I Was Blind, Now I Can See

A year on from the release of Screamadelica, the LP which forever fused indie hedonism and rave together in a joyous Day-Glo splat, Primal Scream released the most obvious cut from the LP as the Dixie-Narco EP.

I always assumed that the name Dixie-Narco was a cool Southern US drugs thang, possibly for undercover po-po. No. It’s a drinks machine manufacturer based in South Carolina. Ah well, facts eh? little wonder we no longer use them in 2024.

So inside the cover pic which I’ve always really liked, we get ‘Movin’ On Up’ teamed with three non-LP tracks: ‘Stone My Soul’, a Dennis Wilson cover ‘Carry Me Home’ and the 10-minute long ‘Screamadelica’. Damn good value for money.

‘Movin’ On Up’ is a glorious Stones-y barn buster, fusing great guitar, congas, a beat that refuses to let you stay still and wonderous vocals, the latter a neat fusion of Bobby Gillespie’s limp drawl and the mountain moving gospel chorus. Even better, ‘Yoo Doo Right’ by Can lurks inside. It is just brilliant.

‘Stone My Soul’ features the band in pained, sensitive mode which they do wonderfully well; heartache/hangover it’s all the same hereabouts. There is a butterfly beauty in this suffering. The Dennis Wilson cover ‘Carry Me Home’ is a less successful attempt at more of the same, with some oddly sinister keys at one point.

Dixie-Narco really pays off for the Scream fan with the 10-minute erstwhile title track that wasn’t, ‘Screamadelica’. This is pure Andrew Weatherall right from the get-go, a loping, building beat punctuated by melodic vocals and brass; straight out of the Weatherall’s Weekender playbook. It’s a great example of Primal Scream folding themselves into their producer’s vision and a nice relaxed cut.

Denise Johnson’s vocals are a big part of the draw for me here on ‘Screamadelica’, as the band melds various Bootsy and electro samples into the mix. I am particularly taken with the sound of what I have always taken to be a bin wagon at the end of the tune*.

Dixie-Narco was well worth my money 31 years ago and is still actually. I owned it for years before I ever owned Screamadelica which was a Mrs 1537 CD right from the week it was released.

I was blind, now I can see
You made a believer out of me

1217 Down.

*although I suspect it may be something a touch more glamorous and American, like a Greyhound bus. The Cramps and Municipal Waste aside, I can’t see too many bands asking their producer for the sound of a garbage truck to end the potential title track on their shiny new LP.