For my money, this is the actual Primal Scream payoff, the point where they found something beyond the electronic/rock formula, where some cream finally rose for skimming.
This came out when I was in college, during that burgeoning era of filesharing where Napster->Soulseek would let you dig up individual songs, but full-album grabs were uphill both ways. And I heard this buzz around Primal Scream and ended up with a bunch of shit off their first few albums and didn't know what to make of it. Their songs, individually didn't make sense to me because I was a know-nothing dumbshit, sure -- but I'd say put all together, absent curation, even now, their output's a muddy pastiche.
But together, these songs make sense. They pulse and flow, link arms, make an army, make a voice, make a scene and a menace. That 90's bass got left in the 90's, there's hardedges on it now, everything's sanded to sharpness /- anger garrotes, dissent razors/ having a vague good time by addition is out the window -- this is a focusing, certainly at least their best album besides Screamadelica.
Though, woof. That rapping on Pills is...fucking rough. And late-sequence Chemical Brothers meanderers like Keep Your Dreams are almost as embarrassing. In the flow they almost get away with it, almost, but that insidious British 90's _uncoolness_, it creeps back in.
Primal Scream just couldn't commit to the punk thing, some hopeful grasp at hope crept back in and undercut this album. But it's a success despite itself, keeping up the bristling front often enough to keep you on the back foot 4/5
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