Between 1985 and 1991, THE PRIMITIVES were an example of how an independent band could forge an identity which in turn generated major label interest and subsequently saw them entering the UK national charts no less than six times; their commercial peak being the worldwide hit 'Crash' which rose to #5 in the UK Top 40. The band reformed in 2009 and played a number of low key gigs which were followed in April 2012 by the release of the rather wonderful album 'Echoes And Rhymes'. They continue to tour and in February 2013 released Lose The Reason their first new material in the form of a ltd edition 7".
'Everything's Shining Bright' looks back at the band's pre-RCA era; they were signed to small independent label Lazy Records (also home to My Bloody Valentine and later Birdland) who released a total of five singles/EPs all of which combined the bands love of The Velvet Underground, the pure pop of Blondie and the screeching feedback of The Jesus & Mary Chain. Audiences responded instantly, allowing each successive Primitives release to rise higher in the upper reaches of the UK Indie Charts. It's fair to say a certain element of the response was due to blonde and very photogenic vocalist Tracy Tracy and it has been suggested that the band were the catalyst for the short lived craze in bands fronted by similar vocalists such as The Darling Buds and Transvision Vamp.
Lazy were keen to secure their future by signing The Primitives for the proposed album 'Everything's Shining Bright.' However the lure of RCA proved too tempting and Lazy folded as a result. Across two extensive discs, this release combines seven of the ten previously unissued tracks which stem from those scotched album sessions, plus the band's very first demo recording consisting of three tracks including a version of their subsequent hit '˜Crash' along with a live recording from the ICA (with Morrissey introducing the band on stage) which has only previously been available as an industry promo. As such, it offers their entire Lazy output from that period.
The entire package has been compiled with guitarist PJ Court who has overseen the re-mastering of the tracks, and also includes a beautifully annotated booklet which includes rarely seen photos and personal memories from the band.
All the tracks are laid out chronologically; so Thru The Flowers opens proceedings and immediately demonstrates the band's ability to blend the aggression of their trademark buzz guitars with the soaring pop of Tracy Tracy's voice. Lazy shows that they were not content to leave the vocals to Tracy, as Paul counters with his resonating burr as he half sings/speaks. Really Stupid was the band's break through release, and as you hear that opening squeal of feedback and those pummelling drums you recall just why people began to sit up and take notice, a mere three minutes of amphetamine fuelled perfect pop that manages to neatly encapsulate everything The Primitives meant at that point in time; a band you could believe in, a band capable of challenging the chart dominance of the (then) all-pervading S.A.W hit-factory.
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Elsewhere, Stop Killing Me and Buzz Buzz Buzz with its rockabilly rhythms are a sheer joy to listen to, examples of perfect indie pop; songs created around simple chord structures and insistent driving beats. Hearing the first rough demo of Crash is wonderful and shows that this band always had the songs, the raw material was there from the outset. To their credit all RCA seem to have done is provide them with the ability to properly capture and present their material.
Disc 2 opens with the seven tracks from the abandoned Lazy album sessions which took place during summer 1987. These versions have not been released previously, and according to Paul, he prefers some of these versions to the ones on 'Lovely.'
The live ICA recording, complete with the growled introduction from one Stephen Morrissey shows that The Primitives were not all syrupy pop. Live, they certainly knew how to whip up a storm and this recording is a typical bootleg style sound capture, the bass at times is too high in the mix, the lead is often lost within the mire. That said Tracy's vocals are crystal clear; not that any of this is a complaint as it is a snapshot of a band who at that point were courting acres of under the radar press attention and who were able to effortlessly justify such. I think it is brave of The Primitives to finally make this album available; other bands would have remixed it, layered in overdubs etc. As it is this we get the full raw recording that shows the band at their effervescent best.
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