Listen to the samples and influences of Screamadelica

Screamadelica 25 playlist

Today is the anniversary of Screamadelica turning 25 and to celebrate below is a lengthy playlist gathering the tracks that made the album.

Some were sampled on the album, some were lyrical influences and some were a huge influence on the band whilst recording the album. If you know Screamadelica you’ll understand why each track was included. A full tracklisting is below the player:

MC5 – Rocket Reducer No.62

A big influence on the band and features the line “Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa”

The Emotions – I Don’t Want To Lose Your Love

That vocal sampled on Loaded.

The Beatles – Hey Bulldog

The closing sample on Don’t Fight It, Feel It

The Orb – Little Fluffy Clouds

They produced Higher Than The Sun and supported Primal Scream throughout the era including the 1991 tour, Glastonbury ‘92 and the Miners Benefit gig at Sheffield Arena the same year.

The 13th Floor Elevators – Slip Inside This House

Original version taken from the 1967 album Easter Everywhere and later covered by Primal Scream for a compilation album in 1990, later added to Screamadelica.

Curtis Mayfield – No Thing On Me (Cocaine Song)

Mayfield’s “Superfly” was a huge influence at this time, you can hear the vibe from this track on Screamadelica.

Sheer Taft – Cascades (Hypnotone Remix)

Hypnotone produced Slip Inside This House whilst Sheer Taft did a remix of Come Together. Both were Creation Records labelmates with Primal Scream at the time.

Alan Lomax – Whoa Buck

Sampled on Inner Flight

Brian Eno – The Great Pretender

Sampled for Inner Flight

Happy Mondays – Hallelujah (Club Mix)

The first track mixed by Andrew Weatherall just months before he created Loaded, a collaboration with Paul Oakenfold.

Big Star – Thirteen

Big Star had a huge influence on Primal Scream in general beyond the scope of Screamadelica, but it’s probably important to include a track here because it was almost certainly due to the Big Star influence that the band opted to record at Ardent Studios for Dixie-Narco. Bobby also selected this one for his Select C90 mixtape around ’92.

The Meters – Stay Away

The inspiration for much of the guitar and organ on Loaded.

The Rolling Stones – Sympathy For The Devil

Live version of Loaded at the time was extended to include the chant from this song.

Suicide – Dream Baby Dream

Influence for Shine Like Stars

The Stooges – No Fun

The Primal’s covered this track on the Screamadelica tour, usually the closing track of their live set.

Jr Walkers & The All Stars – (I’m A) Road Runner

For the line “I’m gonna love the life I live, I’m gonna live the life I love”.

Young-Holt Unlimited – Wah Wah Man

Sampled on Higher Than The Sun

Tony Cook & The Party People – On The Floor (Rockit)

Not strictly an influence on the album, but this was the track that inspired the Screamadelica tune on the Dixie Narco EP.

Sly & The Family Stone – Don’t Call Me Nigger, Whitey

Primal Scream covered this on the Screamadelica tour.

Faces – Glad And Sorry

When the band were recording Damaged, Henry made a remark that the solo should sound somewhat Faces-esque and ended up recording the solo himself built around that idea. In addition, Bobby often ad-libbed the lyrics from this over the end of Damaged live (you can hear it on the Hollywood Palladium recording on the Screamadelica box set).

Dr John – Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya

Sampled on Inner Flight

Can – Yoo Doo Right

Inspiration for the lyric “I was blind, now I can see, you made a believer out of me”.

John Lennon – Cold Turkey

Another track the band covered on their Screamadelica tour.

The Stylistics – I’m Stone In Love With You

According to an article in Mojo from April 1994, Bobby would listen to this every morning before heading to the studio. The title lyric would find its way into the end of Damaged.

James Carr – The Dark End Of The Street

One of BobbyGillespie’s favourite tracks of all-time, this was soundchecked numerous times on the Screamadelica tour. The influence of James Carr is obvious on Dixie-Narco for sure.

Sister Sledge – We Are Family

Often ad-libbed into live performances of Screamadelica. Despite its “uncool” status at the time, a lot of disco influence found its way onto Screamadelica with Chic constantly being name dropped in interviews from the time period.

George McRae – Rock Your Baby

An influence on Shine Like Stars. In Bobby’s words; “Actually, I always thought our song ‘Shine Like Stars’ was like a George McCrae song. I mean, I could imagine him doing it like that, but not us. We can’t play like that, unfortunately.”

John Coltrane – A Love Supreme Part 1, Acknowledgement

The spiritual chant of “a love supreme” found its way into the improvised covers outro of Higher Than The Sun on at least a few occasions during the Screamadelica tour. It wasn’t until later albums that the jazz influence really crept in, but you can hear it in tracks like I’m Coming Down.

Primal Scream – I’m Losing More Than I’ll Ever Have

The original recording Andrew Weatherall remixed to create Loaded.

Bobby Gillespie
Big thanks to Chris Broyles and Nat Cramp for their help with this.