Primal Scream (NYC) - Volume One

This little slice of late 80s thrash is one of my favorite crate digging finds. My in-laws live on California's Central Coast, and when there isn't a pandemic on, and we aren't both unemployed and staving off eviction, Mrs. Ape and I try to go down at least once a year to hang out. Because my in-laws are rad, you see. And I really like the area south of San Francisco; it's the promise of California, writ large.

So we're putzing about one afternoon, checking out Salinas when we see this dinky little thrift store in a strip mall. I already have good feelings when I walk in, see a G1 Soundwave for $5 (a perfect gift for my brother), and Mrs. Ape grips a pair of late-60s, high-waisted gabardine slacks. I dig around in the vinyl, shoved onto a rack of industrial shelving, and pull a copy of "The Coming War With Russia". Not a ground-breaker, but who am I to resist the bat-shittedness of the good Rev. Jack Van Impe? I see a stack of around 25 CDs. Most of it is garbage, but I see Primal Scream on the spine of one and figure, "Well, maybe this is a Creation collection I don't have yet." I take my finds up to the counter. The fella behind and I start talking about the Germs and thrifting around Atlanta. He rings me up for everything. "How about $10 for it all?" "Sure."

I walk out to the car for a smoke, and start logging my music. And that's when I see that my fav Glaswegians (sadly) never put a two-faced baboon on the cover of one of their records.

This Primal Scream was a "throk" quartet from NYC that ran for about 3 years and only released this record along with a demo tape. The best known name here is guitarist/vocalist Keith Alexander, who had started Carnivore with Peter Steele and played with the band until 1986. This reminds me the rockier side of crossover: "Cause for Alarm", "Best Wishes"...you know, those first few years when the metalheads learned how to circle pit. This isn't perfect, but it's more fun than any number of Pantera records. And isn't that what we're all looking for out of life?

This would be the part of the post where I offered to let my cherry-looking copy go for a good deal to a friend of the blog. BUT! The good folks at Pittsburgh's Divebomb Records, who do a fantastic job with their reissues, are re-releasing "Volume One" for the first time in over 30 years in October!!! WHOA!!! That's incredible news for 80s thrash fans, or folks who don't want to spend three figures on a CD. Not only will this rarity be available again, but Divebomb has tacked on the 1986 demo, "The Outrage Continues", as a special bonus. You can preorder the deluxe edition here. At $12, that's a fuggin' killah deal!

Discogs

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