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Vanishing Point

Primal Scream

1997

Buy At Rough Trade
Vanishing Point
Album Summary

Vanishing Point is the fifth studio album by Scottish rock band Primal Scream. It was released on 7 July 1997 in the United Kingdom by Creation Records and in the United States by Reprise Records. It peaked at number 2 on the UK Albums Chart. The album shows inspiration from genres such as dub, ambient, dance music, and krautrock, as well as bands such as Motörhead, Can, and the Stooges. It was the band's first album to feature Gary 'Mani' Mounfield on bass, formerly of the Stone Roses, although Marco Nelson played bass on "Burning Wheel", "Star", "If They Move, Kill 'Em'", and "Stuka".Other guest appearances on Vanishing Point include Augustus Pablo, Glen Matlock, and the Memphis Horns. Gillespie has described the album as an anarcho-syndicalist speedfreak road-movie record. It is named after and inspired by the 1971 film Vanishing Point, especially the song "Kowalski", which is meant to be an alternative soundtrack of the movie. Lead singer Bobby Gillespie said, "The music in the film is hippy music, so we thought, 'Why not record some music that really reflects the mood of the film?' It's always been a favourite of the band, we love the air of paranoia and speed- freak righteousness. It's impossible to get hold of now, which is great! It's a pure underground film, rammed with claustrophobia.

Wikipedia

Rating

2.83

Votes

12318

Genres

  • Rock
  • Indie

Reviews

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Jul 29 2021
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2

The most exciting part of listening to this album was enjoying a song and going to save it, and then realizing the album had ended and it was playing Primal Scream radio. Didn't enjoy this one much

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Aug 25 2022
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1

As if this project hasn't given me enough garbage from the UK in this lifetime, here's some nameless 90s shit that sounds like a mix of britpop and PS1 snowboarding game soundtrack. And it goes for ages. Pointless and useless. Fuck off. 1/5.

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Sep 11 2022
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5

If someone told me they hated this album i would completely get it, but i absolutely loved it!

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Jul 27 2021
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1

I hate this fucking album so much.

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Jul 16 2021
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4

I had heard of Primal Scream but wasn't sure whether I knew any of their music. My expectation, just based on the name of the band, was loud, hard, driving rock and roll. Boy, was I wrong. This was a really pleasant surprise. Super interesting, adventurous and well done. Will definitely listen again. 4 stars.

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Nov 17 2021
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5

Screamadelica, Vanishing Point, Echo Dek, XTRMNTR, Evil Heat are all great albums and just show how good of a band Primal Scream became at a certain moment. Re Vanishing Point: it is a bit like Darklands from the Jesus and Mary Chain - a really strong album but you automatically compare against Psychocandy. Likewise you compare Vanishing Point to Screamadelica, which is just hard to beat. So I will just give 4 stars but could (should?) have given 5.. .. ..oh no hold on: 5 after all :-)

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Sep 15 2021
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2

I don't know anything about this band but I know I a synch album when I hear one. Every track a vibe, never an anthem? No bangers just moods? This album was made to be background music. Well, it manages to be exactly that, unfortunately.

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Nov 18 2022
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5

I'm a Primal Scream fan so this is loaded with bias. It's not their finest album but it is another excellent trippy journey. Stand out tracks - Burning Wheel - Star - Get Duffy - Kowalski - Trainspotting

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Oct 12 2022
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5

I was bracing for a heavy metal or hard rock assault, but instead this was psychedelic and trippy. The songs are an eclectic brew that really drew me in. Surprises everywhere including some great horns, clarinet, harmonica with that trippy synth throughout. Definitely need to keep Primal Scream on my radar because I loved this.

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Jun 29 2022
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5

super good, can’t tell what my favorite song was, some time between Star, Trainspotting, or Long Life yeah just all around 10/10

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Nov 17 2021
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4

I only knew Screamadelica which is amazing. Glad I got to discover this one as well. It sounds very different, but I feel like that is what makes it so great for me.

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Oct 14 2021
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4

Dubbed out skeletons of songs, mixed upside down and sideways. I love it, but this is deeply weird for a band of this profile. Taking the remixed template of screamadelica, but with a more industrial and dubbed out version. Noisy, spacey, groovy. I love it. Some 'real' songs (eg 'Medication', 'motorhead' cover), with some instrumentals (eg 'trainspotting')

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Apr 12 2021
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4

Wikipedia says the band's frontman described this album as an "anarcho-syndicalist speedfreak road-movie record" and I think that's about as good a description as any I could come up with. I highly recommend this album to anybody who likes electronica, house, trip-hop, or similar

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Oct 08 2021
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3

I am not nearly high enough to enjoy all of the sounds in this album. Too many distracting noises that my ND brain cannot process. Reverb and more reverb. Star belongs on a different album, where the hell did that even come from? Might enjoy if under the influence of shrooms or peyote or acid or might not. Yeah, prolly not. Got lost in Stuka and Trainspotting while someone else was driving, sorta frightening. Note to self: do not listen to this album while driving. I just couldn’t with Long Life. Unlikely to listen again, unless I find myself tripping balls.

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Feb 09 2024
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2

Pretty sleepy album but I didn't hate it. Pretty forgettable. Not sure what qualifies this album to be a must hear. Probably some insane back story that isn't immediately recognizable at face value just from listening to it - which in my opinion should remove a record from qualifying but who am I to say? Ain't my list.

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Feb 05 2021
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1

Not good. Lead just kinda talks during the songs, not in a spoken word or rap way, but just lazy not singing. Would be better fully instrumental, as some songs almost were.

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Aug 06 2023
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5

Damn I had a really nice review written out here song for song and then my browser updated :( Anyways this album uses some crazy different instruments to enhance the psychedelia of this album. Between the melodica, the sitar, the sax, and trumpet it sounds genre-bending but not at the same time. Long life sounds like solo Thom Yorke. Absolutely adore. The instrumentals alone give this a 5/5 for me. It is the best kind of strange. Definitely an album to listen to in one sitting. My fav type of album. Kept trying to find a reason to not give this a 5 but this album makes me feel like I'm on drugs. Now I want to take all the drugs and listen to it.

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Jun 16 2022
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5

As good as I remembered, most excellent!

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Jul 08 2021
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5

- strong variety of emotion and energy. from energetic Kowalski to mellow Star to introverted Burning Wheel. - strong production value - Personally loved the album, so many likes.

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Jul 21 2021
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5

Like this album. One of their best...

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Aug 16 2024
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4

Dubbed out skeletons of songs, mixed upside down and sideways. I love it, but this is deeply weird for a band of this profile. Taking the remixed template of Screamadelica, but with a more industrial and dubbed out version. Noisy, spacey, groovy. I love it. Only a few 'real' songs (eg 'Medication', 'Motorhead' cover), with some instrumentals (eg 'Trainspotting') or songs that may as well be instrumentals. Not a lot here that you would sing around a campfire with an acoustic guitar, but primal Scream were never great songwriters. But they can build an awesome vibe. This really reminds me of the On-U industrial dub records that I used to listen to in the 80s (African Head Charge, Tackhead, Keith LeBlanc, etc). Interestingly, Primal Scream released a dub version of this album (Echo Dek) remixed by Adrian Sherwood from On-U.

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Jul 05 2024
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4

Very cool, eclectic, always changing up the point of view. The instrumental tracks are especially interesting. It all feels a bit calculated at times, but no shade if the effect is this solid.

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Jul 05 2024
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4

spacey electronic krautrock/dub tracks with neo-psychedelica vibes that is pretty chill and laid back for the most part. Somewhat ambient but still moves forward with a solid groove.

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Jun 28 2024
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4

Vanishing Point I fucking loved this when it came out. I remember buying it in Woolworths (don’t look for it, it’s not there anymore) in Totton on my lunch break from my part time job, in that sweet sweet summer between A-Levels and Uni. I likely bought a slice of Pizza from Baker’s Oven on the way back to work too. It seems quite intertwined with Fat of the Land in my memory - just looked it up, Fat of the Land was released the week before this. What a time to be 17 years old. I haven’t listened to it in a while but it still holds up for the most part. Burning Wheel is great, starting with that swirling melange of sounds before a psychedelic groove emerges with the bass, guitar and organ, before it the turns into a shuffling dance/rock tune. Get Duffy definitely feels like a piece of 60s/70s soundtrack music in a good way, which makes sense with Vanishing Point the film being a key influence on the album. I bought the Kowalski single when it came out, and it still sounds great, Mani’s rumbling bass is superb at creating a sense of unease and paranoia, as does the fact that it is more a series of incantations and samples rather than a set of lyrics. At the time I loved Star, and although I still like the essence of the words, the lyrics do sound clunky now. Musically it’s still great though, particularly the melodica hook and the horns. I love the little guitar parts in If They Move Kill Em, again it feels quite soundtrack, with a load of sounds and textures jammed into it, but it works as it has a strong sense of momentum. There’s enough interesting stuff happening musically with Out of the Void to keep it going, and the groove/rhythm is good, but it feels a long, even if it’s only 4 minutes. Far too many 90s doorbell chimes in Stuka, but again I like the slippery, dubby spacey groove built around the bass. I don’t think Medication or Motörhead work that well. The former harks back to the Stonesey stuff on Give Out But Don’t Give Up but it feels very leaden footed, there isn’t that sense of looseness and groove that the song needs and that is preset on the rest of the album. Motörhead probably just isn’t that great a song outside of the Motörhead bubble, but works slightly better than Medication, fitting the druggy/comedown vibe a bit better. Trainspotting brings things back to the woozy soundtrack feel, this time with 90s telephone chimes, but it is way too long and the electric piano is a bit too 90s lounge pastiche, although the guitar right at the end is nice. It’s probably the weakest of the instrumental grooves. Long Life is great, despite the dodgy vocal. It definitely has a Kraftwerk vibe to the synths and I like the swirling, echoey feel. A suitably spacey end to the album. It’s definitely a very loose record, with all it’s instrumentals and the lack of concise and well defined songs, but I think that’s to it’s benefit, as it seems to be going for cinematically inspired feel, groove and sonic textures in varying styles, out of which songs and tunes emerge, rather than a coherent set of songs with one particular influence, like the previous album. It also definitely sags towards the end, from Medication to Trainspotting, before picking back up with Long Life. It may not be a perfect album, but I do like it a lot, I admire the idea behind it and the overall woozy, loose, trippy sound. Way better than a 3, but not a 5, cogito ergo sum its a 4. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Jul 08 2021
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3

A curiously enjoyable sound, definitely worth saving

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Dec 04 2024
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2

There is some good music here, but. it is surrounded by too much electronic trash to make me want to hear more. 2 stars or D+.

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Sep 10 2021
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2

While I'm not a huge fan of the electronic music, some of their hybrid electronic-rock works. The grooves are pretty decent and I can appreciate what they are going for here. Some if it is also pretty bad. Kowalski is pretty fun. So is "If They Move, Kill 'Em". Star is terrible. The rest is somewhere in the middle. Mixed bag of a record that ends up being less than the sum of its parts.

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Apr 08 2021
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2

I already reviewed Screamadelica this week, and it was enough. This is a weaker version of the same. Dreary indie rockers play derivative psychedelia. I'm sure it was an amazing soundtrack to doing drugs in fields in the 1990s, but it hasn't aged that well.

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Jul 20 2022
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1

All experimental filler noise, zero substance

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Jul 27 2021
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1

I did not get into this album. It had some beats but I would not describe them as good beats. I started skipping through the songs.

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Dec 10 2020
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1

I know I listened to it....but can't remember anything about it today. This is "just another 90s style album" to me.

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Oct 04 2024
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5

Love this album. I've said it before but, 1997 pivotal year

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Oct 03 2024
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5

I was really surprised by this. It was a fun groove to have on this morning while I worked, not at all what I expected. I think I'll be returning to this album for sure, and maybe look into other albums by Primal Scream if they're like this.

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Sep 20 2024
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5

I could listen to this again. Fantastic album

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Jun 12 2024
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5

I understand the influence this had on Gorillaz now

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Mar 24 2024
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5

Primal Scream's weed record. This one sounds more Bristol than Glasgow, which fits the Scream much better their prior record's Black Crowes and rail whiskey energy

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Mar 06 2024
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5

I love the grunge! They must be an inspiration for the Gorrillaz.

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Feb 19 2024
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5

This was probably the only era of this album that me and my dad could agree on. He loved the film "Vanishing Point" and it was great to see him engage with the album. And it's still just great, really unlike anything else at the time, and Primal Scream finding the confidence to do whatever the hell they wanted. Thanks, Bobby.

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Feb 09 2024
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5

An alternative soundtrack to the movie. It feels like it fits better.

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Dec 08 2023
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5

Incredible. Always loved this album, love the way they are never afraid to experiment on their albums.

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Dec 07 2023
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5

A great record in my opinion. It mixes the psychedelic sounds of spacemen 3 with electronic elements and creates a very unique vibe

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Nov 09 2023
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5

Absolutely fell in love with this band

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Nov 05 2023
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5

Need to relisten not sure how I missed this first time around

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Aug 20 2023
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5

been on a bit of a downer on the scream recently as i've come to the realisation that Bobby Gillespie is a bit of a bell end. always kind of knew it but i read his book and he proper gives it the big i am about being right on and makes out like he's some enlightened being when really he's a ned who will take what he can and shaft people along the way, like his former band mates. revisiting this album though has calmed those feelings and replaced them with the question of how the fuck do a bunch of glaswegian bag heads come up with something like this? when you look at the screams back catalogue they've hopped genre almost every album and done it successfully. as much as i think he's a lucky chancer he must have something about him to have made the albums they've made.

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Aug 06 2023
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5

The first 2 songs were awesome to listen to on the beach. Then it definitely picks up starting at the third song I can't tell what type of genre this is but is quite cool Star is awesome. That is an instant add to a playlist Stuka is trippy as hell. The end with headphones on is wild Medication is completely different than the rest it sounds like the Strokes right in the middle of the album Trainspotting has an awesome build up into some really nice groovy guitar then into some sort of weird harmonoca This album is out of control I love it

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Jun 09 2023
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5

Bobby Gillespie is a genius. There is so much variety and experimentation here and it’s all superb. The drums are hypnotic under the accompanying instrumentation, with poetically pointed lyrics overtop.

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Feb 19 2023
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5

Fascinating album, new to me. Number of music styles is amazing, is this Primal Screams' Sandinista? With the dub of Stuka as best song. Even better: the link at YouTube had additional B-sides, Jesus sounds like Velvet Underground and would have been great VU song. And the Stranglers cover of 96 tears was fun.

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Aug 06 2021
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5

Precisava muito escutar de verdade

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Mar 12 2021
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5

I don't remember many vocals. Nice background music with a early chill electronic sound.

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Dec 02 2024
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4

++: Kowalski, Star, If They Move, Kill 'Em, MotÖrhead, Trainspotting +: Burning Wheel, Get Duffy, Stuka, Medication, Long Life +-: Out of the Void 8,1/10

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Nov 29 2024
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4

I had to listen to this a few times to make up my mind. Yes it's interesting and creative, but do I also like listening to it? Yes I do. And thanks to my wife I am reminded why - at times it sounds like dEUS (which is even better but I'm biased). An eclectic mix of instruments and electronics with a focus on soundscapes, drawing from (prog) rock and much more. I like this album better than their singles, and will explore more :-).

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Nov 27 2024
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4

Couldn’t really classify what that was but it was pretty cool.

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Nov 27 2024
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4

Gorillaz meets Stone Roses meets Massive Attack. 7/10

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Nov 27 2024
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4

Enjoyed this. So far best album I have been recommended. Easy listening, and great background music.

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Nov 20 2024
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4

Was not what I was expecting based off the band name. Now I want to watch vanishing point

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Nov 15 2024
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4

Me gustó pero no sé si lo incluiría dentro de la lista, suena a otras bandas que ya he escuchado

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Nov 14 2024
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4

I’m only familiar with Screamadelica and XTRMNTR, by Primal Scream so this was new to me. This one seems a little more laid back than what I’m used to from this band, leaning into that late nighties down tempo electronic sound. Even though it’s a chill album there’s plenty of knob turning ear candy and noisey guitar playing to keep the mind busy. I’ll be adding this one to a playlist or two.

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Nov 11 2024
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4

I was disappointed with my revisit of Screamadelica after having liked it in the nineties, so my hopes weren't that high for this. But I ended up liking it quite a lot - definite krautrock vibes that I liked.

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Nov 06 2024
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4

Wow, really surprised by this. It's a complete mishmash of styles, but it really works. I loved it! I really didn't expect to though. But yeah, I mean Stuka and Medication are two opposite ends of the spectrum but both work brilliantly. Not quite worth a 5 but a very solid 4. And yes I it is on the buy list.

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Oct 30 2024
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4

Don't let their name fool you. Some really mellow tracks.

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Oct 23 2024
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4

It was pretty cool and weird. Sometimes it sounded like sonic or nine inch nails

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Oct 17 2024
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4

Primal Scream is "up my alley" musically speaking. Oddly enough though, I am not often deliberate in my seeking them out. I don't think there is any partcular reason for it, just there are as many good bands I actually remember as there are bands that I either don't know the names of (or connect songs with). Primal Scream is one of those "these guys are great" bands that are obscure enough (in a way) that they just don't come up much on any of my playlists. Nevertheless! I actually could listen to them all day long and not get bored, and I am glad for the re-introduction.

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Oct 14 2024
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4

Great electronic/ambient/trip-hop and pyschedelic album from the 1990s UK music scene. Primal Scream is a great band, and it is a cool album. The band said it was inspired by a 70s movie and the album is really like some sort of road movie soundtrack. It is very enjoyable, and is recommended to anyone who like electronica and a bit trippy and chill music.

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Oct 09 2024
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4

Totally took me off guard Maximalist psychedelia Didn’t really want to listen more than once

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Oct 03 2024
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4

Not a lot to say about individual tracks, but this was actually an enjoyable listen. Harder-edged trip-hop sound. 4 stars. In the right mood, I'd listen to this again.

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Sep 23 2024
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4

Not what I expected with that artist name and album cover. Quite enjoyable.

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Aug 16 2024
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4

Enjoyed this one more than I thought I would. And this will be excellent "working music" to have on in the background.

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Aug 16 2024
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4

Now this is confusing. Unexpected and well, hard to describe. More mellow / trippy / clubby / strange lounge than expected. Kowalski ? The Penguin? A '97 album, with a track called Trainspotting? Feels like a disorienting nightclub movie scene - expertly made into an album. Ride it. Ride it. So, "Get Duffy" and "Star" are atmospheric and promising, but it gets too wierd to trust. I skip ahead to Trainspotting - now it all makes sense. This is the "sound"that defined the movie. Brillaint. Uneven Brillaince; geniuses. I didnt know I knew them so well. This is really, *really* out there, even for me. But if I was in a certain club at a certain time of my life, in a certain state, it might all work. But the nauseating sinking feeling of this takes me to the film set of Irriversible just a bit too much. In the Rare Art category for now - pending my review at alater date...

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Aug 14 2024
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4

I enjoyed this more than I expected. I think the band name and album name left me thinking that the music would be quite different than it was. A mash up of all sorts of styles.

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Aug 14 2024
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4

I may not choose to listen to this, but it’s interesting. A couple songs stuck out to me. This is the kind of record that belongs on this list. Lots of variety in the record.

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Aug 04 2024
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4

I have a soft spot for Primal Scream and this album. It is nice to see a band reinvent itself with every album (at that stage at least). I love the concept of them giving the cult film that shares the name Vanishing Point a new soundtrack. Tracks like Kowalski and If They Move Kill 'Em are some of Primal Scream's best. Some of the other tracks nice experiments. Medication sounds like an outtake of their previous album, and feels totally out of place and to be honest isn't that good. Four stars from me as the album evokes strongs memories of '97 and seeing them live a few times when they toured the album

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Jul 21 2024
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4

No likes but found myself enjoying it more than hating it. Rounding up.

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Jul 18 2024
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4

First time with this band but I really liked it. Wide variety of styles, instrumentation, and overall super fun. Definitely looking more into them! 4/5

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Jul 11 2024
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4

Pretty cool. Screamadelica is better, but this should not be slept on 👍

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Jun 27 2024
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4

Nothing mind blowing but definitely a very good album

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Jun 23 2024
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4

This is good, reminded me of walking through a festival…some lovely instruments used, some dub vibes. Didn’t pick out any songs in particular, but really enjoyed listening while doing a creative project

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Jun 21 2024
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4

Muito difícil avaliar esse álbum. Se fosse enquadra-lo num gênero, diria que o álbum é composto majoritariamente por músicas ambientes, com pequenas inserções de dub, rock e experimentações diversas. Por um lado não é um álbum muito marcante, as músicas terminam e começam sem você nem se dar conta; mas por outro lado tem várias sonoridades interessantes, além de uma proposta massa também, de ter como inspiração um filme com mesmo nome e com uma trilha sonora completamente oposta. Um comentário descreveu como um álbum em que todas às músicas são sempre uma vibe, mas nunca um hit como uma crítica. Eu uso o mesmo motivo para ir pro caminho oposto, ele se propõe à isso: ser uma música de fundo. Ser uma música que se encaixe melhor como trilha sonora de um filme que os músicos gostavam.

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Jun 13 2024
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4

Ganz erstaunlich gut. Kannte ich bisher gar nicht.

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Jun 06 2024
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4

Absolutely loved this! I legitimately had no idea that the Scream has such a great catalogue as my only real experience with them is Screamadelica but this was awesome!

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Jun 05 2024
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4

Amazing, really liked it. Wasn't at all what I was expecting

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May 28 2024
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4

Giving this one the bump to four stars because why not? We've had another from Primal Scream, and I don't remember it being this kind of music at all. This one veers more into electronic sounds, a good bit of it dark and foreboding. Quite a few grooves that I managed to sink myself into, and I was hung up for a long time on "Trainspotting," that song has a sample used in it a few times (see 1:09 for the first reference) that I recognized immediately from Pusha T's "Lunch Money," a loosie produced by Kanye West. I'm pretty sure they both used the same underlying sample from a '70s album called Moog Indigo, which I absolutely need to listen to now. But yeah, some really cool tracks on here, great depth of electronic instrumentals, love having albums like this appear on the list (especially when they're good). Favorite tracks: Burning Wheel, Out of the Void, Medication, Trainspotting, Long Life. Album art: Not fantastic, the one on here is a collage of urban images, streets, signs, and some electronic instruments. Too much going on to really make a statement, but the font at least is good. Apple Music has a different cover, and it's really just the street shot from the bottom right corner of this album. Not necessarily better, but definitely less cluttered. 4/5

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May 24 2024
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4

Who doesn’t like a bit of Primal Scream? This album isn’t quite as excellent as Screamadelica, but it is still definitely a good listen. It feels moodier than I’m used to in parts, but still keeps that hippy briotpop vibe. I didn’t recognise any tracks here (there is even a Motörhead cover, strangely) but I still enjoyed it. Screamadelica will still be my go-to album though.

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May 24 2024
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4

Trainspotting (Titelsong des gleichnamigen Films) kannte ich, der Rest wsr neu. Star, Medication sind tolle ruhige Songs. Mir gefällt der Sound, der Dub-Groove, und der Stil-Mix des Albums. Trotzdem nicht DIE Kaufempfehlung.

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May 10 2024
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4

Some great tracks, but doesn't reach the heights of Screamadelica

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