‘Higher Than The Sun’ - Primal Scream, 1991
I haven’t listened to the Screamadelica album in a long time, probably because it always brings back a time and place that I’ve really gotten too old for. Primal Scream’s third album is a concept album of sorts, charting a night from dance-music-fuelled start to weepy-Stones-ballad comedown finish, with a bit of redemption in the end, like all the best concept albums. Personally, I think 1997’s Vanishing Point is the better album.
It’s dated in parts (’Come Together’ for example) but it really was a step forward for British indie music when it came out, and is still highly regarded in the UK. If you haven’t heard it, you’ve surely heard ‘Loaded’, with it’s “Just what is it that you want to do” snippet from some movie or other.
‘Higher Than The Sun’, the fourth single from Screamadelica, is probably the best song on the album. The soundscape created behind Bobby Gillespie’s vocals is intriguing. It’s a mixture of yawning groans, “the angels sang” keyboard flourishes, theremin-like sounds, and what to my ear is a respirator. It’s very strange indeed - almost dub-like, and the first 45 seconds have no apparent musical structure to them at all. Probably the Scream’s finest musical moment, and one they re-visit to darker effect on Vanishing Point.
Over this churning groove, Gillespie gives his take on life:
“I’m beautiful, I wasn’t born to follow,
I live just for today, I don’t care about tomorrow,
What I got in my head you can’t buy, steal or borrow,
I believe in live, and let live,
I believe you get what you give”
The lyrics, a mesh-up of Gill Scott-Heron, Joe Strummer and Jim Morrison, are vintage Gillespie. But I don’t think he ever crystallised his world vision as effectively as in the above verse. Here’s a YouTube video with high-quality audio of ‘Higher Than The Sun’. And notice how I didn’t mention drugs once in this article? Damn. Well, I mentioned it just that once. Listen and enjoy.
Last 5 posts by Dave
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- 'Careering' - Public Image Limited, 1979 - December 10th, 2008
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