Wednesday, November 27, 2024

come ahead

howdy pop pickers


so, another album out for the year that has been (and to clarify 2024, look you see) a very decent and most agreeable one for new vibes. which makes it quite the pity that this one, anticipated if not with all that much excitement, is "disappointing", to be diplomatic. 

for those in some form of (vague) rush, i am so, so, so sorry to say that Come Ahead off of Primal Scream is quite poor. well, f*****g awful or f*****g rubbish, whichever is the most correct. my feelings on their previous effort, Chaosmosis, were initially positive but ultimately gave way to the thought that perhaps they were now (as is natural, nothing lasts forever) a spent force. this one, somehow, manages to be all instantly worse, should that make sense. 


the tragedy here is that it starts off really, really, really f*****g well. as an opening track Ready To Go Home is amazing, and i was (very much) going "yes" and fist pumping, believing this heralded the return of a truly brilliant band, that they had their groove back. no. 

yes, i am aware this has been mooted as Bobby Gillespie's most personal work yet (ahem, Utopian Ashes, just saying), and that's his father on the cover. but to try and "like" it for that reason alone feels if not dishonest then just lazy. perhaps, maybe, he got "blindsided" by the intention to consider how the result would come out. 

ultimately, or at heart, any Primal Scream album should be any combination of confrontational, funky, direct, in your face, hard rock, challenging and/or energetic. this (bar the first track) has none of it, i am so sad to say. everything has a shelf life. i speak of a band who produced Screamadelica, an album that defined much of the 90s, and then produced XTRMNTR, an album which anticipated substantial amounts of this strange century. perhaps the concept and the need for Primal Scream is, alas, now sadly just exhausted. 




be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!





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