Primal Scream transformed themselves into the protectors of all things indie and underground. But before Bobby Gillespie was the high priest of all-night indie discos, Primal Scream was a band that, like Rodney Dangerfield, couldn’t get any respect. “Screamadelica” changed that but nearly destroyed the Scottish party-loving musicians in the process.
You’ve been told about how great Primal Scream is, seen documentaries about “Screamadelica”, and maybe even bought the 2024 new album by the band. But is it all an indie-rock hype? Is this a great dance record and such a landmark album? I’m pulling an all-nighter and finally reviewing “Screamadelica.”
Primal Scream’s Road to Making “Screamedelica”
It pays to have friends, especially ones who will support your passions. Bobby Gillespie had one such pal, the fellow Glasgow-native, Alan McGee. Both loved punk-rock and all-too-cool bands like The Velvet Underground. Both promised they would one day be involved in music. McGee went on to form Creation Records, one of the most influential labels of the 1980s and 90s, responsible for putting out albums by my bloody valentine, Jesus & Mary Chain, or Oasis.
His mate, Gillespie, formed the group Primal Scream, inspired by John Lennon’s drug-treatment therapy. But, for a long time, Primal Scream wasn’t much of a band but a club to discuss cool-sounding and cool-looking bands.
Primal Scream’s members also looked the part when they recorded “Sonic Flower Groove” and their self-titled album in 1989. However, the few who cared to hear it compared it negatively to bands like Jesus & Mary Chain.
A revolution was coming, and Primal Scream was, surprisingly, going to be one of the spearheads for it. This musical revolution was led by DJs instead of guitarists, by electronic music instead of rock, and by raves instead of concerts.
Under the powerful influence of DJ Andrew Weatherall and having soaked up the British rave scene of the early 1990s, Primal Scream set about making a giant leap forward, “Screamadelica.”
Review of “Screamedelica”
The problem with Primal Scream was that the band had never quite been able to recreate the psychedelic and post-punk sounds of the records that they loved so much. The band’s early albums displayed excellent taste but not much energy.
Rave culture, on the other hand, had precisely the vibe with which the band could work. This also means that, like the DJs, “Screamadelica” relies on all sorts of tricks that a band simply playing together in a garage couldn’t produce.
There’s a great dependence on electronic beats and ambient sounds. When soul and jazz vocals are brought in, they are treated in the same way that a DJ would sample a voice. When dub-reggae, blues, or even post-punk sounds are incorporated, it sounds like a mash-up of two separate songs seamlessly coming together.
All-Night Rave
The running time of “Screamadelica” by Primal Scream is 62 minutes and 56 seconds. This is not an album per-se. It is an excellently well-curated party. The band isn’t driving the songs. It’s working alongside the music to heighten its impact.
That is not to say that “Screamadelica” doesn’t have great songs or even great singles. Album opener and the set’s most famous song, “Movin’ On Up,” turns the rave into a spiritual experience. Gillespie proclaims to be a convert, a man changed by music. The song is given a classic-rock feel by Jimmy Miller, 60s producer of The Rolling Stones. Denise Johnson provides excellent gospel-like backing vocals, and the band revs up in the perfect outro, where Andrew Innes’ simple, melodic guitar lines help the song take off.
Primal Scream relies on another producer, Andrew Weatherall, for the album’s other iconic track, “Loaded.” A self-assured walk into modern psychedelia with all of its promises, both false and true, “Loaded” is one of the best rock songs of the 90s, and one of the shortest seven-minute tunes.
“Higher Than the Sun,” produced by The Orb, conveys the warm, fuzzy feeling of the opening stages of a night out. “Come Together” sounds like a snippet of a dub-loving DJ set taken directly from one of those nights. And “I’m Coming Down” and “Shine Like Stars” guide a safe landing after the rave escapade.
Throughout, Primal Scream and Gillespie are smart not to get in the way of the music. There’s singing, and there’s playing. But not too much of either one. “Screamadelica” is, essentially, a dance compilation curated by Primal Scream.
Legacy of “Screamedelica”
The members of Primal Scream were new to the rave culture and, in fact, to the drug scene surrounding it when they made “Screamadelica.” The success of the album was that the party, along with the chemicals, followed them wherever they weren’t.
It took three years and millions of dollars spent by McGee for Primal Scream to produce a follow-up. “Give Out But Don’t Give In” contained Rocks Off, a wonderful single, but also the sound of musicians for whom the party was well over.
Somehow, Primal Scream survived what had become a notorious and debilitating collective drug habit. By the late 1990s, in the U.K., they had become purveyors of cool indie-rock. “Vanishing Point” brought in German Kosmiche Musik and an aggressive psychedelia to the mix. “XTRMNTR” introduced industrial and shoegaze sounds. By the time of 2024’s “Come Ahead,” the band was ready to incorporate all of those ideas into a cohesive 11-song project.
“Screamadelica” finally brought Primal Scream and Bobby Gillespie the acclaim they wanted. The album cracked the top 10 in the U.K. upon release, received mostly strong reviews, and helped electro-rock and Madchester sounds become popular globally.
The dance-rock showpiece has sold over 715,000 copies, it won the very first Mercury Music Prize in 1992, and rock critics can’t get enough of including it on lists of the very best albums ever made (see NME, Rolling Stone, or Q Magazine).
“Screamadelica” has also served as inspiration for other boundary-pushing acts. Guy Manuel de Homem-Christo of Daft Punk referred to it as a great encouragement in his earliest days as a producer.
Meanwhile, upon the album’s 30th anniversary, it received tributes from BBC radio, other famous artists and even Fender guitars who launched an anniversary model featuring the artwork of the record. Not bad from kids in Glasgow dreaming of looking like The Velvet Underground and living for the weekend raves.
