Lock up your mothers and sisters and shut your medicine cabinet, the Scream are back with the ninth studio album in their raunchy, drug fuelled 26 year rock ‘n’ roll odyssey.
Produced by Björn Yttling (Peter, Björn and John) and Paul Epworth (Bloc Party), Beautiful Future is the band’s first long player to be released on B-Unique and features guest collaborations from Lovefoxx of CSS, Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age and folk songstress Linda Thompson.
“If you hear this new record of ours from start to finish,” explains scrawny frontman Bobby Gillespie, “and you hear all the different sounds and styles and moods, atmospheres and instrumentation that we use, it’s different from the last record and different from the record before that.
"You know, there’s not one set Primal Scream song where it’s verse bridge chorus middle eight. But this album is more like a pop record, more like classic songwriting.”
They say:
Manchester Evening News: “Simpler and poppier than previous efforts Beautiful Future nonetheless ploughs through a breathtaking array of musical stylings and lyrical standpoints.”
The Observer: “Reminds you that ‘rock ‘n’ roll’ doesn’t just signify a sound (and fury), it signifies an attitude towards risk taking.”
New-noise.net: “‘Beautiful Future’ succeeds…in almost every measure.”
We say:
For all their daring, swastika eyed electronica innovation, the Scream are arguably at their best when tipping their collective hat to classic rock and all its bottomless sub genres whilst also soaking up the sounds of contemporary pop.
And so it goes on Beautiful Future, an exceptional piece of work which sees filthy, Rolling Stones esque guitars gettin’ it on with Klaxons esque grooves (‘Can’t Go Back’), ‘Heroin’ era Lou Reed ripped out of unconsciousness by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club anthemic ambition (‘Suicide Bomb’) and Ringo Starr ‘Boogaloo’ kept just the right side of tasteful by a neo gospel stomp (‘Zombie Man’).
Only ‘Beautiful Summer’ truly fails to shine, with its druggy ‘Gimme Shelter’ pastiche coming on a tad too strong and obvious, like a tourist wandering the streets of Amsterdam, fifty quid in one trouser pocket and a hard on in the other.
So with the exception of the latter track, Beautiful Future is a huge success. It’s the Scream’s most unapologetically melodic album in years (yes, even outdoing previous back to basics romp Riot City Blues in the accessibility department) while packing enough of Gillespie’s complex and darkly ironic lyrics to ensure longevity.
Like this? Try these:
Garbage – Version 2.0
The Jesus and Mary Chain – Psychocandy
The Rolling Stones – Some Girls
RELEASED
21st Jul ‘08
LABEL
B-Unique Records
POSTED...
Thu 17 Jul at 5:59pm
