Back to the Future with Primal Scream

Veteran rockers Primal Scream visit Birmingham Academy on December 4.

Get concert information here

The band, who have been rocking since the 1980s, visit Brum as part of the NME Rock and Roll Riot tour.

Led by singer Bobby Gillespie, the band broke through with dance rock album Screamadelica, released in 1991.

The album contained songs such as Movin' On Up and Higher Than The Sun, which united dance fans and indie music lovers.

The follow-up, 1994's Give Out But Don't Give Up, was not so well-received, drawing upon traditional southern US rock of the 1960s and 1970s for its inspiration.

The release of the album Vanishing Point in 1997 was considered a return to form. Since 2000, they have continued to inspire rave reviews from the critics.

XTRMNTR - 2000

While the band's refusal to use vowels in the title may have confused some record buyers, this violent, angry offering was hailed as a masterpiece from the critics, who considered it to have surpassed even Screamadelica.

NME called it: "The angriest, least compromised, most utterly justified pop record in years."

The US rock bible Rolling Stone wrote: "Somehow, the Primals' fury never seems misguided: This is one ball of aggression that hangs together, thanks to the band's smarts and funk."

While Q magazine called it "a darkly uncompromising and often difficult record: uneasy, sinister, scored and scarred with sonic detritus."

Evil Heat - 2002

The Primals' picked another light-hearted title for the follow-up album, which saw involvement from a string of the band's cohorts including Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine and Andy Weatherall. A cover version of Some Velvet Morning, sung as a duet with supermodel Kate Moss, mystified some listeners.

The US Village Voice called it "their catchiest, most compelling record yet".

Mojo said: "Less conceptually pure than its predecessor in terms of tone and motivation it may be, but Evil Heat's bespoke tailoring pays dividends time and time again."

The NME was again full of praise but added: "For non-believers, Evil Heat betrays some familiar Scream shortcomings: the fragmentary lyrics, the shameless classic-rock homages, the risible heavy-metal outlaw posturing. But even so, and unlike most albums on these pages, every single track demands repeated exploration and devotion."

Riot City Blues - 2006

The band's next album saw them ditch the aggressive, electronic elements of their previous two outings in favour of a more traditional blues-rock homage. Lead single Country Girl provided them with a radio hit.

The US Entertainment Weekly made a Rolling Stones comparison. "Sounds like a collection of Exile on Main Street outtakes - and often good ones at that," it said.

Uncut said: "It's dumb, downhome fun, and deliberately gizmo-free."

Cutting edge US website Pitchfork was not impressed. "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."

Beautiful Future - 2008

Swedish producer Bjorn Yttling came on board for this year's offering, their ninth studio album to date.

Observer Music Monthly wrote: "In its own way, it's derivative, and also a touch silly, inviting the image of Gillespie, Innes, Duffy and co cramming themselves into a Mini in the search for nocturnal kicks, when they should be in bed with a Horlicks. And yet and yet... its hedonistic groove carries everything before it, and reminds you that 'rock'n'roll' doesn't just signify a sound (and fury), it signifies an attitude towards risk taking."

The US Spin magazine said: "Though singer Bobby Gillespie's lyrics are still rife with anti-establishment paranoia, songs such as The Glory of Love and the title track are colorful, catchy, and informed by a cautious optimism born of hard-earned perspective and a surprising maturity."

Uncut concluded: "It's too blunt, messy and reverent to be up there with their best, but you hope that it also serves a secondary function: to clear the decks for one last magnificent tilt at rock deification on album number ten."