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The Ivy League
It's been two years since we last heard from Bobby Billespie's indie
darlings, but the Galswegian Motormouth is finally back with a news
single, 'Ivy Ivy Ivy'. Everett True reports. Pics: Joe Dilworth
HOPE AND DESPAIR. GLASGOWS PRIMAL Scream always made the most perfect
B-sides. Think back to the initial pair on Creation - "It Happens" (flip
of "All Fall Down") and "Velocity Girl",a song which launched a
generation.
Both were flawless gems, classic (as in timeless) pop which neatly
crystalised the feeling of a moment into two-minute sighs of rnpture,
songs which were neither too drawn-out orthrowaway to be anything other
than pure delight. Whereas their A-sides seemed to try too hard and ran
themselves ragged in an impossible search forthe ultimate pop song, the
B-sides were Primal Scream at their most natural, yearning, crushing
melodies which came as easily as dreaming.
Primal Scream were Bobby Gillespie, one-time drummer of The Jesus And
Mary Chain (he of the fringe and gorgeous voice) and, well...the rest
didn't really matter, did they?
Bobby always seemed reticent to the point of laziness, but this was
simply down to his habit of setting himself incredibly high standards of
quality control. Released on Alan McGee's Elevation ldbel, a subsidiary
of WEA, "Gentle Tuesday" was Primal Scream's third single in as many
years, and was to have been followed quickly by their long-awaited debut
album. But Bobby's refusal to settle for anything less than the best led
to acrimony and, amid rumours of certain members not pulling their
weight the album was scrapped halfway through the recording, and half
the band sacked.
Andrew Innes (Revolving Paint Dream and extraordinary pop genius) on
guitar joined stop-gap drummer Dave Morgan Weather Prophets) and
original member Robert Young, to help Bobby Gillespie salvage the
remains, but the damage was done. What came out was a very patchy album
heartbreakingly so considering the qudlity of some of the songs.
THAT was 1987. And since then? Silence until a month ago, when the
announcement of a forthcoming single, "Ivy Ivy Ivy", made us lick our
lips in anticipation. Finally out this week, with permanent drummer
Philip Tolman (ex-Blue Orchids) added to the now concert-seeking
line-up, it seems as though Primal Scream have done it again. It's the
B-side again, the overpoweringly dense and beautiful breathy ballad,
You're Just Too Dark To Care", that arrests the aflention. A brooding,
maudlin tale of a girl too far gone on drugs to notice, it wrenches
emotion from places bener left untouched, leaving the listener
emotionally drained once more.
"lvy Ivy lvy", by comparison, is almost lightweight a more rocky,
Sixties-styled with effervescent harmonies which, without wishing to
make crass comparisons, recalls The Sex Pistols, Beach Boys and The
Jesus And Mary Chain. I get the interview off on a very bad footing by
jokingly commenting that it sounds like another C86 generation band.
Bobby Gillespie, resplendent in striped tee-shirt and leathers, doesn't
quite throw my recorder against the wall (which he's been known to do in
the past) - he just glowers menacingly. To him, his music - or any true
music for that matter- isn't to be taken Iightly. He demands nothing
less than genius, and deserves nothing less than the respect given such
people. It's good to have been him back.
"We've always been lumped in with those bands, but we've never had
anything in common with them," Bobby snarls. "The only thing which
linked us and them is that we appeared at the same time. But it was the
same time Nick Kamen appeared and have we got anything in common with
him? Have we f***! It's just a case of people being boxed in,
pigeonholed.
"That's another thing. I hate the term 'decades' like Fifties, Sixties,
Seventies, Eighties. As far as I'm concerned they don't f***ing count.
What counts is what happens and how you are at that time. Look at the
Fifties and Elvis' 'Sun Sessions' - why does it still sound as good
today as it did then? Because it's a brilliant record. I don't want to
use the term art, but in much the same waya great book or a great
painting can transcend the limits of time, so can a great record. Tha's
why I hate people compartmentalising music into decades, it's
ridiculous. People used to accuse us of being obsessed with the Sixties
and I'd go, 'No, we're obsessed with rock'n'roll'."
BOBBY's right of course. Almost none of their contemporaries had
anything substantial to offer them, they were something to pass the time
to, a good night out Primal Scream, on the other hand, used to bring
genuine lumps of anguish to my throat tears to my eyes. Whatever Bobby
did, right or wrong, good or bad, didn't matter- because we had faith in
him and, more importantly, he had faith in himself. Bobby is one of the
very few people I know anymore, aside from his boss McGee, who'll get
worked up to the point of apoplexy about music, trying to explain why
and what he loves about music and what he hates. Give Bobby the
slightest chance and he'll be away for hours, desperately tryin to
articulate what it is about great music that attacts him so, and why one
shouldn't settle for half-measures. By the end he convinces me l can't
live another month without the third Big Star album. And I trust him.
Because Primal Scream are every bit as good as they should be, and their
music will last. Listen.
"I don't care what label a record's on, but I hate the indie mentality
that says if a record's on an independent label it's a better record.
Look at the Soul II Soul record which was Number 1 just now- brilliant!
That was better than anything in the so-called indie charts. People
have to get over that kind of thing. Bands still spend whole interviews
justifying why they've signed to major record companies It's ridiculous!
They should justify why they can't write f'**ing good songs or why
they're in a shit group. What a waste of a brilliant means of
communication - a music paper should be where you're learning about a
group or somebody giving their viewpoint not going on about signing
record deals - there are a lot more important things going down in this
county than that atthe moment. Imagine filling somebody's head with
nonsense about that idiot who sings with The Primitives her hair red or
something. Who gives a f***ing shit?"
Bobby Gillespie would get even the most thick-skinned of interviewers on
the defensive. He rants like this, unconcerned (though highly
concerned, at me over three hours of tapes, not including the times he
switches the tape off to make a particularly vehement point about
something.
Here he goes again.
"The last time l wa sexcited about a band was in 1984 and I heard the
Maychain. When I heard the May Chain I thought 'F***ing hell, I can't
wait to make a record and go onstage in a band'. I still get into new
things, like the Deep House thing and the odd record, but Ws not the
same. There are no good new bands around anymore. I went to see Spacemen
3 and thought 'What the f*** is this, all these old hippies lying aorund
on the floor stoned out of their brains'. Basically I wanted to stand on
their heads. I just hate f***ng hippies. 'I'm qonna save the world but
I'm worried about about my stash'.
"People used to ask me if I was embarrassed to be playing such soft
music onstage," Bobby continues, relentlessly. "But I never was. I was
f***ing proud of playing such brilliant music. Now we can't wait to go
stage and blow people's minds out with all the energy we've got We've
f**ing held back for two years and we've seen all these shit bands come
through and we're gonna blow f***ing people's heads off with energy and
songwriting. The look, the attitude - we don't take shit from anybody.
That's another thing that always annoyed me, this f***ing wimp rock tag
we've had. We've never taken shit from anybody, and if it's happened
live then it's, 'Come up here and say that pal'. It's always some
f***ing journalist putting puts us down for being soft cos we play soft
music.
"We might be soft superfically but at the heart of it has always been
total f**ing aggression. We've never taken shit but not in the macho
sense, cos one of the things I'm proudest of is that a lot of girls like
our group. I mean, I like the MC5 for being totally macho, like when
they sing, 'I'm the man for you baby/Yes I am for you baby/Ramalama', I
can really identify with it, it's really like f***ing ramming somebody.
But the other side of the coin is a group like us who are tender and
vulnerable, which is good because I hate groups like Mudhoney, which is
all just boys down the front together; releasing sexual frustration.
We're not misogynists."
Heaven forbid! "Ivy Ivy Ivy" and, more importantly, "You're Just To Dark
To Care" are out now on seven-inch, 1 2-inch and CD on Creation. Don't
be a f***ing Primitives' fan. Buy it
Originally appeared in Melody Maker July 29, 1989.
Copyright © Melody Maker.
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