— Johnny Dee
And Smash Hits officially joins the nineties.
Over the previous thirteen-and-a-bit years, Smash Hits refused to remain the same. The pages had once been black-and-white before editors such as David Hepworth and Mark Ellen began garish colours, the first step on the road to full on glossy pop mag. Changes tended towards subtlety, unless you count the handful of times the font bearing the words SMASH HITS was altered.
This time, the only thing that remained the same was the font, that iconic Grecian lettering remaining a fixture until yet another retooling eight years later. Bitz, a longstanding feature at the beginning of every issue, was replaced by Start, which was similar to its predecessor but with less emphasis on humour and a mandate to cover the world of entertainment in general. This is one of the most noticeable qualities of the all-new Hits: music having to share the spotlight with films and TV — and in some instances, taking a clear backseat to them. Hot from America, another new edition, includes a brief anecdote about pop starlet Paula Abdul and four notes about Hollywood. Not only were actors beginning to appear on the cover more frequently but they were even beginning to push aside groups and singers in the pages of this once top pop mag.
The glossier, more nineties look to the magazine didn't deter Hits critics from putting forth some edgier acts for the Single of the Fortnight Best New Single. In fact, 1992 is packed with bangers with connections to subgenres such as grebo, Madchester, shoegaze, grunge, punk, jangle pop and the still unknown and unnamed Brtipop. Indie rock's past, present and future are all represented. Appropriate, then, that a band that encompassed all three would kick things off.
Glasgow's Primal Scream rose to prominence in 1990 with the Top 20 single "Loaded". It had initially appeared on their self-titled second album under the name "I'm Losing More Than I'll Ever Have". Then, DJ/producer Andrew Weatherall got his hands on it and transformed it into an intense chill out groove that barely resembles its source material. Primal Scream got a hit single out of it but it was Weatherall who did the heavy lifting. Wisely, they would double down on working with the boffins of house music in the prolonged sessions for third album Screamadelica; the exception was opening cut "Movin' on Up", produced by American Jimmy Miller.
Though he worked with a number of bands from the late-sixties up until his death in 1994, Miller will always be remembered for being behind the desk for Beggar's Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main St., the big four albums that are generally considered to be the creative peak of The Rolling Stones. While I prefer Aftermath and Between the Buttons to at least a couple of them, there's certainly no arguing with success. Though hugely popular, the Stones had been in the shadow of The Beatles for much of the sixties; it was only when Miller came on board that they began to show signs of becoming the institution they've remained ever since.
Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie was undoubtedly looking to re-create the Stones' grubby rock mixed with gospel and R&B when Miller was drafted in. What he and his bandmates failed to consider was the tune they had for him to produce was more in line with The Monkees than The Rolling Stones. And I say this as no hater of the prefab four. If ver Scream had done something that brought to mind "Pleasant Valley Sunday" or "Daydream Believer" or "Randy Scouse Git" then it would have been one thing; but for "Movin' on Up" to sound like the lightweight "A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You" is stretching credibility.
To be fair, cred hasn't always been a benchmark of Primal Scream. I they strive for it in terms of image and influences but their actual music generally misses out. When they don't care (later albums Vanishing Point and XTRMNTR rank as their finest works due to doing their own thing and playing around with a wide variety of genres), they're much better off. But in the early nineties they were all about pretending to be on the cutting edge when in reality they were living off the fruits of their producers, with few original contributions of their own. That they were desperately trying to ape the Stones while sounding more like The Monkees is all you need to know
Screamadelica was released in the autumn of 1991 and would go on to win the first ever Mercury Prize. To this day, it remains a favourite of fans but to the neutrals out there it's over-long, tedious and it appears to demand the listener be as high as balls as the members of Primal Scream were. A whole bunch of singles had already come out and so to give ver kids extra incentive, they threw "Movin' on Up" on to an EP. As I say, I never cared much for Screamadelica but I'm okay with this little four track. It's as if they had plucked the high spots from the album onto a modest sampler while ditching most of the self-indulgent acid rock.
Johnny Dee seems to be most interested in "Movin' on Up" but it is the remainder of Dixie-Narco that has grabbed my attention. Described as "melt city" by his nibs, "Stone My Soul", "Carry Me Home" (a Dennis Wilson composition that had been left off The Beach Boys' brilliant Holland album; it is very much to the credit of Gillespie and his fellow Primes that they chose to record such an obscure number; it isn't difficult to imagine the wayward drummer being a role model for the members of Primal Scream) and the still unreleased title track to their most recent album are all strung out anthems. They were always suckers for extended tracks (often to their detriment) but "Screamadelica" is more like a suite of half-a-dozen unfinished songs presented in a ten minute package. The rave ups from the night before had morphed into chill out tunes for the morning after.
Never the most talented group, Primal Scream managed to carve out a respectable career in spite of an overrated breakthrough album and its poor follow-up. They had been so concerned with their twin passions of jumping on the acid house/rave bandwagon and being a Generation X equivalent of The Rolling Stones that they let their abilities wallow. Luckily, Dixie-Narco started them off on their own path. The past they could only regurgitate and the present proved they were in over their heads; assuming their egos didn't clash and the drugs didn't consume them, they still had the future, a point in time they would eventually figure out how to navigate.
~~~~~
Also Reviewed This Fortnight
James: "Born of Frustration"
Like Primal Scream, James had been a long standing indie band of little renown until they got lumped into Madchester. Unlike the Scots, however, the Mancunian septet could rely on their own devices in order to craft some stellar pop which transcended the fads and trends. (Though it must be said they never made an album as strong as Vanishing Point) While the likes of "Come Home", "Sit Down" and "Laid" commanded more attention, "Born of Frustration" is the quintessential James single with Tim Booth's mesmerizing yodels, chords that feel like they've been heaven sent and secret weapon Andy Diagram with some dreamy trumpet parts. Melancholy indie is normally meant to bring the listener down but James were always masters of using sorrow to give their fans an emotional boost. No one in the nineties churned out quality singles as reliably as James — and James never delivered as strong a single as "Born of Frustration". Would've been an easy Single of the Fortnight Best New Single for me.
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