Riot City Blues (Expanded Edition)

Editors’ Notes After various adventures in electronica, Riot City Blues is Primal Scream’s return to straightforward rock and blues. They’ve done it before but never while sounding so vital or natural. Setting the tone, “Country Girl” is rousing, irrepressible and charged by some fierce mandolin playing, while the scuzzy garage-glam of “Dolls” highlights the appealing rawness and spontaneity to the album. It wouldn’t be a Primal Scream record without a disarming moment of tenderness though, and the country-gospel of “Sometimes I Feel So Lonely” fills that slot gracefully.