•
Rating:
The rave season should not only be considered in the overly publicized gatherings of the last ten years. Today, with the focus on the money of the organizers, the true essence of this social cultural dimension is being distorted.
Everything begins in America, in the mid-Eighties, with house and techno. These two worlds immediately present landscapes filled with experimental DJs. It is the era of samplers, sequencers, and all those synths with intriguing and futuristic names. The Detroit of techno is immediately colored by the likes of Derrick May, Jeff Mills, Carl Craig, Richie Hawtin, Juan Atkins, and Kevin Saunderson. The Chicago of house, on the other hand, features Frankie Knuckles, Jesse Saunders, Marshall Jefferson, and Mr. Fingers.
The great exploits of these two genres, from "Clear," "Strings Of Life," "On And On" and ending with "Your Love," "Techno City," "Can You Feel It?" and "Acid Tracks," leave an indelible mark. Practically, between the mid and late Eighties, the Bible of the genre is created, so sacred as to serve both for future dance of Corona and Snap! and for more "cultured" territories like IDM. The concept of rave, synthetic high and gatherings to listen to music includes not only samples and electronic instruments.
There is also the whole range of shoegaze and the Madchester Sound: the former being the distorted vision of the psychedelia of the Byrds and Velvet Underground, the latter a new guise of the acid funky used up to that point in the post-punk scene (see some sounds of Rip Rig & Panic's "God"). The Eighties are over, and this scene in rapture is still awaiting something: it must reach 1991 to definitively complete the cycle.
A strange band called Primal Scream, which has made two records practically without sending too many signals, is preparing to release the third album. Andy Weatherall, guru producer, is the one who puts veiled hands on the new material of the combo. Picture those total works, like "Sgt. Pepper"? "Screamadelica" is precisely that kind of sonic Eden. A box where everything can be gathered, where everything is in its right place and absence of dead spots and imperfections. Primal Scream is a concentrate of Madchester Sound, pseudo shoegaze, and acid house.
This colossal melting pot is instantly shaken by "Movin On Up" (yes, the song they used in that car commercial), true gospel revival of the most camouflaged Stones with an ultra sticky refrain. With the second track "Slip Inside This House," we're starting to be assailed by some doubts: "I've heard this title before... isn't it a cover of the 13th Floor Elevators?" Indeed it is. The Primal Scream version stuffs this historic lesson of psychedelia with electronics, making future Oasis understand that the masters of mumbled refrains are only them. But there aren't only echoes and old copy pastes.
The future begins with the pompous jungle of "Don't Fight It, Feel It," masterfully stuffed with bass and sampling. These three excellent starters prepare us for the timeless "Higher Than The Sun," the true zenith of the rave era. The recipe is: pulsing dub bass, effected voice, rarefied introduction on the edge of the ancestral, subsequent triumph of the swaying drum kits and a faded high school end.
"Come Together" consecrates all this. It's trivial to compare the piano phrasings to the dance schemes of summer hits. Here there is much more. The exciting choir, which weaves into the synthetic dance, perfectly seals an era, a generation, thus becoming the stereotype of the classic tune that is shouted at concerts, but the real ones. Now you might think: "Okay, I've read the hits. Now there are surely the fillers and similar stuff."
Do you believe that in "Screamadelica" there's more? We find "Damaged," a ballad to make Jagger and Richards envious, "Loaded," an exhilarating exotic fanfare with trumpets and blues guitars coming from another planet (perhaps a step below "Come Together"), and the dub version of "Higher Than The Sun" with guest Jah Wobble (the colossal bassist of Public Image Ltd.). Yes, now it's truly all over, even though in this strange ending lies the dawn of everything.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Movin' on Up (03:50)
I was blind, now I can see
You made a believer, out of me
I was blind, now I can see
You made a believer, out of me
Chorus
I'm movin' on up now
Gettin' out of the darkness
My light shines on
My light shines on
My light shines on
I was lost, now I'm found
I believe in you, I've got no bounds
I was lost, now I'm found
I believe in you, I got no bounds
I'm movin' on up now
Gettin' out of the darkness
My light shines on
My light shines on
My light shines on
Repeat Chorus
I'm getting outta darkness
My light shines on
I'm getting outta darkness
My light shines on
02 Slip Inside This House (05:16)
Finer worlds that you uncover
Plant the path you want to roam
Live where you're heart can be given
And your life starts to unfold
You think you can't you wish you could
I know you can, I wish you would
Trip inside this house as you pass by
Trip inside this house as you pass by
If your limbs begin dissolving
In the water that you tread
All surroundings are evolving
In the stream that clears your head
Come disciples to thee unending
Subtleties of rhythm power
Trip inside this house as you pass by
Sweep the shadows from your eyes
Sweep the realm of dark aside
Trip inside this house as you pass by
Trip inside this house as you pass by
03 Don't Fight It, Feel It (06:53)
Gonna dance to the music all night long
Gettin' high, gettin' happy gettin' gone
Gonna dance to the music all night long
Gettin' up, gettin' down, gonna get it on
Gonna live the life I love
I'm gonna love the life I live
Gonna get high
Gonna dance to the music all night long
Gettin' high, gettin' happy gettin' gone
Gonna dance to the music all night long
Gettin' up, gettin' down, gonna get it on
Gonna live the life I love
I'm gonna love the life I live
Gonna get high
Gonna get high 'til the day I die
Rama lama lama fa fa fa
Gonna get high 'til the day I die
Rama lama lama fa fa fa
Gonna get high 'til the day I die
Rama lama lama fa fa fa
Gonna get high 'til the day I die
04 Higher Than the Sun (03:38)
My brightest star's my inner light let it guide me
Experience and innocence bleed inside me
Hallucinogens can open me or untie me
I drift in inner space, free of time
I find a higher state of grace, in my mind
I'm beautiful
I wasn't born to follow
I live just for today, don't care about tomorrow
What i've got in my head you can't buy, steal or borrow
I believe in live and let live
I believe you get what you give
I've glimpsed, I have tasted, fantastical places
My soul's an oasis, higher than the sun
I'm higher than the sun
06 Come Together (10:21)
This is a beautiful day
It is a new day
We are together, we are unified
And all for the cause
Because together we got power
Apart we got power
Today on this program you will hear gospel,
And rhythm and blues, and jazz
All those are just labels
We know that music is music
Today on this program you will hear gospel,
And rhythm and blues, and jazz
All those are just labels
We know that music is music
Come together as one (x5)
(Gospel)
This a beautiful day
It's a new day
(Repeat)
We are together
We are together
We are together, we are unified
We are together
We are unified, because together we got power
Apart we got power, we are together
Today on this program you will hear gospel,
And rhythm and blues, and jazz
All those are just labels
We know that music is music
Come together as one (x5) [Gospel]
Rock the boat (Get off the boat) (x3)
We are together, we are unified
Come together
07 Loaded (07:02)
(Dialogue: The Wild Angels, Peter Fonda's Character)
Just what is it that you want to do?
We wanna be free
We wanna be free to do what we wanna do
And we wanna get loaded
And we wanna have a good time
That's what we're gonna do
No way baby lets go
We're gonna have a good time
We're gonna have a party
I don't wanna lose your love (4x)
Just what is it you wanna do?
I'm gonna get deep down, deep down
I said, (I'm gonna get deep down) deep down
Woo hey!
We wanna be free to do what we wanna do
Let's go!
I don't wanna lose your love (2x)
We wanna be free to do what we wanna do
Ahhh yeah
08 Damaged (05:39)
Sweet summer days
When I was feeling so fine
Just you and me girl
Was a beautiful time
Oh yeah
Said I felt so happy
My my my
I was through with doubt and pain
All the love I felt hadn't been in vain
Got damaged
I got damaged
I got damaged
I lost myself in you
I'd wake up beside you
You'd hold me in your arms
Nothing and nobody's gonna do me
Any harm oh yeah
Said I felt so happy
My my my
And the way I felt inside
Made me feel so glad to be alive
Got damaged
I got damaged
I got damaged
I lost myself in you
Do do doo
I'd never felt so happy
Do do doo
I'd never felt so happy
Do do doo
I'd never felt so happy
I'll never feel that way again
No, no, no, no, no, no
My my my
People can be precious
But they ain't for keeping
I got too possessive
But souls ain't for stealing
You were my addiction
I got strung out and crazy
Hit me like a fever
When you left me baby
Stone, stone, stone in love with you
I was stone, stone, stone in love with you
I was stone, stone, stone in love with you
I was stone, stone, stone in love with you
(Repeat to end)
Loading comments slowly
Other reviews
By Mellon
"The perfect fusion between House and Pop invents a new and brilliant formula that changed the course of the '90s."
"Primal dared such moves with such ease and calmness, proving how far ahead they were compared to stagnant Brit-pop."
By Mr. Wolf
"Screamadelica cannot be denied the credit of being one of the most creative and inspired albums of recent years."
"By giving free rein to everyone’s creativity and inspiration, this album was born where rock takes on unusual and inspired forms."
By telespallabob771
It’s infinitely sweet to immerse oneself in a nebulous past, made more of sensations than of memories now erased over time by the distraction of memory.
You will see that one day we will all meet again, it will return, and we will dance and sing and hail some of our sign of belonging and we will be satisfied.
By Conteverde
Screamadelica was the awakening from the sexy and scorching nightmare of Bobby Gillespie, probably the Zenith of a personality certainly chaotic but deeply transformative and transparent.
We wanna be free, we wanna be free to do what we wanna do.
