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Review
When The Horrors first arrived on the cover of NME a couple of years ago, being bugled as the best band in the country, various hackles were raised and naturally the inbuilt cynicism of your everyday Enemy fan smelt dubious hype. They looked amazing, and in the 100 or so seconds of the single Sheena Is A Parasite, sounded pretty good too. However, their black clad eyes and tendency to smear audiences in soot didn't suggest a long term career plan, and within a few moments of their not-that-bad debut album Strange House being released, they had been written off as some sort of novelty that it wouldn't been a shock if there were collectible Japanese action figures made of them. Primary Colours, then, is likely to be a bit of a shock to those expecting further Screaming Lord Sutch hysterics.
Oh yes. A colossal sounding amalgam of incredible influences - Neu!, My Bloody Valentine, Mary Chain, DAF, Acid house, Loop, krautrock, even Kitchens Of Distinction etc, broadening their palette enough as so not to get confused with The View. Within minutes of the first single - the eight minute Sea Within A Sea - being made available on their site, the net was vibrating with nothing but Blimey!s, and various words were in the process of being eaten.
Curiously for an album apparently made in almost total darkness, it sounds at its best in the sunshine. Like a baby Kevin Shields, Josh Third's guitar weaves undulating waves beneath opener Mirror's Image - this isn't anything, this is a full-on rebirth - the swooning vastness of guitar and vintage organs on Three Decades; I Only Think Of You is the Velvet Underground you can sunbathe to; If we lived in a world where Jesus & Mary Chain once had Top Ten hits, then there's no reason why Who Can Say with its Joe Meek-ian organs and girl-group homage, can't repeat such a thing.
There's barely a bad moment here. You are left more in awe that A: this is The Horrors and B: it stands tall above so many other things. Genuinely, really, very, very good indeed, people. Hell, even an album of the year. --Ian Wade
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I have to admit that, back in 2006, when the Horrors first emerged I was, pardon the pun, horrified. Their old sound was generic and they stank of the style over substance nonsense that the NME had come to adore; nothing but a product of the hype machine. Fast forward to 2009, however, and things are completely different. The "quirky" magazine-friendly image is still there, but this time the band have remembered to write some decent tunes too. They also decided that, rather than copy the bands they idolised, they could take the bits they liked, mix them together with other bits and make something new and exciting. Large elements of Primary Colours sound a bit like other bands, but it's safe to say that none of those bands ever made a sound quite like this. The Jesus and Mary Chain, Joy Division, Siousxie and The Banshess, MBV, Can, Neu!: it's all here, but it's never in doubt that you're listening to any other band. With an array of experimental sounds and plenty of feedback throw in to the equation, it's clear when listening that great care has gone into every track. Each song rewards repeated listens and all of them contain plenty to like beyond the obvious. Credit here surely goes to the production team, who, by all accounts, helped to bring out the best in the band creatively as well as adding their own particular talents to proceedings. That the album shares 4 production credits (one of which being the band themselves) is, I feel, one of the reasons that each track sounds distinctive, and there are many different sounds explored throughout the course of the ten tracks. Because of this, the album sounds great as a whole; something that is sadly lacking with a lot of releases lately.... Read more ›
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Tis not hype that caused a sizeable proportion of crtics to declare this 'Album of the Year', twas talent. The Horrors have managed to create what the Doves have always tried to - an aural landscape that sucks you in and lets you float in it for forty-five minutes. No two tracks are the same and each one gels into the next perfectly. It takes a lot for a crusty 47 year old grandfather to get excited but this album did it with out any effort what so ever. Buy and enjoy.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Happened upon this album by chance and nearly didn't listen to it, remembering their first pretty average goth rock album and the Peaches Geldof association (never a good sign). Well, I doubt that there has ever been a bigger turnaround from first to second album in terms of style and quality. Its definitely a Screamadelica-type line in the sand and the Horrors have created a landmark album.
Overall, Primary Colours is a fantastic album of sonic, hazy soundscapes and great guitar hooks. MBV for the 21st century. Also saw them recently at the Forum and they were great live as well. They can no longer be dismissed as ludicrous goth rockers. Essential listening.
Overall, Primary Colours is a fantastic album of sonic, hazy soundscapes and great guitar hooks. MBV for the 21st century. Also saw them recently at the Forum and they were great live as well. They can no longer be dismissed as ludicrous goth rockers. Essential listening.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Rarely do I get an album and then play it all the way through several times a day for days on end, which is what I'm doing with The Horrors follow-up album. From start to finish this is a top album. Yes the influences are there for everyone to see, but so what? I like the fact that there's a song which sounds a bit like David Gedge from the Wedding Present singing for My Bloody Valentine (Three Decades) and that the final song (Sea Within A Sea) has a keyboard style influenced by 70's German music. These two tracks are my favourites on the entire album. There are traces of the old Horrors style left, most noticeably on New Ice Age, but the guys should be congratulated for not producing Strange House MKII. Unless someone else comes up with an absolute stormer of a record in the next three months, I can see Primary Colours easily being my album of the year.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By J. Daniel
Format:Audio CD
I would never have bought this album myself, but I got it as part of Rough Trade album clubs Album of the month a couple of months back. I was always put off by the Horrors style over substance image, the few singles I heard from their first album made no mpact on me whatsoever, and reading all the hype before the release of this album put me off even further. But like I say it arrived in the post one day so I put it on, and it quite simple blew me away. OK so there is very little originality here, the MBV and JAMC as well as the Krautrock influences are there for all to hear. But Geoff Barrows production and the songs go hand in hand to make a truly special album, finished off with the quite sublime track Sae within a sea. A must have album.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Gannon
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Few people have ever been in doubt that the Horrors have cracking record collections, a collective eye for natty threads, as well as coercible hairdressers. It was a pity therefore that they seemed intent on strangling their musical endeavours with a selection of broken pedals and their own hype. They were black and white, style over substance.
That was then. Primary Colours now shifts their monochrome focus into a more vivid arena. Little has been cut however from Strange House, but plenty has been added. Notably, it's in with intelligible organ, Joy Division homages and My Bloody Valentine drone. Tellingly, it's out with schlock-shock screaming, faux-goth and stubborn resistance to include a tune. Primary Colours contorts from curiosity into contender really rather quickly.
As Strange House hinted at surf-punk, Primary Colours hints at spectral girl groups, distorted, of course on `Who Can Say'. `I Can't Control Myself' has persuaded Spiritualized's `Come Together' to guest on its own re-imagining. Elsewhere it's Bauhaus grooming a fledgling Cramps, the title track is Jesus & Mary Chain as fronted by the sombre ghost of Ian Curtis. 7-minute closer, `Sea Within A Sea', is a joyously optimistic show of synth, which, if a little light in itself, is a krautrock paean to triumph in adversity, a tacit statement of self-assured self, a told-you-so to the naysayers.
Its knockers will still cite originality as a major downfall, but there is an art to pastiche, an art in which the Horrors have become proficient. Their former incarnation as skinny clotheshorses has allowed them to evolve and run confident streaks across the record like a rainbow breaking out of a storm, spreading the primary colours of Loveless, Pyschocandy and In The Flat Field across their canvas.... Read more ›
That was then. Primary Colours now shifts their monochrome focus into a more vivid arena. Little has been cut however from Strange House, but plenty has been added. Notably, it's in with intelligible organ, Joy Division homages and My Bloody Valentine drone. Tellingly, it's out with schlock-shock screaming, faux-goth and stubborn resistance to include a tune. Primary Colours contorts from curiosity into contender really rather quickly.
As Strange House hinted at surf-punk, Primary Colours hints at spectral girl groups, distorted, of course on `Who Can Say'. `I Can't Control Myself' has persuaded Spiritualized's `Come Together' to guest on its own re-imagining. Elsewhere it's Bauhaus grooming a fledgling Cramps, the title track is Jesus & Mary Chain as fronted by the sombre ghost of Ian Curtis. 7-minute closer, `Sea Within A Sea', is a joyously optimistic show of synth, which, if a little light in itself, is a krautrock paean to triumph in adversity, a tacit statement of self-assured self, a told-you-so to the naysayers.
Its knockers will still cite originality as a major downfall, but there is an art to pastiche, an art in which the Horrors have become proficient. Their former incarnation as skinny clotheshorses has allowed them to evolve and run confident streaks across the record like a rainbow breaking out of a storm, spreading the primary colours of Loveless, Pyschocandy and In The Flat Field across their canvas.... Read more ›
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4.3 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A master peice
This is a fantastic album - thats all you need to know. Skying is also awesome as is Strange House
Published 6 months ago by Ke Donn
5.0 out of 5 stars
great album
better than first, not as good as last. but if you like bowie etc, probably like this. i really like it so 5*
Published 6 months ago by temperson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Totally unique and fantastic
Before the superb 'Primary Colours' The Horrors were the biggest enigma in music. There was clearly talent there but they wasted it by playing naff Garage Rock and trying too hard... Read more
Published 10 months ago by C22man
2.0 out of 5 stars
ONCE UPON A TIME...
...There was a band called The Psychedelic Furs.
They did this first, and best.
The Horrors are fine with what they're doing but if you've heard it all... Read more
They did this first, and best.
The Horrors are fine with what they're doing but if you've heard it all... Read more
Published 21 months ago by David P. Weber
2.0 out of 5 stars
POSH
After a terrible debut album The Horrors returned with this emperors new clothes of an album,a veritable banquet of artistic theft. Read more
Published on 14 April 2011 by mister joe
3.0 out of 5 stars
2 * and 1/2
I bought that CD because of all the hype about The Horrors. The NME-approved first CD I didn't try to listen to. I mean, does anybody remember Terris? Read more
Published on 26 Aug 2010 by Stan FREDO
3.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable, if derivative
Reviewing 2009's Primary Colours is a bit like playing "spot-the-influence". There are a whole lot of influences thrown in here, but I suppose the base material is Interpol... Read more
Published on 30 July 2010 by klaher
5.0 out of 5 stars
A sketch from The Mighty Boosh
I downloaded this on a whim just after it came out last year. I am now listening to it for the thirteen millionth time and it is still unfeasably good. Read more
Published on 12 Feb 2010 by Matt
5.0 out of 5 stars
Top 10 cd for 2009
What a nice change to hear something fresh,this band deserve to be as big as the killers,steal this album if you cant afford it!
Published on 20 Nov 2009 by Mr. E. L. Whisson
3.0 out of 5 stars
I like it but it's not 'great'
This is a very good album if this is what you're in to, and it is great that there are young guys making interesting, non-mainstream music. Read more
Published on 8 Nov 2009 by Jase
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