Primal Scream
London The Roundhouse
Bobby Gillespie and co. bring the
XTRMNTR
album to life vividly.
LORNE THOMSON/REDFERNS
The genre-fluid rockers revisit XTRMNTR with force and fury.
Of all of Primal Scream’s albums, XTRMNTR is the one that carries the most bittersweet of tastes. A sonic and politically charged onslaught that heralded the millennium – and one that still sounds horribly relevant – its power is shadowed by the loss of three of its key architects: guitarist Robert Young, keyboard player Martin Duffy and, most recently, bassist Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield, whose image appears behind the stage to great cheers. With My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields long back at the day job, there’s a fear of this outstanding album being ill-served by a perfunctory performance, but any such anxieties are soon laid to rest.
Augmented by a three-piece horn section, two backing singers and the addition of His Lordship guitarist James Walbourne, Primal Scream bring the album to life vividly. The acidic squelches of Kill All Hippies are bolstered by heavy, pounding rhythms, an affirmation of their continuing fire. Accelerator is a hot blast of righteous fury, the motorik drive of Shoot Speed Kill Light a juddering thrill. Alas the imagery accompanying Swastika Eye – swastikas blended with the Star of David – feels horribly ham-fisted.