After their efforts with the Stone Roses 20th anniversary box, Sony have come up trumps once again in honour of one of the greatest albums of the 1990s – arguably the decade’s defining album. With ‘Screamadelica’, Primal Scream not only won the first Mercury Music Prize in 1991, they set out a winning formula uniting elements of rock, gospel, dub and acid house in one euphoric whole. While Bobby Gillespie’s vocals were of course essential to the experience, Andy Weatherall’s contribution was perhaps even more critical, bringing a cosmic set of beats together to let the sunshine flood in, whether heard on the home stereo or in a club. As a result the whole record floats you to a high, even without assistance from elsewhere, from the opening strains of ‘Moving On Up’ through the loping funk of ‘Loaded’ and the breezy call to arms that is ‘Come Together’. This is only half the story if you buy the limited edition, mind, with a box the size of a biscuit tin that contains videos, live footage, highly desirable art prints and even a t-shirt. Crucially it also contains the remixes inspired by the album, so we get Terry Farley’s radio friendly updates of ‘Loaded’ and ‘Come Together’, The Orb’s wonderfully woozy take on ‘Higher Than The Sun’ and Graham Massey’s ultra groovy update of ‘Don’t Fight It, Feel It’. An outstanding piece of kit, all told – and one well worth getting your mitts on if you can.
5 Out Of 5
Reviewed By: Ben Hogwood
