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Primal Scream performs "Sometimes I Feel So Lonely"

Bobbie Gillespie, prime figure of Scot rockers Primal Scream, repeatedly questions, “What can a poor boy do?” on “Country Girl,” the stomping opening salvo of his band’s seventh proper full-length. What’s a poor boy to do, indeed? After all, Gillespie and longstanding cohort, guitarist Andrew Innes, have virtually done it all. Their chameleon’s parade of shifting styles has led them through the paisley-hued garage of their earliest records, the rock hijacking of ecstasy culture with 1991’s legendary Screamadelica, a twisted turn for a Main Street exile with Give Up But Don’t Give Up, dub experiments and soundtrack exotica on Vanishing Point and biting, nihilistic white noize on XTRMNTR and Evil Heat. Primal Scream have consistently pushed their own boundaries to make great records while never making the same record twice. Maybe the band has learned enough from taking so many chances and decided that a “kick down the walls” sort of rock-and-roll record might not be such a bad thing in 2006. So while Riot City Blues manages to continue the uncharted path that has been Primal Scream’s career, it bears the ballsy, straight-ahead rock hallmarks typified on Give Out. Where Riot City arguably surpasses it is in sheer songcraft. Gillespie has learned how to put together a great track, which a song like “Country Girl” is on all counts: bursting as a jubilant, energetic shot of testifying soul-rock with plenty of hook. “Nitty Gritty” trades heavy in the Stonesian swagger and dolloped on top with sass and pop appeal, while the stripped harmonica blues of “We’re Gonna Boogie” is pure, direct and raw. “Suicide Sally and Johnny Guitar” is key Primals territory with an explosive snatch of drugs and lust and hate and rock and roll that boils over to a Fred Smith-style guitar solo where Innes apes Sonic’s Rendezvous’ blistering single “City Slang.” More homage is apparent in the easy-going, good time declaratory raunch of “Dolls (Sweet Rock and Roll),” tapping the vein of the Velvets and, as the title likely name-checks, the New York Dolls. So what if Primal Scream ain’t rewriting the book with Riot City Blues. Remember they’ve already rewritten it…a few times. They’re a great rock-and-roll band who remembered what’s important: Make a great rock-and-roll record.