The Primitives - Galore (Deluxe Edition) (2015)

By the time of their third album, 1991's Galore, the Primitives found themselves out of step with the times and almost completely out of fashion. Their brand of cheery, simple pop came off as a little quaint by then and even though it's likely their most consistent album, it's also the one that marked the end of their initial run. Featuring a batch of very clean, very hooky songs that had a touch of Madchester in them, the Ian Broudie-produced Galore shows that even though they had changed dramatically since their noisy beginnings, their skill at crafting brilliant guitar pop was still intact. Two of the album's singles are classic Primitives pop, with "Lead Me Astray" featuring one of Tracy Tracy's better vocals. "Earth Thing," the third single, was a little bit of a stretch with its heavily baggy guitar riffing, but even its of-the-moment production doesn't sound too bad. The rest of the album is made up of bright and cheerful pop that may have been a little too unadventurous for the times, but was never less than lovely. The album's best songs, like the dreamy ballad "Empathise" and the folk-rocky "Smile," even show some new directions that the Primitives could have explored a little more if this hadn't been their last album. Even though it's a forgotten piece of a small catalog, and wasn't even released in the U.S., Galore is something of a hidden gem that fans of well-crafted, well-preserved '90s guitar pop would do well to check out.

• Back in the mid-80s, The Primitives combined the fuzz guitars of The Jesus & Mary Chain with the pop sensibilities of Blondie and a nod to cult heroes The Velvet Underground. They swiftly rose from being a popular Indie guitar outfit to charting worldwide with ‘Crash’, kickstarting a craze in bands fronted by blonde female singers (Transvision Vamp, The Darling Buds et al).

• Co-produced by Ian Broudie, Galore was The Primitives’ third and last album for RCA. Issued in 1991, the album was criminally ignored by a pop scene enamoured with Madchester and Grunge and has been long unavailable on CD. Despite its musical strength, fashions had moved on and The Prims disbanded in 1992.

• The Primitives’ profile has not been as high since their heyday, what with the release of a brand new studio album in October, Spin-O-Rama, which followed their reunion album Echoes And Rhymes (2012), as well as Cherry Red’s 2-CD compilation of the band’s pre-RCA recordings, Everything’s Shining Bright and a deluxe edition of Lovely.

• This 2-CD set boasts all of the band’s B-sides and other rare tracks from 1991/1992, including the singles ‘You Are The Way’, ‘Lead Me Astray’ and ‘Earth Thing’ from the Spells EP. Also included is the ‘Re-Ravishing Mix’ of ‘You Are The Way’, previously available only on a promotional 12”.

• Compiled with the help of guitarist PJ Court, this 2-CD compilation boasts re-mastered music as well as a splendid, annotated booklet boasting rare photos and personal memories from the band.