XTRMNTR

It was definitely early 2000, January or February, aye.

Wiki says January 31st.

this got to #3 in the album charts which almost makes me feel nostalgic for a better time, even if it scarcely seemed that way then

"Keep your dreams" got robbed.

No other albums captures the lunacy of the Bush/Blair/Harper years like this. A stunning achievement they just gets better with time.
I also love the b-side from this era, "When the Kingdom", which features Paul Weller.

keep your dreams FTW

also not sure a song has been more aptly titled than accelerator, it is like hitting the nitros and blasting off

I always liked the rap on Pills because I assumed he was rapping about himself, like the spoken word bit on 'The Professional' by Pulp

absolute blinder, one of the best live tv appearances ever

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5P3xQeN2YA

this is a live set on bbc radio just after the release that is a useful reminder of how formidable they were as a band at that time... https://soundcloud.com/visit-drum/sets/xtrmntr/s-tbnLe

XTRMNTR is a great record, but I find myself reaching for Vanishing Point more and as said in the other Primal Scream thread, I think More Light is up there with their best albums. I listen to all these far more than Screamadelica.

Amazing concert on that tour (with K. Shields)

Will rep, as i always do, for the criminally underrated live album post Evil Heat - one of the few live records I play regularly: https://img.discogs.com/8Iw_5E8DHp1p9iNe9k4rBEDvqfo=/fit-in/599x547/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-338842-1264294182.jpeg.jpg

Primal Scream have always been terrible whenever I've stumbled across them at festivals except on the XTRMNTR tour when they were incredible, partly because the lineup was packed with ringers and you got the sense they were actually making the music Bobby Gillespie heard in his head and not just a weak simulacrum of it. I remember a ridiculously heavy version of Kowalski.

It's such a big shame 'Rocks' was such a big hit, because I feel like it gave a lot of people the wrong impression about this band and perhaps stopped 'em from going on to check out Vanishing Point and XTRMNTR.

Yes because no one would have been familiar with obscure curios like 'Loaded', right?

Ha, I knew someone was going to say that - and I'm not at all surprised by who eventually said it - but y'see, Matt, I'm not talking about music geeks (it's understandable that some here may think that's the only type of music fan there is) - I'm not talking about people who were reading the NME religiously at the time or keeping up with what was going on with the Mercury Music Prize.

'Loaded' was actually not that big of a hit. 'Rocks' was a Top 10 hit and got more airplay than any of the Screamadelica singles. I think a lot of people - and I'm sure there were many unfamiliar with the band even by this point - could be forgiven for thinking the Scream circa 1994 were some crap glam/Stones knockoffs rather than the inventive band they actually were. Bobby Gillespie's personality also probably didn't help.

Whether it was a big hit or not doesn't matter, sometimes records are just 'in the air' and 'Loaded' was definitely one of those.

In any case I'm sceptical that there are many casual listeners out there who had otherwise never heard of Primal Scream, would have missed all the Screamadelica singles, heard 'Rocks' on Radio 1 or Capital (where it didn't get much airplay anyway), or on a Now compilation they bought in Tesco, and would have been sufficiently put off by it that they never checked out the (much noisier and weirder) Vanishing Point or XTRMN8R, which they would definitely have enjoyed if only they hadn't been put off by the karaoke Stones record from a few years before.

You cannot exclude music nerds from the equation and then claim the remaining listeners might have gone for two albums that were pretty much consciously designed to appeal primarily to music nerds.

('Kowalski' was a Top 10 hit as well fwiw)

yeah chart placings aside loaded was absolutely a huge hit that was everywhere at the time.

you know i went back to this one a few weeks ago and had trouble getting into some of the more beat oriented tracks ("kill all hippies", "exterminator") because the loops weren't doing it for me. they sounded really thin and lethargic compared to what i remebered. on the other hand the more rock-oriented ones ("accelerator", "shoot speed / kill light", "mbv arkestra") still sounded great.

i'm not opposed to trip hop either, i listen to lots of it. those loops just ... weren't that good.

speaking of good trip hop though i also really enjoyed "pills"