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Underground > Radio & Music >

Primal Scream - Evil Heat

13:15 / 07.08.02

I've posted a long review on my blog, so I'm not going to go into too much detail here.

Although it's less immediate than XTRMNTR (which I will forever associate with the end of the Invisibles, for some reason), Evil Heat is as good as album, in my early estimation. There are a few boring, tuneless songs, as there were on the predecessor, but the good numbers more than make up for them. While XTRMNTR managed to sound futuristic while still organic, this album seems to take a cure from that electro stuff the kids are into (and which I'm not an expert in; feel free to correct me).

Fave tracks include Miss Lucifer, Autobahn 66, Detroit, and Space Blues. Less enamored of The Lord is my Shotgun and Rise.

21:43 / 08.08.02

Still listening. Shall Elucidate. Sound Good.

Boy in a Suitcase

03:21 / 09.08.02

Just got a downloaded copy a few minutes ago. It's fucking great, man, especially the gospel bits which remind me of some of their better b-side stuff from the Vanishing Point era (like "Jesus" and "How Does It Feel to Belong" from the Star single)–I actually am in the (small) camp that thinks the Scream are best when they're quiet and slow. But this album fucking rules.

16:23 / 24.08.02

So-so. Quickly (I'll expand on this later, if I remember):

Deep Hit Of Morning Sun - Astonishingly bad choice for opening track. A dirge, presumably the name comes from the fact that everyone involved was half-asleep when they recorded it.

Miss Lucifer - JAMC circa Honey's Dead. Pretty much a poor man's Reverance. The one slight saving grace is the pinball bassline.

Autobahn 66 - First, instrumental, half is okay, although I don't seem to be able to go two days without hearing a track 'inspired' by Kraftwerk or Neu! at the moment. Second half, with the vocals, sounds like a Slowdive tribute. And Slowdive were shite anyway.

Detroit - Again, the bassline's the best thing about this. 2D scrolling shooter stylee. To all intents and purposes, though, this is yet another revision of Rocks/Medication. See also City and Skull X.

Rise - Much better. Insistent beat and repeated bass motif in the verses works well as it suddenly moves into the siren-style chorus. Also good: steaming kettle in run-up to chorus. That said, Gillespie's lyrics are terrible.

The Lord Is My Shotgun - Depeche Mode meet Dr John. And fall asleep.

City - Rocks/Medication/Detroit/City. They're all the same fucking song. It worked with Medication because the change from Rocks was so violent. It will never work again. Write a new song.

Some Velvet Morning - pretty good. Kate Moss = surprisingly competent.

Skull X - JESUS. Beyond a joke now. It's Rocks yet a-fucking-gain.

A Scanner Darkly - Passable. However... Kraftwerk... Neu!... Yawn...

Space Blues - Good. Best thing here? Maybe. Problem = Jason Pierce does this sort of thing much better.

I was going to write a bit about why XTRMNTR was a distinctly half-arsed effort (as well as being an absolute rip-off) and Vanishing Point is the Scream's best album, but I can't seem to care about them enough any more.

16:30 / 24.08.02

I remember the days when Kevin Shields' reputation as a sonic adventurer was justified... *sniff*

08:57 / 25.08.02

God, Primal Scream just can't keep it together can they..

They've got *Kevin Shields* ferfuckssake.. why do those guitar based tracks still sound like dumb 'Stones knockoffs?? Plug the man in, in the name of Krist!! Just give us ten more minutes of 'Accelerator' and we'll love you forever!

Bah. And it sounds like they've wasted some superb song titles too..

09:59 / 28.08.02

On the other hand; what about the hand-grenade in the sleeve? And Invisibles-esque lyrics - Rise was originally Bomb the Pentagon. Are Bobby Gillespie and Grant Morrison the same chap?

10:13 / 28.08.02

The lyrics are, without exception, pish. Gillespie's more like a politicised Brett Anderson. You've got the same poorly-drawn visions of impending apocalypse, only with jackbooted corporations replacing girls with tattooed tits.

10:17 / 28.08.02

Whoops. Tattooed tears. Always did mishear that line...

uncle retrospective

10:39 / 28.08.02

[thread rot]You leave Slowdive alone. Or there will be trouble.[/thread rot]

11:45 / 28.08.02

Who mentioned Slowdive? It'll be bloody Swervedriver next...

I think the lyrics to 'Rise' are pretty much The Invisibles put to music:

Rise

A life of work, is a life of crime
You pay your taxes, you serve your time
All the money, where does it go?
Schools, prisons, hospitals? wrong!
Government funding and military science
Genetically engineered ultraviolence
DNA, killer genes
To program microchips, marines
See stealth bombers and tomahawks
On CNN, they bid you war

Rise, rise
Rise, rise

Hate machine, what's your profit share
They gotcha down and gonna keep you there
Fleece your mind, down on all fours
Cocaine, coma, in the heroin store
Multinational life is cheap
Soldiers, workers, maggots meat
Get on up, protest right
And use collateral damage as a legitimate target

Rise, rise
Rise, rise

Sweet sixteen dehumanized
Deaths head factory suicide
Sweet sixteen dehumanized
Deaths head factory suicide
Sweet sixteen dehumanized
Deaths head factory suicide
Sweet sixteen dehumanized
Deaths head factory suicide

Rise, rise
Rise, rise

Anyone else?

Matthew Fluxington

12:28 / 28.08.02

I guess if you only paid attention to maybe 15% of the series, you could make that connection.