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Top of the FlopsNo British Isles band this decade has been more experimental, often to its own detriment, than Scotland's Primal Scream. Slithering from ambient to '70s boogie, they primarily served as a case study in the fine line between eclectic and directionless. But their intoxicating theme instrumental to last year's Trainspotting-a groggy meeting place of mood music and rock grit-felt like a fresh start. And Vanishing Point, their fifth album, more than follows up on that song's promise. Imagine a bunch of woozy Scots jamming in a Middle Eastern techno club in bustling Piccadlily Circus, and you have a rough idea of the swirling, hypnotic acid-trip electronica of Vanishing Point. From the sublimely elegant horns on "Get Duffy" to the punky rip through "Medication," the album is incessantly inventive but always grounded. "Trainspotting," which is reprised here, is just one of many numbers (the B-movie sleaze of "If They Move, Kill 'Em" is another) that treat instrumentals not as filler but as edgy mood pieces. The album is a kick especially on headphones, where the speaker-to-speaker shifts, tablas, organs, computer squeals, subway-rumbling noises, and other sonic window dressing can be fully enjoyed. Singer Bobby Gillespie's blissed-out lyrics-like "Star," his ode to fallen civil rights leaders-are a bit hippie-dippie. But words aren't Vanishing's point. Forget electronica; we may need a whole new term for this record. Exotica, anyone? Vanishing Point: AOriginally Appeared in Entertainment Weekly #387, July 11, 1997 Back |
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