Just dug this one out #2 - The Primitives

The Primitives - Pure

I've taken to grabbing random bunches of CDs to take into work - yesterday it was from the Ns and I had a day of Neu!, Neutral Milk Hotel and The New Year - not too much to complain about there. This morning I grabbed from the Ps and have listened to Pram and Portishead (I'll take the Prince CDs home unplayed).

I loved The Primitives back in the day - the first two albums had little gems amidst the oftent retro psychedilic-pop - and listening to Pure this afternoon it became clear that all those gems were the songs that Tracy sang on, and the songs Paul sings on are...well not so gem...ish. I don't have the first album on CD but Pure is worth it just for "Sick of It", "Secrets" and "Way Behind Me".

I saw The Primitives a few times way back when, but most memorable was probably the sad and shabby final-legs performance at the Borderline which saw the guitarist finally storm off in a frustrated huff and left the band to labour through the rest of the song guitar-less and leave the stage, shoulders-hunched, never to be seen again.

I was horrified to see "Crash" being used for a drink-driving information film a couple of years back...there I was in the cinema happily tapping and singing along when a cyclist got flattened on the screen - very disturbing! Despite that it's a song that doesn't fail to make me smile in all it's shiny, shallow, vibrant beauty.

Fantastic fan site with stacks of mp3s and videos!

The Primitives - Way Behind Me