Primal Scream / Echo Dek / Creation Records

Primal Scream’s “Echo Dek” was recently repressed for Record Store Day. It’s been interesting to go back and listen to it in retrospect. When the album was first released, in 1997, it seemed like a radical move. The band handing over the masters for their brand new long-player, “Vanishing Point”, to On-U Sound co-founder, Adrian Sherwood, to create an accompanying collection of dubwise versions. However, in hindsight, a heavy dub influence can already be heard in several of the original tracks. “Get Duffy”, led by keyboard maestro Martin’s smoky organ keys, was a terrific trip hop homage to Roy Budd. “Trainspotting”, too, took more than a few big tokes, zoned-out and nodded its head to hip hop beats and a repeating, hypnotic guitar figure (1). The loved-up, Civil Rights activist celebrating “Star”, might be more Muscle Shoals, Alabama, than Kingston, Jamaica, but it featured roots legend Augustus Pablo on melodica. “Stuka” especially, was a crazy concoction of colliding,…