This band goes back to 1983. They split up and re-animated themselves in 2005. The album itself dropped in 2010, and is worth moving heaven and earth to procure. If someone told you a tough rock and roll band with swagger to rival the New Christs came from Glasgow, would you believe them? Och, aye. Wake up and smell the thistles.So let's get into it: "Disinhibitor" is 18 songs long - that's a double LP in the old language - and i can't pick a tune I would have scrapped. It's an opus that never wears out its welcome.It's music that you could loosely label 'garage' because its roots are clearly in the '60s, but it stands apart from most of the genre because it doesn't stick to the template.
The Primevals had their beginnings in a record stall run by singer Michael Rooney, toured with the Cramps, recorded tributes to Beefheart and the Byrds, played sessions for John Peel and put out a string of releases before turning their toes up. With that sort of background, you'd expect them to tap lots of sources. And they do with blues, hard free-form jazz and blustery declarations all part of the mix.
"American Road Trip" is the stand-out, an insistent rocker of a song with Rooney's not-to-be-fucked-with, Youngeresque vocal sitting hand-in-knuckle-duster with Malcolm McDonald's street tough guitar. Opener "Defying Science" is just as good. "The Shape That Life Bent Me Into" steps into shuffle territory with dagger sharp McDonald slide and a double-tracked vocal pulling an edge of psychosis into the mix. His work on the sparse "I've Never Seen You Looking So Clean" is just as worthy.
"Ho Chi Minh City" and the theremin-flecked "DT Blues" apply the rock blowtorch while there's a touch of Albert Ayler and the MC5 to "There Is No Other LIfe And This Is It", an instro interlude that's all alto sax and splashy cymbals. "Truth Is Marchin' In/Word Salad" is the other diversion, a similarly out there three-minute-plus trip that marries divergent ideas awfully well.
If you think I have a wrap for this album you're obviously paying attention. Listen to the samples here and tell me I'm wrong. Don't forget to buy a copy.
3/4
