Primal Scream 'Riot City Blues'? Ripoff City Blues

'We're a punk rock band' Bobby Gillespie shouted quite a few times at Glastonbury last year - well sorry Bobby - you are not punks - there's one word from the punk era that describes your band ....'dinosaurs'. This new so-called rock and roll album is another PS celebration of the year 1969 with the band taking in the Stones and the Thirteenth Floor Elevators in this dumbed-down homage to the hippy era.
It starts out fine enough with the stomp 'Country Girl' but then it kind of goes flat. Presumably this album is aimed at the American market as nothing is that difficult to digest and no evidence of any of their unmarketable politics. The lyrics are basically song titles cut up and pasted into so-called new songs - 'Shake some Action! Get right down to the real nitty-gritty' - umm boys..? Those of us not born in the last ten years call that plagiarising. One song 'When the Bomb Drops' (the Bomb drops?) sounds like a sloppy jam around the Elevators' Rollercoaster and about 4 other 12-bars adorn this album with such hackneyed phrases as 'Boogie' and 'Allright' thrown in for good measure. Of course the Scream have been here before - with better poppier results - this time round they're saddled with super-bassman Mani which means a touch of psychedelic noodling is in order. The result is a bit like 'Satanic Majesties' or 'Exile on Main Street' played by sixth-form weeds whose parents have bought them musical instruments. Good job Primal Scream weren't around in the 60s and 70s as they basically don't have an original musical bone in their bodies and would have been ignored - they'd have made an ideal pub rock band with their fake American accents and their badly played harmonica.
However in this age of music being so afraid of originality this will no doubt be praised to high heaven for its wonderful qualities. Certainly there is some hedonistic joy to be found here and there and it's a fun game spotting the musical references - or thefts if you are old-fashioned like me.
Listen to a couple of tracks here
PS I got the comment 'a bit harsh' from the family - OK I admit to liking it a bit, but the problem for me is Mani constantly saying the Scream are this country's best rock and roll band - that's the Fall in my book - Mark E Smith and co have more ideas in one song than Primal Scream have in their entire back catalogue. Primal Scream are just a bunch of hippies - you can tell they are by their constant and obsessive recycling! Why are BG's lyrics always going on about junkies? The Jesus and Mary Chain school of writing it is - glamorising drugs, ripping off 60s Bob Dylan - you know the style - everybody did that years ago - that was what 70s British songwriting was all about. You might sound like Ziggy era Bowie or Bolan but surely that's the realm of the tribute band?
So... An allegedly anti-semitic Dylan rip-off 70s tribute band then is our country's best rock and roll act? I think not.
KILL ALL HIPPIES? - AS LONG AS PRIMAL SCREAM ARE FIRST