''Riot City Blues'' is the eighth studio album by Scottish

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band Primal Scream, released on 5 June 2006 by Columbia Records. It peaked at number 5 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

. With this album, the band left behind the

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elements they had used on their previous albums '' XTRMNTR'' (2000) and ''

Evil Heat ''Evil Heat'' is the seventh studio album by Scottish rock band Primal Scream. It was first released on 5 August 2002 in the United Kingdom by Columbia Records and on 26 November 2002 in the United States by Epic Records. It peaked at number 9 on ...

'' (2003), returning to more traditional rock and roll. The album features guest appearances from

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Warren Ellis Warren Girard Ellis (born 16 February 1968) is a British comic book writer, novelist, and screenwriter. He is best known as the co-creator of several original comics series, including ''Transmetropolitan'' (1997–2002), ''Global Frequency'' ( ...

, and

Alison Mosshart Alison Nicole Mosshart (born November 23, 1978) is an American singer, songwriter, artist, and the lead vocalist for the rock bands The Kills and The Dead Weather. She started her musical career in 1995 with the Florida punk rock band Dis ...

, and was the last album to feature guitarist Robert "Throb" Young, who departed before the album's UK tour for personal reasons. The album's first single " Country Girl" became the band's highest charting in their career. " Dolls (Sweet Rock and Roll)" and " Sometimes I Feel So Lonely" were also released as singles.

Critical reception

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, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 59, based on 19 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". The album was released to varying reviews. A particularly scathing review by ''

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'' 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 ''

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'' 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." ''Riot City Blues'' was listed among the ten worst Scottish albums ever made in a 2007 online poll of music fans.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes. ; Primal Scream * Bobby Gillespie – vocals *

Andrew Innes Andrew Colin Innes (born 16 May 1962 in Glasgow) is a Scottish-born, London-based musician. He is best known for being the rhythm guitarist in Scottish rock band Primal Scream. Biography Early years While in high school in 1978, Innes was the ...

– guitar, mandolin, banjo, synthesizer * Martin Duffy – piano, organ, harmonium, harmonica * Robert Young – guitars, harmonica * Gary "Mani" Mounfield – bass guitar * Darrin Mooney – drums, percussion ;Additional musicians *

– additional vocals (3, 8) *

– guitar (4, 5) * Chris Allen – hurdy-gurdy (5) *

– violin (9) * Juliet Roberts – backing vocals (1, 2, 5, 10) * Sharlene Hector – backing vocals (1, 2, 5, 10) * Sylvia Mason-James – backing vocals (1, 2, 5, 10) * John Gibbons – backing vocals (1, 2, 5, 10) * Richard Beale – French horn (10) *Tim Bran - programming ;Technical *Ryan Castle, Greg Gordon - engineer *Clive Goddard - recording

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2006 albums Primal Scream albums Albums produced by Youth (musician) Columbia Records albums albums recorded at Olympic Sound Studios