Primal Scream: Riot City Blues
Rating: 
(Columbia, 2006) There are different reasons why I love different bands. I love Oasis for their unbridled arrogance, and their consistent sound. I love Audioslave because I loved the previous bands, and it seemed like a natural fit. I love the Beatles for their impact. I love Spoon for their tunes. I could go on and on, but with Primal Scream; I love them because with each album, you never know what you are gonna get.
Rarely will a band release two revolutionary albums in their career, but the Scream has. Screamadelica was released in 1991, and changed the way people looked
at the Ecstasy culture. Nearly ten years later they remade themselves as sonic terrorists on XTRMNTR. Now, we get Riot City Blues, a more traditional rock and roll album, similar in vein to Give Out, But Don’t Give Up.
“Country Girl” is a great album opener, and certainly sets the tone for the remainder of the album. The non sensical lyrics, the strummed guitars, and the stomping beat set the rock and roll template. “Nitty Gritty” has even worse lyrics, but grooves along like Some Girls era Stones, with a simple riff, and the “shake some/some action, girl/we’re gonna get right down to the real nitty gritty” in the refrain. So far, so simple. “Suicide Sally & Johnny Guitar” is a tongue in cheek story of a slut and a drugged up rock star. (Possibly Kate Moss & Pete Doherty) It is a little more punky then the rest of the album, but it is a shaker. “When the Bomb Drops” opens with a big riff, reminiscent of the Edge. “Mix some blood and drugs and water” may be the lyric that somes up the Scream’s whole career. “Little Death” is the only track on Riot City Blues that could fit on another Scream album. “The 99th Floor” adds harmonica to the stomp, and you can practically hear Bobby Gillespie’s spit hitting the microphone. And who else but the Scream could put a song called “We’re Gonna Boogie” on their album, and not come off like KC and the Sunshine Band. The song is a plodder, with more harmonica, and non sensical lyrics, and a pretty decent country stomp. Handclaps,and a nice strum open up “Dolls (Swett Rock N Roll)”. A tribute to the New York Dolls, this comes off more like the 1997 edition of Blur, complete with La,La’s thrown in for good measure. “Hell’s Comin Down” is another country stomp, again with rediculous lyrics. The album closes with the slow, harmonica laced “Sometimes I Feel So Lonely”. Semi-reminiscent of the Screamadelica days, it completes the album with a plea for redemption, literally. “You can be redeemed boy/You can be redeemed.”
So how can an album such as this stand up to the rest of their catalogue? Well, it really can’t, when compared to the landmarks, Screamadelica and XTRMNTR. But, standing on its own merits, this is a good time, fun rock and roll record, no more, no less. And for this reviewer, that is enough.
1.Country Girl 2.Nitty Gritty 3.Suicide Sally & Johnny Guitar 4.When the Bomb Drops 5.Little Death 6.The 99th Floor 7.We're Gonna Boogie 8.Dolls (Sweet Rock N Roll) 9.Hell's Comin Down 10.Sometimes I Fell So Lonely
(Note: The American release of the album includes live renditions of John Lennon’s “Gimme Some Truth” plus album cuts “Country Girl” and “Suicide Sally & Johnny Guitar,” as well as a music video for “Coutry Girl.”)
Buy album– Jeff Crowder