I think I’m honestly starting to make some headway on my other, oft-delayed website. I should have some updates soon. Moving everything off of Nearly Free Speech (scam server site) took a lot of time and set everything back. Now that things are back on track I should be able to get that going sooner rather than later. My goal is to launch by April. Let’s see how that works out. Here’s hoping.
Primal Scream
When Thy Kingdom Comes
Okay, I own five Primal Scream singles and no Primal Scream albums. It’s time for me to jump in! Recommend an album I should start with: GO!
Oh, and this is a B-side from the “Accelerator” 12″ single, in case you were wondering.
Renegade Soundwave
Cocaine Sex (Sub-Aqua Overdrive Dub)
Cocaine Sex (Turbo Lust Mix)
People (mainly British) seem to dig it when I post Renegade Soundwave tracks. These are for them, not for me. While I’ve just recently discovered RS, and loved most of what I’ve heard, I fucking hate this song. It’s, quite frankly, kind of gross, and not good enough to earn it in my opinion. But hey, if you love it, go at it and enjoy!
Daft Punk
Prime Time Of Your Life (Para One Remix)
The Brainwasher (Erol Alkan’s Horrohouse Dub)
It seems that everyone is going crazy for new Daft Punk. The hype is reaching such ludicrous levels that the group even put out a 15 second ad that aired during SNL a couple weeks ago. That’s insane! How the hell did Daft Punk’s next album suddenly become the most anticipated record in all of music? Was it just because of a process of elimination? Did the music press have to find a new “OMG where is it?” release after My Bloody Valentine and Godspeed! You Black Emperor finally released new records (and after everything supposedly associated with Dr. Dre’s long-delayed Detox has sucked)?
I just don’t get it. These are the same people who were underwhelmed by the group’s soundtrack to Tron Legacy; the same circle of critics and hipster assholes who dismissed Human After All completely because it had the gall to be an electronic dance album and not another dance/pop hybrid like Homework. Where did this idolization come from?
Maybe its an ‘absence makes the critic get softer’ thing, it’s been years since Human After All, and even the most harsh critic of Tron Legacy could write off that supposed misstep as it being a soundtrack to a mainstream Disney film, and therefore somewhat forgivable for not meeting their lofty standards. Perhaps all these critics, in Daft Punk’s extended hiatus, have made the group out to be something they aren’t, a savior of the bigger-than-ever/shallower-than-ever electronic dance music scene, a group that might bring a resurgence in “Intelligent Dance Music” or “electronica” style dance music of the mid-90s. Now I almost want Daft Punk’s album to be a disappointment (for those looking for another crossover record anyways) just so I can see all those jerks get all bummed out.
But  whatever. I’m just stoked for more Daft Punk. Wet your appetite with these remixes from a 12″ single.
Primal Scream albums- Screamadelica, XCLRTR, Vanishing Point, Evil Heat, Give Out But Don’t Give Up. In that order. Wouldn’t bother with the rest. Sonic Flower Groove is early jangly indie- nice enough but inessential.
I’m not sure how well it relates to Primal Scream’s regular albums, but I think Echo Dek (the dub version of Vanishing Point) is fantastic. If possible, I would recommend picking up the version that was released as a boxed set collection of 7″ singles.
Where to start with Primal Scream? Screamadelica is a ground-breaking epic, paving the way for the whole indie-dance scene. Everyone should be intimate with it. However the follow up album “Give Out…..” is a great representation of the Scream’s diversity, with foot-to-the-floor rock, classic bluesy ballads and even a dash of classic funk. Wherever you start, enjoy!
Screamadelica is an album absolutely everyone should own at least one copy of. Xtrmntr and Evil Heat are very good too. Give Out But Don’t Give Up is far more a straight rock album, sometimes sounding disturbingly like INXS. I never got into Vanishing Point but the EP from around then ‘If They, Move Kill ‘Em’ is great.
Screamadelica.
I would 100% agree with Chris – Screamadelica, XTRMNTR, Give Out… in that order. Possibly Vaninshing Point but nothing much stands out on tyhat one for me.
So which 5 singles do you have – that will give a clue as to ‘which’ Prmal Scream you’ll enjoy?
Screamadelica is a classic and deserves to be in anyone’s collection, as others have noted. I would put Vanishing Point next, alongside its dub version Echo Dek as suggested previously, since you are a remix fan. I hope that one of the singles you own is “Higher Than The Sun,” since that is in my top 10 of remix singles ever. The “American Spring Mix” is absolutely essential!!
Primal Scream: “Screamadelica” is considered a classic. It is, for the most part, but I think it tends to be overrated somewhat. I think their best albums are “XTRMNTR” & “Vanishing Point”. Their new album should be cracking. If you haven’t already, check their new song “2013”.
Renegade Soundwave: I think they’re underrated, frankly. Not a whole lot there, admittedly, but just as influential as Meat Beat Manifesto. “Cocaine Sex”, I’ve found, alienates 95% of the people I play it for who find it obnoxious. It is. I still love it.
SCREAMADELICA.
That’s it. And every 12-inch from that album.
Timeless.
Cocaine Sex is completely awful. I sold a 12″ of it recently (with the 1st remix plus some bonus beats and other versions) and couldn’t understand why someone would pay $8 for it.
1) XTRMNTR
2) Vanishing Point
3) Echo Dek
4) Screamadelica
5) Evil Heat
6) Beautiful Future (although it does have good singles and remixes, like David Holmes’ mix of ‘Uptown’)
7) Give Out But Don’t Give Up
8) Riot City Blues
…their pre-Sceamadelica stuff is kinda… ‘meh’. Their ‘best of’ is quite good, and so is the Japan-only companion disc “Shoot Speed”