Screamadelica
Primal Scream
1991
Album Summary
Screamadelica is the third studio album by Scottish rock band Primal Scream. It was first released on 23 September 1991 in the United Kingdom by Creation Records and on 8 October 1991 in the United States by Sire Records. The album marked a significant departure from the band's early indie rock sound, drawing inspiration from the blossoming house music scene and associated drugs such as LSD and MDMA. Much of the album's production was handled by acid house DJ Andrew Weatherall and engineer Hugo Nicolson, who remixed original recordings made by the band into dance-oriented tracks.Screamadelica, featuring Manchester born singer Denise Johnson, was the band's first album to be a commercial success, peaking at number eight on the UK Albums Chart upon its release. It received wide praise from critics, and has been frequently named one of the best albums of the 1990s in various polls. It won the first Mercury Music Prize in 1992, and has sold over three million copies worldwide.
WikipediaIt is hard to believe this was released in 1991. This sounds like something more recent, especially considering the sampling and production. Not sure how this band is a rock band though XD It certainly requires a few more listens to give this a decent rating, as there is so much to unpack here. I feel each listen you will discover something new, which is just a testament to the production here. Love it!
Now we're talking! This album brings together some classic rock influences ("Inner Flight" feels like 90s Pet Sounds) with acid house production. It immediately brings to mind that dance episode of Spaced and memories of being able to actually go out dancing with friends. It's such a memorable listen and the Primal Scream album that sticks with me the most. Step inside and let yourself be free. Rating: 4.5/5 Favourite tracks: "Loaded", "Moving on Up", "Damaged" and "Inner Flight"
Sometimes when you throw a bunch of genres in a blander and set it on high, something pretty cool comes out. This is one of those times. Not every sip of the psych-dance-gospel-dub smoothie is perfect, but it's never uninteresting.
Just got worse the farther into the album I went. I’m really not a fan of this psychedelic background music thing they’ve got going on. A chore to get through.
Another in the long list of albums designed to be listened to whilst spamming your bonce with pills. Which means it makes passable background music but does absolutely nothing for the dendrites.
Ahh the album that invented the 90's. Such a cool concept and mixture of genres. Even though it draws from arguably dated sounds and ideas it still feels cool and fresh.
Really good! I don’t think it needed to be an hour long, but this is a cool album full of interesting ideas. 9/10
Cracking album. Doesn’t sound 30 years old. Loads of variety. Poss the orig indie/dance crossover?
I remember buying this album on a one-day band trip in high school. Snuck over the HMV while everyone was grabbing lunch and got it 2 for $20 with some other record. The reason I can't remember the other record I bought that day because Screamadelic confounded me. I loved the funky acid/psych rock, but my 16 year old ears had never heard club beats before. Wasn't a hit with my friends, and I mostly listened to "Moving On Up" on repeat, but over the years I got to the rest of the tracks. Incredible stuff, sprawling and loose, but not even a second wasted on this hour-long listen. Fav Tracks: Loaded, Moving on Up, Shine Like the Stars and Inner Flight. Rating 4.5/5
very cool album - don't let the title make you think it is heavy metal or screaming or something.
It's just brilliant isn't it, full on happy dancy, hands-in-the-air loveliness
The name of the band in conjunction with the album title made me laugh and the actual music radiates joy. Weirdly reminds me of The Rolling Stones. Highly enjoyable.
Really interesting music. Hard to pin a genre on this, the description on Apple Music is all over the place. Listening to this outside in the sun feels perfect though, catching a vibe for sure. I love the instrumentals. The vocals are fairly weak and forgettable, but with this kind of music they really aren’t that important. I dig it. Favorite tracks: Movin On Up, Don’t Fight It Feel It, Higher Than the Sun, Loaded, Damaged. Album art: LOVE this one, I’m calling it iconic based on seeing it just a number of times. Bright colors like this work great for me, and it definitely fits the music. More like this. 4/5
This album starts off like an ad for Special K, turns into 80s workout music, then ends with long, boring and annoying tracks. Higher than the Sun is a decent track though.
Enraging, directionless, nonsensical garbage. Any allusion to familiarity with certain radio play songs, doesn’t do enough to save this appalling piece of garbage. I’m finding more terrible albums with this process than good. My average rating is closer to 2.
Love this album! Nick I can definitely see Inner Flight being on Pet Sounds. I also am picking up Beach Boys Holland vibe on Shine Like Stars. What struck me over and over was how most of the instrumental tracks reminded me of The Fireman's first album (McCartney/Youth). It makes sense as Youth comes from the same scene that influenced this album at the time. This album came out in 91 and McCartney and Youth started working on the first Fireman album in 92. So many similarities. This was a joy to listen to and is now in rotation. Favorite song: Moving on Up, inner Flight, Loaded, Damaged and Shine Like Stars. 5 star!!
The most popular part of my dick is the neverending foreskin. It's been on the Jeremy Kyle show 16 times and always has a punch up. The screams from all that have seen it give me sexy nightmares.
Wonderful infusion of classic Stones esque rock n roll and elements of house, dance and indie music.
I have loved this record since it came out. The songs are, perhaps, not that strong, but the production and mood lifts this into the all time classic range. Its a night in the clubs, with the chill-out come-down at the end. The spaced-out, dubbed-out, extended dance mix production turn this into an album that I can listen to over and over again. Loaded is a staple of my DJ sets, but in context, event he weaker songs on this album work because of the way they contribute to the mood and journey of the record. love it.
This is another one of those albums that sounds like a blender medley of bands that I love, but don't like their parts together. It's not to say that I don't like this album, I do, it's just a bit generic, giving me the vibes of U2, Beta Band (and yes, I know, they formed AFTER, i'm just saying, sound-wise), The Smiths, and Pulp (you wanna talk about an underrated band, Pulp is criminally underrated). The best song on this album is a tie between "Loaded" and "Slip Inside This House". I'd listen to this again, but not in one sitting.
The only PS record I had heard before listening to this was "XTRMNTR" and I remember thinking it was ok but fans were disappointed. After listeining to Screamadelica, I can understand why. Not only is it an objectively better record, it doesn't even sound like the same band. A lot of this record has the loose and fun feeling of late-60s, early 70s Rolling Stones. Not sure if that's be design, but I love it. It also has some modern elements (electronic drum and piano loops and sitar in the same song!) that in 1991 probably seemed very ahead of their time. I like that. Still, some of it sounds like music I'd hear in the dressing room at Express or H&M. Meh. But I'm sure in the early 90s, it was very cool.
Saved Prior: None Saved Off Rip: None Cutting Edge: None Overall Notes: Sounded like a less interesting version of Fatboy Slim and "Connected" by the Stereo MC's. Close to a 1 tbh, because even though nothing was objectively bad about the album, nothing was objectively good either. It just existed for OVER AN HOUR. These songs should not be 5+ minutes.
Bizarre album, it’s like a buffet of mediocre songs from different genres.
Plays like a weird dance mix with various artists, like one you found in a cereal box in the 90's. Sounded empty to me.
Strives to hit some balance between choral, dance, and indie but ends up becoming a bland, repetitive mess in the process
At this point, i'm over giving these albums i've never heard of a chance. i haven't heard of them for a reason i guess. Just a snoozefest.
If my imaginary 14 year-old son had made this at school, of course I'd listen, though I'd have fleeting thoughts of giving up after Come Together, especially as the wee lad would have crashed on the sofa by that point anyway, but fatherly duty would compel me to see it through to the end, and I'd finish feeling pretty impressed. Pretty proud of young Todd, too. Context is everything.
Good start but quickly petered out into presumably drug fuelled nonsense.
Reading the Wikipedia page I was expecting a true revolutionary album, but it was very disappointing. Maybe it was revolutionary when it was released, but today, it sounds very generic and not so good electronic rock.
What the ****. Almost fall asleep in my car, after the begining of each song I was already mad that I still need to endure another 6minutes or even more.. BORING, there's a small portion of me that maybe able to understand why someone in the 90's would have like it, but being a fan in 2022 mean that you're a psycho
It’s chaotic. The first half sounds like it was written by a bunch of super high kids who were fascinated by all of the new sound effects uploaded into their synth who made a collective pact to use as many of them in every song as possible. And the second half is like weird bird noises and people snoring over what I imagine they play in opium dens. Super “vibey” but not in a cool way. I hate it. It’s definitely a psychedelic album and I can say with certainly I’ve never been as high as these people.
establishing shot music hardest album to listen to so far which is surprising to me cause i think on paper id like this? made a believer out of MEAAA
I feel like I've probably heard these songs again but I don't know for sure. I didn't know what to expect when I read the title and artist but I was pleasantly surprised!
Disco genial, porque no le encuentro muchos otros adjetivos. Me hace querer drogarme aunque no lo haga, jaja, y tiene vibras, ritmos, sonidos, beats muy atractivos. Mucha energía acá, incluso en sus canciones con tempos más bajos, lo cual crea atmósferas diversas. "Come Together" me gusta mucho, en todo su desarrollo de diez minutos y otras favs son "Don't Fight It, Feel It" y "Shine Like Stars". Sin skips. 10/10
No había escuchado nunca a Primal Scream (creo), aunque el nombre sí me sonaba. Me gustó mucho este disco, me suena a una mezcla entre George Michael (no el de Arrested Development), Pulp y quizá algo (muy leve) de Oasis. Todo bien.
Great album that I had never heard before. Acid house with a gospel twist? Already bought a used CD of it arriving next week! 4.4/5.
A great mix of indie and dance production from Weatherall and Gillespie. I don’t love this quite as much as some of my friends did back in the day, but it still has a strong sense of nostalgia for me. And it does want me to get real messy on a cocktail of drugs, cigarettes, alcohol and staying up way too late.
Excellent album, Higher Than The Sun, Come Together, Loaded etc. all perfect. I did not realize how good Primal Scream was ...until Screamadelica came out - afterwards they had a whole sequence of excellent albums.
This list is giving me a treat this week as this is the 3rd album from late '91 that happens to be an absolute favourite of mine. I was 18 when this came out 30 years ago and what a time it was be be immersed in music. Some have said I am biased because of mny youth but this, Nevermind and Loveless have stood the test of time with me. And in the case of Screamadelica, I love it more now than I ever had. This album is genius on every level and I am forever grateful for Andy Weatherall and Alex Paterson for helping take a bunch of leather clad noise merchant's and shape them into the blissed out rave gods of this album.
Wow. Das ist richtig cool. Ich kannte das Cover aber das ist das erste was ich noch nie gehört hab was mich richtig umhaut. Das ist so schön atmosphärisch und meditativ das hat total mit mir resoniert. So irgendwo zwischen Boards of Canada und George Clanton ca., die divergenz an Genres hittet richtig einen Sweetspot bei mir. wirkt selbst 30 Jahre später noch total frisch und experimentell finde ich. Selbst wenn hier nicht jeder Track komplett überzeugt hat das als Projekt total viel tolles zu bieten und der Sound an sich ist einfach klasse. Das ist der erste Punkt an dem ich richtig froh bin dieses Projekt mitgemacht zu haben, vieles ist echt so lala aber wenn man dann diesen Moment hat wie grade lohnt es sich komplett, genau dafür ist es ja da.
fuck i love this album. whenever i listen this album it takes me about a week to get the hook line from don't fight it feel it out of my head.
Ooh ok I haven’t heard this in a while… The album opens with it’s most “ normal” song movin’ on up a rather happy clappy little song to get everyone singing before the true nature of the album is revealed with… Slip inside this house a cover song originally by a 60’s band called 13th floor elevators it’s really got the Indian based psychedelic feel of the later era Beatles, the song isn’t one of my favourites but I love the way he sings the lyrics on here. The third song on here is don’t fight it feel it It’s an alright song I like the whistling sounds crashing with the more dance like elements, this is probably the most clubby on here unlike come together or loaded ( later in this album) this song doesn’t really own it’s longer run time and drags after the songs first half. Next is higher than the sun the album’s shortest song a great drawling trance of a track, really enjoyable and a true drug song ( but not as much as the alternative version of the song later in the album ( which I prefer over this)). Inner flight ( while not a favourite of mine) is a brilliant instrumental piece with thundering tribal drums and haunted “aah’s” and “ooh’s leading just perfectly into… Come together the album’s centrepiece track a 10 minute epic which sounds like it’s made only of samples being layered over a drum beat. It’s surprisingly amazing and doesn’t drag! “ Just what is it that you want to do? Well, 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 And that's what we're gonna do (away baby, let's go) We're gonna have a good time, we're gonna have a party” This is the sample at the start of loaded which probably wins for my favourite sample of all time; anyway the actual song is great too a 7 minuter this time it feels like a more rock based version of come together as it has more organic guitars and pianos over all of the sampling and drum beat, the high to end all highs a true highlight! Damaged sounds like it’s meant to represent the comedown from loaded, the most distinctive track a very organic slow kinda beautiful sonic. But honestly if you’re not like me and you don’t like more traditional songs you will hate this, I like it though. I’am coming down is a very distinctive track amongst the album this slow drag of a song with some quite Indian sounding instrumentals and tribal drumming, not a favourite but a good collection of sounds on this one. Higher than the sun ( feat.Jah wobble) is a slower 7 minute drug filled version of the other version of the track. It’s a song that sounds like it’s made for headphones with the sampling in one ear then this tapping noise in the other originally making me wonder if someone was knocking on the first minutes ( oh yeah and half way it just stops for an awesome bass solo to only rebuild the song). I love this! The album closes with shine like stars a slow heavenly track with a surprisingly creepy verse for the last bit it sounds like it’s gone an octave or so down making the last moments sound surprisingly depressed. It’s better than I thought it was a true 5/5.
Really odd. Not sure if it’s something I can listen to again, but it was really excellent at what it set out to do.
Big nostalgia bump on this one, but also, c'mon, this shiz is iconic. Era defining, even! Fave track - "Come Together" leading into "Loaded" - awesome one two pairing!
Oh Man what an album - a soulful, fun rave and really there is nothing like it out there: it truly befits this list - one MUST listen to this album once in their lives.
A beautiful and creative album full of infectious, hypnotic rhythms and takes inspiration from multiple genres. Rewards multiple listens.
Interesting mixture of Indie Rock and more experimental stuff. Starting with Movin' on gave me the wrong impression of the album. This album would be more of a background music for me rather than an active "Headphones on eyes closed" kind of listen. Damaged has to be my favourite and is being added to my playlist right now. I really liked this album overall and thing it very much deserves to be on this list
There are some albums you respect, admire or are even awestruck by. And then others that are just love. This is one of those I cannot love enough. Ten reasons why: 1. It easily passes the ‘what’s it like without the big hit singles’. Take out Movin On Up, Loaded and Come Together and you still have one almighty album. 2. Loaded is surely by common consent the greatest remix ever - and the Higher Than The Sun Orb remix and Terry Farley 12” remix of Come Together are not far behind. 3. It’s one of the great studio albums - like London Calling, The Hounds of Love or Revolver. By that I mean there’s a great producer at the helm (here the sainted and sadly departed Andy Weaterall, Jimmy Miller, The Orb and Hypnotone) and a sense of everyone pushing their skills and the tech to the max. 4. It’s the album - the track - that brought dance and guitars together. Well, it and Fool’s Gold. Unpopular view: it’s a better album than The Stone Roses. 5. Nobody, not even his mum, knows whether Bobby Gillespie can actually sing or not. 6. They left the title track off the bloody album! 7. It’s the entire PS career in one album - Memphis 70s rock, dub reggae, a rock band’s take on acid house, ambient. About the only thing missing is the Ramonesesque racket they’d get to on Xterminator. 8. There’s not one. Not two but three versions of Higher Than The Sun. 9. There must be a Memphis Sessions style original album before the fairy dust was sprinkled. Come on Creation. 10. The cover was - like all great albums of the time - a great t-shirt.
I listened to Vanishing Point from Primal Scream a month or two ago and I mentioned that I needed to look further into this group. Good thing it came up here because I had not been proactive about following through on that… The songs are sometimes psychedelic, sometimes rock, sometimes gospel, sometimes bluesy, sometimes who knows what. This album is a remarkably varied yet coherent collection of diverse songs. So so good! I was into this from beginning to end!
Screamadelica came along at an interesting time. When Madchester and the Summer of Love '89 Redux gave way to dwindling fortunes and diminishing returns, Primal Scream came out with a snapshot of their transformation from twee C86 inspired rockers to paint-splattered ecstacy riddled hedonists. Gospel infused rockers, ambient dub fusions, reinterpretations of 60s psych rock classics and bombastic declarations of feeling are brilliantly displayed throughout a triumphant hour. Their most popular and important record by a long mile, this remains their magnum opus and endlessly listenable from start to finish.
10/10 FANTASTIC production and endlessly creative what a beautiful blend of 60s rock and 90s rave
I've never taken drugs, but this album perfectly accompanies and mirrors the experience of eating a sticky toffee pudding. It starts with anticipation and excitement at the sight of the sticky deliciousness and the sugar rush of the first spoonful ('Movin' on Up' to 'Don't Fight It, Feel It'). Next up is the loved up joy and euphoria of eating the STP. At this stage you love the STP and everyone in the vicinity of the STP ('Higher Than the Sun' to 'Loaded'). Finally, you reach the post-consumption come-down stage of pure, sleepy, soporific contentment ('Damaged' to 'Shine Like Stars'). Rating: 5/5 Playlist track: Movin' on Up Date listened: 23/03/23