Screamadelica - Primal Scream

'Loaded' was one of the defining, if not the defining, singles of the indie-dance scene. A classic in every sense of the word; taking the track 'I'm Losing More Than I'll Ever Have' from their previous album and giving it the remix treatment - adding a sample here or there to create something entirely new. Although the foundation of the song is still there the make-over created a dance filling classic. I've gotten up and fallen over many times to this song.

Songs like 'Loaded' were vitally important to the male gender, especially those who were rhythmically challenged (not that I am putting myself in that group mind you!). At last you didn't need to have studied dance at the royal ballet, memorised countless moves or trained your arms and legs to move at different times and speed. No, all you had to do was take to the dance-floor and shuffle! That was it, except perhaps the occasional hand gesture. 'Loaded' was perfect in every sense. It didn't even have many words so you could always guarantee to appear to know them - your love of a particular band or coolness level was vitally dependent upon being able to mouth the words to the song with feeling. Or shout them. Whichever you were comfortable with. So almost singlehandedly Andy Weatherall saved the male indie lover from humiliation and helped us reclaim the dance-floor. The power of a good remix.

But the success of that remix gives me a big problem with this album. You see since its release, and subsequent critical acclaim, I've always wondered whether this this a brilliant rock/indie/dance crossover album or a good remix compilation album? The boundaries are so blurred that it is difficult to determine. I loved all of the four singles (yes four!) that were released prior to its eventual release, but I treated each one of these as an independent piece of work - it seemed to be the intention as they were up to six months apart.

When the album arrived in the autumn of 1991, some nineteen months after the single 'Loaded', it listed a total of five producers and eight of the eleven songs were well over five minutes long, with one clocking in at 10 minutes. It very much gave the impression that this was essentially an indie remix album with an eye on the dance floor. But the critics and individuals alike lapped it up - it was a smash and pretty soon it was being touted as a classic British album.

Not that any of this is a bad thing but I've always wondered exactly how much of the original material survived the process. Is this what Bobby Gillespie and co intended when the band entered the studio? Maybe. Maybe not. What does suffer, in my opinion, is that the album is disjointed and gives the impression of a collection of songs rather than a coherent piece of work; the result no doubt of recording and releasing singles over such an long period. Again, this probably doesn't matter but please don't call it a classic album, unless you offer the same response to 'Abba Gold', The Beatles 'Red' and 'Blue' albums and 'Carry On Up The Charts'.