from the 12” single, Creation Records, 1990Heralded in upon an angelic, gospel-like chorus demanding that we “come together”, this epic track summed up what had been a very far-out couple of years in the UK; the summers of 1988 & 1989 (most will tell you they didn’t bother to stop partying right on through the interim) are commonly referred to as Britain’s Summer of Love, and while the American version which happened in 1967 centered around LSD, the update was preoccupied with ecstasy. As big as the rave scene did wind up getting over here, it’s difficult for us Americans to fully appreciate how massive and socially influential of a movement it was across the pond; even in the ‘60s, the counterculture in the States was overwhelmingly a white middle-class phenomenon, while the rave scene in the UK was spread across the racial & socioeconomic strata, particularly bringing in working-class British youth. The ability of MDMA to smash those traditional rules of masculinity and posturing is really quite profound, and the picture of a bunch of typically-violent, football (soccer) hooligans all hugging one another and telling each other how much they love each other instead of getting drunk and bashing heads is a beautiful and heavy thing, dig? Primal Scream came out of the so-called “c86” scene (which got its name from a specific cassette-only NME compilation from 1986 which featured the then-current crop of British indie-jangle-pop bands), essentially Byrdsian neo-psych, lots of tambourines, Rickenbackers and pretty melodies; frankly, once ecstasy and beats hit the scene real big in 1988, it didn’t matter if you had previously been into thrash metal---if you were a drug-willing British individual between the ages of 12 and 40, you probably got wrapped up in the love for at least a minute. Anyone who’s experimented with E will just smile in mushy recall at the lyrics here, “…lifts me right out of this world…trip me, lift me, ride me to the stars…I’m free, you’re free; I want you to touch me…now it’s all too much, all too much…” Band leader Bobby Gillespie & his crew had clearly been very turned on, and the radical shift in musical approach is all the proof one needs of that. Primal Scream have continued on through the years, shapeshifting in styles and generally just doing whatever the hell they feel like doing, producing some excellent albums right up until this very day (i.e. Screamadelcia, Vanishing Point, XTRMNTR, Riot City Blues). We’re about due for another “Summer of Love” again somewhere on the planet, and with the shape of the world these days, I’ll go on the record as predicting it will be sooner than later…
