:: Primal Scream - Beautiful Future

Primal Scream

If there is a failing for which both musicians and normals alike can be forgiven, it is our propensity to age. Time waits for no man, and suitably enough it hasn’t waited for Bobby Gillespie. His best albums likely behind him, guest appearances by Lovefoxxx, Josh Homme and Linda Thompson on Primal Scream’s latest, Beautiful Future, are as liable to come across desperate as they are to come across inspired. That Gillespie’s vocals have always irritated me seemed to be the cherry on the cake of my impending disappointment, and I braced myself for the worst. However, after having Beautiful Future drum itself into you for half an hour – which is what this album tends to do, irresistibly as I discovered – the insistence of tracks like Can’t Go Back, Beautiful Future, Suicide Bomb and The Glory of Love will force you to listen, even if ultimately you don’t like what you hear. Primal Scream are easily compared to almost anything, so chameleonic is their style. The tag that affixes itself more firmly than any other to the band circa 2008, however, is one of radio-friendly Krautrock. The patience with which Beautiful Future drones its way into your concentration span, and makes an impression regardless of your prejudice at the offset.