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Vanishing Point - Musik ReviewIT'S impossible to over estimate the importance of Primal Scream in the grand scheme of groovy things. Which probably sounds stupid to anyone whose knowledge of the band only extends as far back as their last album, "Give Out But Don't Give Up". It was difficult to believe that those were the same guys responsible for the swoonsome "Screamadelica" at the beginning of the decade, the guys who stomped down the barriers between dance and rock like nobody else ever before. Or since.
So where does "Vanishing Point" fit in? Well, in some ways,
you could be forgiven for thinking it was no more of a dance
record than "Give Out....After all, the guest musicians do
include Glen Matlock, the geezer Sid Vicious replaced in The
Sex Pistols, and one of the cuts is a cover of Motorhead's
eponymous anthem. But what moves this record on up, if not
on a par with "Screamadelica; then certainly just one shot
behind, is the remarkable spirit of adventure which runs
throughout. And, yes, in case you're wondering, you can
wiggle your srse to huge chunks of it.
Against every odd, "Motorhead" is a good example. It isn't
simply "Rocks Off" with a faded Harley Davidson patch
stitched on the back. Oh, it's dirty enough (most of "Vanishing
Point" is actually pretty dirty), but the turbo-charged,
technofied industrial beats are totally 1997. The vibe isn't too
disssimilar to "Kowalskl", the first single to be lifted from the
album. The second single, the lullaby-ish "Star", is something
tee, though. Think summer, think sea, think falling in love.
Incidentally, it features Augustus Pablo, the legendary
Jamaican melodica player. A rare honour, as it's apparently the
first time that he's agreed to appear on another artist's record.
Elsewhere, there's evervthing from freeform jazz to swamp
blues, from stomp-a-long hoedowns to noise-ravaged ballads,
from punk rock to hip hop. The beautiful clarinet and lo-fi loop
of "Get Dotty" will lodge in your brain for weeks and
"Trainspotting" (on which Andy Weatherall temporarily ousts
Brendan Lynch from the production seat) pops a pink sweet in
your mouth. Then slashes your face open. When the big
beats of "If They Move, Kill 'Em" and the crunching "Stuka"
storm in they will remind you of Primal Scream at their
weightiest. The latter comes complete with a door bell
courtesy of Joe "African Dub" Gibbs and the sound of the
Luttwaffe in full-on let's-tuck-Poland mode.
As with "Screamadelica", to try and guess where "Vanishing
Point" fits in is an absurd question. You might as well ask a
chicken to referee the FA Cup Final. The problem is that every
possible answer isa contradiction. It's very much of its time
and yet quite probably timeless. Its head is twirling in the ether,
but its toes are curled in the mud. One minute it's soothing
and linear and glowing, the next it's gritty and twisted and dark
The end result is original, sure, yet there are countless stolen
concepts, moments and atmospheres. It's everywhere and
nowhere. Baby.
In short, it's a total mind-fuck The only certainty is that this
group's place in the history book of late 20th Century music is
assured. And while that isn't exactly new news (let's be
truthful, if there'd been no "Screamadelica'; there'd have been
no Oasis and no Chemical Brothers, at least not 55 we know
them), the fact that "Vanishing Point" gives Primal Scream
another couple of pages is one hell of an achievement.
Welcome back, lads. 10Push Originally Appeared in Musik , August 1997. Copyright © Musik. Back |
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