aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser
#078: Primal Scream– ‘Velocity Girl’ (Creation Records ’86)
Hello friends,
another B-side today, but what a B-Side, ey? I mean, be honest: can anyone of you sing along to the A-Side? No, you cannot, to be sure! ‘Crystal Crescent’ it was called, just to remind you.
And ‘Crystal Crescent’ was Primal Scream’s second single, preceded by ‘All Fall Down’/’It Happens’ in 1985, both songs might ring a bell with those of you who are old enough to have bought the according Creation-compilations at the time. Nice tunes, yes, but nothing in comparison to what was about to follow. I know, the majority of you will say: “… and this second single was nothing in comparison to what Primal Scream did afterwards”, and you even have a point here. But I always had severe difficulties in comparing the very early ‘Primal indie/jangle/noise-pop Scream’ to the later ‘Primal dance/triphop/Screamadelica Scream’: two different pair of shoes for me, always were.
So the early stuff it is for me, as usual. I understand very well that people who did not witness the original release of the famous NME ‘C86’ compilation, opened by today’s song of choice, probably cannot estimate its importance. ‘Groundbreaking’ is one of those adjectives which are being used too inflationary, if you ask me, but in this context it fits perfectly well! ‘C86’ managed to compile the best of the British indie guitar bands of the time, so by and large all of the songs on it were wonderful, obviously. But still the opener was somewhat special, and quite rightly it was praised a lot, some even say it defined the whole genre, which might be a bit over the top, but there you are.
It certainly was an influential/iconic pearl, let’s settle for that – one of those songs you won’t get tired of listening to, as vintage as it might be today. Hard to tell why this is, Bobby Gillespie’s desperate and naïve vocals perhaps, perhaps the simplicity of the rhythm, perhaps the jangly guitars, perhaps a combination of all of it, who knows? And, more importantly, who cares?
mp3: Primal Scream – Velocity Girl
The song was partly inspired by the actress, model and Warhol superstar Edie Sedgwick, so this is why she’s on the cover of the 2019 Sony re-release for Record Store Day – in all of her stunning beauty.
Someone once said about this song, ‘in pop music, 82 seconds can be an eternity’. Well, I’m all for that!
Enjoy,
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
A fantastic b-side.
Primal Scream caught my attention at this time in it’s career and maintained it up until the 2nd LP. By the 3rd LP I had no interest, although I did like Loaded.
For all the jangle comparisons that are now thrown at it, wasn’t it, isn’t it still, just a lovely pop song?
Flimflamfan
Yeah, Velocity Girl was included on a Creation sampler I got as an import. No offense to the countless folks who are devoted fans of Primal Scream, but I didn’t like anything they did half as much as this short b-side. Killer track, Dirk!
Jean Stein wrote a biography of Edie Sedgwick, which received very positive reviews from critics. My daughter, who has just started studying art, might also like it. I guess that gets me out of the woods very early for Easter this year.
Thanks [sk]
Now please don’t think I’m stingy. The book also serves as a vehicle for a reasonable amount of another gift that will only take concrete form in the future.
Hi Dirk. As you know, this is just about as good as it gets for me. This is the first time I have seen the cover for this reissue. It’s quite fetching, but I find it impossible to unsee the shiny original. First, a word about Crystal Crescent. Frank Sweeney is a hero of mine, but I think I might prefer the Peel version without the trumpet. Dale Griffin’s production comes off cleaner and more crisp too. The lads played Velocity Girl on Janice Long’s show in ’86, and it clocked in at more than two minutes! C’mon guys, wrap it up already! It’s great, but nothing beats the original. Inspired choice today, pal. – Brian
Brian, good to hear from you, mate! Just listened to the JL-version, didn’t know about it so far. And you know what: it sucks, well, the additional verse does. Nothing beats the original indeed!
Dirk
I’ll be honest. First time I heard this song Manic Street Preachers were covering it in 1991… it blew me away then. To later find out it was a Primal’s tune. I was agog. Wee Boaby talks about how 7” singles can become ’Talismanic objects’ in his autobiography Tenement Kid. He’s not wrong on this occasion.