, then another song had been going for some minutes before my friend and I turned to another at the same moment, as we had just registered that it was supposed to be Come Together, but was a dreadful mess.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 1 March 2003 22:33 (twenty-three years ago)

Julio and Cozen, get a copy of 'High Times' now!

― dave q, Sunday, 2 March 2003 10:38 (twenty-three years ago)

Julio and Cozen, get a copy of 'High Time' now!

― dave q, Sunday, 2 March 2003 10:38 (twenty-three years ago)

High Time is indeed grebt. As are Primal Scream. Wonderfully inconsistent. XTRMNTR and Screamadelica are both classic, Vanishign Point and Echo Dek both very very good, while Evil Heat has a handful of brilliant moments amid the electronic guitar stodge. The rest, admittedly, is pretty bollocks, but there you go. The world would be a duller place without them.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Sunday, 2 March 2003 11:23 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm on it.

― Cozen (Cozen), Sunday, 2 March 2003 11:29 (twenty-three years ago)

(had to mention 'High Time' as a PSA because I can see somebody who's only heard 'Jams' or 'Back' think the MC5 are a bit 'ehhhhh'. 'HT' whole other level of enjoyment)

― dave q, Sunday, 2 March 2003 13:41 (twenty-three years ago)

I think that BBBy should give up music, and spouting off rubbish in music paperz, and he should dedicate his life to Ms St Claire's happiness & pleasure.

Strangely enough, I actually agree.

La la la la la laaa, Bobby G, how I love him. Horton Who?

― kate, Sunday, 2 March 2003 13:58 (twenty-three years ago)

OK dave. 'Jams' was some of the worst fucking shit i have ever bought but OK.

''XTRMNTR and Screamadelica are both classic''

don't know abt 'screamadelica but XTRMNTR insults me.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 2 March 2003 14:11 (twenty-three years ago)

'Screamadelica' classic if you're in touch with your sentimental side, 'XTRMNTR' insulting, 'Evil Heat' is pure "OK, *sigh* joke's over, where's the hidden camera". Even reading the track listing causes an irresistable urge to curl up into the fetal position and crawl into a hole waiting for it to go away. Needless to say, it could be dangerous listening to it if you are driving or cycling through a busy street so be warned.

― dave q, Sunday, 2 March 2003 14:19 (twenty-three years ago)

I never want to hear another note from them: they are not veen a band really, more like a fucking 'studio project' *vomit*.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 2 March 2003 14:34 (twenty-three years ago)

primal scream are absolutely hilarious, its like your dads mates at a fancy dress party trying to play sigue sigue sputnik but ending up doing dumpys rusty nuts

― gareth (gareth), Sunday, 2 March 2003 18:10 (twenty-three years ago)

Darragh Purcell orchestration of undervaluement = 45% of the alien memory. Proletariat 2000. orchestration => deviation/turn

― naked as sin (naked as sin), Sunday, 2 March 2003 19:03 (twenty-three years ago)

they should go back to trying to be the Byrds. "Imperial" is still one of their best tracks.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Sunday, 2 March 2003 23:41 (twenty-three years ago)

Classic. They're one of the best bad bands out there.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 2 March 2003 23:41 (twenty-three years ago)

PS are far, far worse than anything you could possibly dream up.

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Monday, 3 March 2003 13:11 (twenty-three years ago)

Primal Scream is among the closest acts ever to mix the best of "dance" music with the best of highly melodic pop. When it works (as in "Screamadelica" and part of "Vanishing Point") they are really great. However, when they try to sound like Rolling Stones (the "Give Out But Don't Give Up" album) they leave me cold, and their previous two albums are more noise than music.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 3 March 2003 13:27 (twenty-three years ago)

re: what dave q. said - yeah
re: primal scream - these guys are fromengland & who gives a shit

― duane, Monday, 3 March 2003 15:44 (twenty-three years ago)

yeah you know, fromengland

― duane, Monday, 3 March 2003 15:45 (twenty-three years ago)

i like the scream, i have to say. "screamadelica", "vanishing point" and "xtrmntr" are all good. of course bobby is a twat, and their political "agenda" is a joke, but the music is (mostly) intoxicating enough to make me forget this.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Monday, 3 March 2003 17:10 (twenty-three years ago)

About 1/3 of _XTRMNTR_, some of _Vanishing Point_ = classic.
About 1/3 of _XTRMNTR_ = total, tiresome dud.

Most of the rest doesn't move me to one extreme or the other.

― Matt Maxwell (Matt M.), Monday, 3 March 2003 18:26 (twenty-three years ago)

three years pass...

Bobby doing a Julian Cope impersonation 20 years too late?

http://www.nme.com/images/84_NMEcover_L150406.jpg

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 11:48 (twenty years ago)

NME naff headlines: "Louder the Liam, Darker the Doherty"

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 11:49 (twenty years ago)

OMG @ that nme cover. So, so sad. So desperate. I read the page-long live review on the Observer yesterday, WTF @ that. Has there been a brit band from the last 20 yrs who have had such a free ride from the music press?

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 11:56 (twenty years ago)

off-thread topic but the 'turn to page 32' thing re Gnarls Barkley album is more interesting. catering for ultra ADD if ever i saw it.

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 11:58 (twenty years ago)

Every time I see a current NME cover, I wanna curl up and cry

― Le Baaderonixx de Benedict Canyon (baaderonixx), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 12:00 (twenty years ago)

Mr Bobby Gillespie Record Collection Rock get your f-ing haircut your long haired mopped twonk

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 12:00 (twenty years ago)

Primal Scream: We Still Don't Give a F***

And neither do we, so f*** off ya talentless c***

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 12:03 (twenty years ago)

Skipping 123 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

The Weatherall / original album version (with Jesse Jackson samples) has been replaced with the Farley version on the album in YouTube Music. The Weatherall version does not appear to be on the service at all.

― Spencer Chow, Saturday, 28 June 2025 07:00 (eleven months ago)

Actually, I guess the American release always had the Farley mix? I only ever owned the first Creation CD release.

― Spencer Chow, Saturday, 28 June 2025 07:04 (eleven months ago)

Yeah that is correct.

On the American pressings of the album, the Terry Farley mix of "Come Together" was featured in place of the original UK mix.

― Kim Kimberly, Saturday, 28 June 2025 13:14 (eleven months ago)

I should have specified I was referring to YouTube Music (US)

― Spencer Chow, Sunday, 29 June 2025 17:09 (eleven months ago)

five months pass...

Bullshit your way outta this one, Boabs

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2025/dec/11/london-venue-appalled-by-antisemitic-imagery-allegedly-screened-at-primal-scream-gig

― oh the traffic around here (Matt #2), Thursday, 11 December 2025 23:19 (five months ago)

Images of the destruction in Gaza were also shown on screen. The video concluded with the words: “Our government is complicit in genocide.”

I mean, if eg it comes out that any of the political figures were British or any elements of the Union flag also appeared on eyes, the initial statement probably covers it without need for bullshit

― fall of the house of urrsher (sic), Friday, 12 December 2025 01:17 (five months ago)

Lots of stars ‘n stripes, a fair few union flags, the Star element of the eye graphic is clearly established as specifically representing the flag of Israel and the current genocide being conducted by its government, in collusion with those of the US and UK, not jewishness as a concept. It’s fair for an individual gig-goer who couldn’t read the montage to take one element as anti-semitic, but it’s a failure of the Graun to be unable to parse a (n incredibly unsubtle) piece of visual media.

― fall of the house of urrsher (sic), Friday, 12 December 2025 04:58 (five months ago)

More like bullshit your way outta this one, Guardian.

― Tony Bubbles (Tom D.), Friday, 12 December 2025 09:42 (five months ago)

Boab's not very subtle at all, lol. but drawing parallels between two different genocidal ethnostates is not antisemitic, imo

― Father McGammycurry (calzino), Friday, 12 December 2025 09:52 (five months ago)

My main takeaway there was what a weird and terrible live version of the track.

― LocalGarda, Friday, 12 December 2025 09:53 (five months ago)

as if the fucking venue didn't have a clue who they were booking and were completely taken by surprise and aghast at what transpired. As if it isn't already bad enough that 99% of our parliament is already owned by the genocidal Zionist lobby. Nothing is ever enough for these fuckers.

― Father McGammycurry (calzino), Friday, 12 December 2025 10:01 (five months ago)

and lol also what a shite band!

― Father McGammycurry (calzino), Friday, 12 December 2025 10:02 (five months ago)

From a locked twitter account:

"The one time I saw Primal Scream, they were so awful that Mani appeared outside the front of the venue as everyone was leaving and apologised. RIP Mani"

― xyzzzz__, Friday, 12 December 2025 10:36 (five months ago)

They used to be p good live imo but that looks abysmal. The tour where they had Kevin Shields playing with them was p fire.

― LocalGarda, Friday, 12 December 2025 12:25 (five months ago)

I think the only time I saw them was at Reading Festival in 1998, but they were pretty good that night. tbf I was in a bit of an elevated mood at the time

― Colonel Poo, Friday, 12 December 2025 12:30 (five months ago)

it was actually Reading 2000

― Colonel Poo, Friday, 12 December 2025 12:39 (five months ago)

Saw them headlining a festival in 2013 and doing a half hour slot at another in 2023. The 2013 slot I'd argue was a good time for them as More Light was pretty damn good.

― you can see me from westbury white horse, Friday, 12 December 2025 13:16 (five months ago)

The only time I ever saw them was supporting the Butthole Surfers at the end of the 80s, pretty poor as I recall but no symbols involved. Look we'd all miss Boaby if he wasn't there!

― oh the traffic around here (Matt #2), Friday, 12 December 2025 13:22 (five months ago)

I was extremely impressionable at that age but I thought they were incredible live c1998-2000. Saw them at a Minehead ATP a few years later - not sure if Mani was still with them at that point but either way I lost interest very quickly.

Is that Paul Simonon playing with them at the Roundhouse?

― jonesinspace, Friday, 12 December 2025 13:55 (five months ago)

i can't support primal scream displaying the symbol of the fringe religious group 'raelism' (which is confusingly responsible for a bunch of weird public art installations here)

― ufo, Friday, 12 December 2025 13:55 (five months ago)

their new bassist is apparently phil mossman, former lcd soundsystem member

― ufo, Friday, 12 December 2025 13:59 (five months ago)

james murphy worked on xtrmntr i believe, like one track or something.

― LocalGarda, Friday, 12 December 2025 14:01 (five months ago)

idk about james but phil mossman is on "blood money" and "keep your dreams", and tim goldsworthy helped mix the latter

― you can see me from westbury white horse, Friday, 12 December 2025 14:04 (five months ago)

the former* rather

― you can see me from westbury white horse, Friday, 12 December 2025 14:05 (five months ago)

story as best as i can piece it together is that murphy, goldsworthy and mossman were working on the david holmes album bow down to the exit sign, which overlapped with and were in the same studio as primal scream's sessions for "blood money" and "keep your dreams", which were produced by holmes. that was how goldsworthy and mossman ended up on xtrmntr. murphy seems to have been around those primal scream sessions at least but wasn't credited with anything? those david holmes sessions were also where mossman met murphy and agreed to join lcd soundsystem

― ufo, Friday, 12 December 2025 14:46 (five months ago)

An alternative headline:

https://louderthanwar.com/primal-scream-targeted-by-same-pro-israel-groups-that-pursued-kneecap-as-bob-vylan-sues-over-antisemitism-slur

― fall of the house of urrsher (sic), Friday, 12 December 2025 19:21 (five months ago)

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