• News
  • ReviewsAlbum Reviews
    • Albums of the Week
  • Features
    • Interviews
    • Beginner’s Guide
    • Celebrate the Catalogue
    • Greatest Hits
    • Hall of Fame
    • Hold On To Your Genre
  • Columns
    • Da Art of Storytellin’
    • Endless Playlist
    • Full Disclosure
    • Left of the Dial Top of the Charts
    • Out of Range
    • Pop Life
    • Remake/Remodel
    • Shadow of the Horns
    • Treble Roundtable
  • Lists
    • Best Of
    • Treble’s Top 10
  • Podcast
  • Videos
  • About
Album Reviews

Primal Scream : Screamadelica

  • Label: Creation
  • Released: 1991
  • by Tom Lee

Re-invention of the wheel can lead to an entirely different road. Widely heralded for definitive genre absorption at the time, Screamadelica sounds great today beyond the confines of its defining singles. It’s cohesive across a wide spectrum of sound, and I’m impressed by how catchy, euphoric and desolate its composite parts can be. Factually speaking, Andrew Weatherall, the Orb, Denise Johnson and Jah Wobble are audible here. The resultant rock, rave and gospel aesthetics shine in unison.

“Inner Flight” has a 2000AD-like affect (I’m typing in a train on an indoor platform at Birmingham station). There’s spaciousness akin to that displayed by Weatherall’s Sabres of Paradise project with hints of 1960s San Francisco and the epic soundtrack feel that the Verve would later unveil on “Bittersweet Symphony.” “Damaged” seems scorched but reflects fondly. One could make an obvious and entirely complementary analogy with the Rolling Stones’ Let it Bleed. The Orb-produced “Higher than the Sun” is incredibly atmospheric while conveying a massive sense of release when the beat kicks in. Like Ian McCulloch, Bobby Gillespie manages to vocalize with shades of weariness and cynicism while still seeming every bit the archetypal great rock singer. The 13th Floor Elevators adaptation “Slip Inside This House” conveys an imbalanced sleekness.

Of course, there are landmark hits too. “Moving on Up” and “Loaded” are anthemic at the apex of rock and roll pomp in the vein of the MC5 and Exile on Main Street, Atlantic co-opted spiritual abandon and crescendo heavy dance euphoria. “Come Together” makes cross-pollination its message as Parliament style congregation (check out the brilliant baggy-country gospel of the alternate Gillespie-led single version too). Extravagantly messy but all in. There couldn’t be a more fitting band T-shirt for John Simm’s wardrobe in Human Traffic.

Similar albums:
The Rolling Stones – Exile on Main Street
The Sabres of Paradise – Sabresonic II
Aretha Franklin – I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You

Download at Primal Scream - Screamadelica

Aug 12, 2008Jeff Terich
Home Primal Scream : Screamadelica
August 12, 2008 Album ReviewsPrimal Scream
Top Stories
  • Khemmis reveal details of new album, Desolation
  • Roundtable: The hits that weren’t
  • Premiere: Gibby Paul rocks out DIY-style in new video for “Bang-A-Rang!”
  • Hear the first new Sleep album in 15 years, The Sciences
  • Touche Amore share new track, “Green”
  • News
  • Album Reviews
    • Album of the Week
  • Features
    • Interviews
    • Best Of
    • Celebrate the Catalog
    • Hold On To Your Genre
    • Treble’s Top 10
  • Columns
    • History’s Greatest Monsters
    • Remake/Remodel
    • Perversity
    • Pet Grief
  • Photos
  • Videos
  • About Us
2018 © Treble Media