In the mid-nineties it seemed certain that Primal Scream was doomed to be remembered as the band who briefly hit at the right time with the house-inspired Screamadelica. An album that I never liked. After their gaudy 90s post-rave decadence, their next step was to become a parody of a Black Crowes cover band, until they awoke from their bad trip with 1997’s chaotic yet inspired dub-trash excursion, Vanishing Point. Now into their seventeenth year as a band and settling into family life, it’s nice to see artists like Primal Scream and Tom Waits resist slipping into soggy sentimentality.
While not as reckless and political as 2000’s Xtrmntr‘s “Swastika Eyes” (the controversial “Bomb The Pentagon” was reworked into “Rise”), Evil Heat remains sharp-edged and feisty. Reuniting with Screamadelica collaborator Andrew Weatherall, Primal Scream are also at their most consistently enjoyable since that album. “Deep Hit Of Morning Sun” is as pleasurable as the title suggests, a light tab of acidized techno laced with sweet harmonies. On the disco-on-steroids “Miss Lucifer” Bobby Gillespie swaggers and leers at his “Panther girl” to give him “evil heat all night long.” “Autobahn 66” is an overtly obvious tribute to the space-motorik rhythms of Kraftwerk and Neu! that feels more like a segue than a stand-alone piece. Gillespie’s former bandmate Jim Reid (The Jesus & Mary Chain) contributes sulky vocals to “Detroit,” ironically more a homage to the German proto-industrial D.A.F. than anything from the Motor City.
Instead, “The Lord Is My Shotgun” evokes The Stooges’ bluesy “Penetration,” while “City” mates Bowie’s “Suffragette City” with Iggy Pop’s “Kill City” with shit-hot rocking results. The slightly depoliticized “Rise” still manages to rant about the government, CNN and “genetically engineered ultraviolence…are you collateral damage or a legitimate target?” to a PiL drone/Stones rhythm, peaking with a symphonic cacophony that could only have been created by the knobs of newest member Kevin Shields (My Bloody Valentine). “Some Velvet Morning” is a surprisingly unironic Lee Hazelwood cover, with breathy choruses by Kate Moss, who’s voice is as pretty as the rest of her. “Skull X” manages to marry The Velvet Underground’s “Foggy Notion” with My Bloody Valentine to spectacular results. Weatherall’s Philip K. Dick-inspired instrumental “A Scanner Darkly” is a tad too similar to “Autobahn 66,” but still enjoyable.
The album bows out with the gospel ballad “Space Blues #2,” referring to Felt’s “Space Blues,” with that band’s Martin Duffy as guest vocalist. Unapologetic about their influences, most of the songs work well because no matter how many bands are blended and microwaved into them (Cabaret Voltaire, A Certain Ratio, Can) they still manage to bear the recognizable stamp of Primal Scream. Noisy, fun, a bit short, Evil Heat is only as revolutionary and explosive as a bomb pop on a hot summer day — a cool treat rather than a fiery manifesto. Best enjoyed before it melts into a sticky pool on the sidewalk.
