Primal Scream: C or D?

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despite them being my fave band ever for some time, i have been fearful approaching their recent stuff. LOVE for 'dixie-narco' ep.

god i feel old suddenly ! xtrmntr is by far my favourite prml album (vanishing point is ok, screamadelica and devil whatever, a bit boring... give out and this latest one, are absolutely uninteresting).

Based on the photos from last month's appearance at the Isle Of Skye fest:

1. Kevin Shields is showing up again
2. Bobby cut his hair (when his hair gets shorter the albums get better)

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/242/517585691_7395aa3b5c.jpg

Some things never change.

Bobby got introduced by Warren Ellis at ATP as "former Jesus and Mary Chain drummer Bobby Gillespie" - I'm sure he appreciated 20+ years of work being ignored :)

man, I didn't even recognise him! i though he was Ian McCullough when looking at the thumbnails.

Still a twat.

Shields looks good, he looks really good; he's lost a bit of weight recently. saw him a few months ago, he was doing sound for... uhhh, what is the name of that band. Rog's little brother's other band. this is really helpful I know.

ha ha, I agree with yr assessment of hairlenght to album quality, though - as usually it is indicative of drugs consumption.

Story at the end of this blog post needs more attention.

no. no, it does not.

"...All those fucking anoraks with their retarded girlfriends."

That's Boaby off Stephen Pastel's Christmas card list then

More Light = classic, IMO. I think if you must have one of their post-XTRMNTR albums, then make it that one - up there with their best stuff for me.

yup

feel like it was slept on

Without a doubt, but there was a lot of great stuff out in 2013... still, the first two tracks on the LP alone are fantastic. Seriously, any lapsed Primals fans shout give it a spin.

Er, shout=should.

more light is great.

i rate vanishing point and XTRMNTR particularly - kill all hippies!!

album ends well too imo

man shoot speed kill light, i remember reading someone diss that on some thread and thought...what!!

https://www.nme.com/news/music/primal-scream-61-1278117

I'm not sure I've ever seen this picture or story before, which is obviously beyond classic.

One of my Boab skits was inspired by that very photograph. God knows what thread is was on though.

I defer to your greater knowledge of Boaby.

Somewhere in here maybe?: The Bobby Gillespie Bullshit game

No, not in there, they're scattered around all over the place, more or less whenever Bob or Primal Scream are mentioned - and sometimes without them even being mentioned.

Hahahahaha...

Primal Scream Announce Give Out But Don't Give Up: The Original Memphis Recordings

Following the recent discovery of these tracks in a box lurking in Andrew Innes’ basement, Primal Scream will release the original studio recordings from Memphis, the tracks that eventually became their 1994 album ‘Give Out But Don’t Give Up’.

Teaming up with iconic producer Tom Dowd and the Muscle Shoals rhythm section of David Hood and Roger Hawkins at Ardent Studios in Memphis, the resulting recordings from those sessions showcase a more country soul, rock’n’roll side to a band.

Dowd’s production, coupled with the merging of the slick rhythm section of the band, led to the creation of nine tracks that run the gamut between blues, gospel and brilliant songwriting, available for the first time.

“I felt we went down there with such good intent, but somehow we lost our way afterwards,” Bobby Gillespie admits. “There’s definitely a lesson to be learned about how creativity can go down the wrong track. We’re a band that constantly keeps moving and doesn’t look back, but, for years, I felt bad about us going to Memphis and not doing what we set out to do. Hearing these songs after all this time has made everything all right again. I feel redeemed.”

After their breakout album ‘Screamadelica’ (1991), Primal Scream relocated to Memphis in 1993 to record what would become ‘Give Out But Don’t Give Up’.

Once the band and Creation Records’ boss Alan McGee heard the recordings, however, they were both confused and underwhelmed. Their inner punks got the better of them and they brought producer George Drakoulias onboard to overhaul the recordings, with the band replacing, guitar, bass and drum parts over several sessions in the ensuing weeks until they were left with what became ‘Give Out But Don’t Give Up’.

CD1 – Tom Dowd album mix
Jailbird
Rocks
Call on Me
Everybody Needs Somebody
Sad and Blue
Big Jet Plane
Free
Jesus
(I’m Gonna) Cry Myself Blind

CD2 – Ardent Outtakes
Billy / To Love Somebody
Memphis Groove (Improvised Song Jam)
Sad And Blue (Early Rehearsal Jam)
Blue Moon Of Kentucky / Trying To Get To You
Big Jet Plane (Early Rehearsal Jam / Tom Dowd Instructions)
Free (Bobby Vocal / Full Band Rehearsal Jam)
Everybody Needs Somebody (Alternative Recording)
Country Guitar
Jailbird Guitar
Jesus (Monitor Mix )
Funky Jam (Original Recording)
Free (Early Rehearsal Sitar /Piano / Bobby Vocal)
Call On Me (Monitor Mix)
Cry Myself Blind (Monitor Mix)
All I Have To Do Is Dream

I would listen to this

So would I to see how it compares, but even though this album has some moments that aren't actually all that bad, I'm glad they got it out of their system in order to make Vanishing Point and XTRMNTR.

yeah I'm into hearing this. But far as I can tell, Big Jet Plane, Sad & Blue, I'll Be There for You (left out above?), Everybody Needs Somebody - these are all Tom Dowd versions on the original anyway.

In other words, the good tracks on the original are the remixed ones.

Their inner punks got the better of them so they brought in the Black Crowes' producer.

the Ardent tracks produced by Weatherall on Dixie-Narco are better than the Ardent tracks produced by Dowd, but tbf the band weren't 94% smacked out of their minds the first time around

This was the era i recall they were called 'Dance Traitors'.

Dixie Narco tracks are great

This was the era i recall they were called 'Dance Traitors'.

― piscesx, Monday, August 20, 2018 8:55 PM (nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, I remember reviews of this being not particularly kind. It's depressing that 'Rocks' was such a big hit for them - it's not really representative of what this band is best at, and if that was someone's first exposure to the band, they could be forgiven for getting the wrong idea. Fans of the band from the earliest material may have been a little less surprised at the style they adopted, and the Screamadelica fans were definitely cold on the album.

Also, this was the first album after that tour with Depeche Mode wasn't it? Or were they touring on this LP at the time?

Alternative press release: "Desperate, they returned to the studio where they produced the only track that had any impact in the US but were so half-assed owing to them being smacked-out that the record label (Sony having controlling share of Creation by then) farmed them out to a bunch of remixers and the final record was unliked and re-releasing it now would be a waste of time and money. So here's this."

xpost -- They opened the second US go round of that Depeche tour cycle, in 1994, so they were touring the album.

Ah yeah, that's right! For some reason I'd got it into my head that the LP was released in the back half of '94, rather than at the beginning.

Primal Scream at their messiest meets Depeche Mode at their messiest.

And to top it all off the opening act for them both was Stabbing Westward

One of the bios of the time - possibly Grant Fleming's - tells of Duffy not being in his room the morning after a show, and the tour manager's panic -- nobody had been with him the night before, no-one knew what locals may have led him "astray" - and having to give up and get the rest of the band on to the next town.

Where Duffy was already at the venue, having crawled inside a riser and passed out after playing, remaining asleep not only through Depeche Mode's set, but also being packed up by Depeche's crew, shipped through the night, and arising well-rested when roadies unpacked him at bump-in.

Funnily enough the Wombles were at their messiest at the same time.

I still haven't heard the original Memphis recordings of Give Out But Don't Give Up yet, but I listened to the version as released in 1994 last night and - while it's no Screamadelica, Vanishing Point or XTRMNTR, and it sounds like a very confused record - I thought that there's actually quite a lot that's enjoyable about the record. I mustn't have heard the record for well over a decade or two.

lol these original Memphis recordings are kind of a hilarious nothingburger. Like yeah you can see what they were going for but they really just couldn't quite do it. Lots of farting about doing half-assed covers not particularly well, and the "original versions" are mostly just super-cleanly recorded/stripped down arrangements without all the (often bad) bells and whistles stuck on after the fact.

I do have a morbid fascination with this album and find it kinda funny/entertaining how badly they fucked this up - they had a budget, tons of great collaborators, a pretty good (if muddled) idea, a great studio to work in, but they couldn't get the songs and performances together.

Your problem is you don't like black music.