More Audrey

Primal Scream have made some great records over the last 20 odd years- many of their best ones have been touched by the hands of Andrew Weatherall. They can still be good without him (Burning Wheel, Vanishing Point or the XTRMNTR album say), but their best moments are often either his productions or his remixes. They're a reliably good night out for a gig, especially since Mani joined them, but they can also take their eye off the ball with alarming frequency (much of Give Out But Don't Give Up, Riot City Blues had a few duff moments, Beautiful Future was patchy). When Ivy, Ivy, Ivy was released I saw them play a basement called Planet X in Liverpool, along with a couple of dozen other people. All leather and long hair, they finished with I'm Losing More Than I'll Ever Have, Bobby on his knees on the low stage, guitarists all over the place. If anyone had told them or the crowd that within months they'd be at the forefront of a new musical movement with a Weatherall remix of that particular song... well, let's just say it would've been highly unlikely. Back in 1990 the third single in their dance traitor re-birth was Higher Than The Sun, with various blissed out remixes, one by The Orb, at least two by Weatherall, one featuring Jah Wobble. It was one of the records released that spring and summer that seemed to point a new way, along with singles by Saint Etienne, The Orb, The Shamen and Electronic, shiny, left of centre, distorted, twisted pop music, on the dance floor but with old-style indie attitudes, with a real sense of possibilities and the future. Not sure where that got us in the end. This one, the American Spring remix, is probably the least well-known. Weatherall takes off most of Bobby and replaces the main riff with a harpsicord. Lovely.

02 Higher Than the Sun [American Spring Mix].wma