Riot City Blues

Infobox Album | Name = Riot City Blues
Type = Album
Artist = Primal Scream


Released = June 5, 2006
Recorded = June, 2005
Genre = Indie rock
Length = 41:28
Label = Sony Records
Producer = Youth
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|3.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:cu5m964oaep2~T1 link]
*ARTISTdirect Rating|3.5|5 [http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/store/artist/album/0,,3721085,00.html link]
*"The Guardian" Rating|4|5 [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/critic/review/0,,1782899,00.html 5/26/06]
*"The Independent" Rating|3|5 [http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/reviews/article623326.ece 6/2/06]
*Pitchfork (2.3/10) [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/36669/Primal_Scream_Riot_City_Blues 2/6/06]
*"Q" Rating|3|5 [http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/primalscream/riotcityblues July, 2006 (p.110)]
*"Rolling Stone" Rating|3|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/primalscream2/albums/album/11199055/review/11736856/riot_city_blues link] |Last album = "Dirty Hits" (2003)
This album = "Riot City Blues" (2006)
Next album = "Beautiful Future" (2008)

"Riot City Blues" is the eighth studio album by Primal Scream, released on June 5, 2006. On this album, Primal Scream leaves its electronic element behind and returns to more traditional rock and roll. The album features Will Sergeant (Echo and the Bunnymen) on "When The Bomb Drops", Warren Ellis (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Dirty Three) on "Hell's Coming Down" and Alison Mosshart (The Kills) performing backing vocals.

The album was released to varying reviews. A particularly scathing review by "Pitchfork" claimed that the album was "...flat and dead. It's as if Primal Scream have run completely out of ideas and so they've reverted to the detestable fallbacks of honking harmonicas and bar-band choogles, acting like college freshmen who just discovered blues." While "The Guardian" said "...Primal Scream are the kind of band that would probably snap there's no such thing as a guilty pleasure, only good music and bad music. But their eighth album undermines that claim. On the one hand, it is conservatism dressed up as rebellion, derivative, self-parodic and very, very, stupid. On the other, it boasts an energy and a shamelessness that demands you abandon your vast array of reservations. No mean feat." The debut single, "Country Girl", became the band's highest charting in their career, while the album charted at #5 in the UK. "Dolls (Sweet Rock and Roll)" and "Sometimes I Feel So Lonely" where also released as singles in 2006. The number of weeks they spent on the UK albums chart with this album, and number of weeks on the UK singles chart with the singles from it, helped the band finally make the annual list of the top 500 UK chart acts of all-time at #492 as of December 2006, after 21 years of releasing singles and albums.

Track listing

#"Country Girl" (4:31)
#"Nitty Gritty" (3:38)
#"Suicide Sally & Johnny Guitar" (3:14)
#"When The Bomb Drops" (4:34)
#"Little Death" (6:22)
#"The 99th Floor" (3:50)
#"We're Gonna Boogie" (2:52)
#"Dolls (Sweet Rock and Roll)" (3:58)
#"Hell's Comin' Down" (3:27)
#"Sometimes I Feel So Lonely" (5:06)
#"Stone Ya to the Bone (US bonus track)"
#"Gimme Some Truth (US bonus track)"
#"Suicide Sally & Johnny Guitar (Live) (US bonus track)"
#"Country Girl (Non Censored) (CD-ROM Track) (US bonus track)

Musicians

*Bobby Gillespie - vocals
*Andrew Innes - guitars, mandolins, banjo, Moog synthesizer
*Martin Duffy - piano, organ, harmonium, harmonica
*Robert Young - guitars, harmonica
*Gary 'Mani' Mounfield - bass guitar
*Darrin Mooney - drums, percussion
*Alison Mosshart - additional vocals on tracks 2 and 3
*Will Sergeant - guitar on tracks 4 and 5
* [http://www.luthiers60.freeserve.co.uk/ Chris Allen] - hurdy gurdy on track 5
*Warren Ellis - violin on track 9
*Juliet Roberts, Sharlene Hector, Sylvia Mason-James and John Gibbons - backing vocals on tracks 1, 2, 5 and 10
*Richard Beale - French horn on track 10

ingles

* "Country Girl" (May 22, 2006) - #5
* "Dolls (Sweet Rock and Roll)" (August 7, 2006) - #40
* "Sometimes I Feel So Lonely" (December 18, 2006) - did not chart (Due to only 2000 copies being made available)