User ratings in Music are temporarily disabled. More info

Riot City Blues
by
Riot City Blues Image
Metascore
59

Mixed or average reviews - based on 19 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
6.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 31 Ratings

  • Summary: Alison Mosshart (The Kills), Warren Ellis (Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds), and Will Sergeant (Echo and the Bunnymen) guest on the band's first album in four years, which ditches the aggressive, electronic elements of their previous two outings in favor of a more traditional blues-rock homage.

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 19
  3. Negative: 4 out of 19
  1. Filter
    90
    This is the band's most cohesive, accessible, melodic and lyrically viscous record to date. [#21, p.99]
    All this publication's reviews
  2. Uncut
    80
    It's dumb, downhome fun, and deliberately gizmo-free. [Jul 2006, p.86]
    All this publication's reviews
  3. musicOMH.com
    80
    Stupid, clichéd, utterly ridiculous for sure, but done with so much pizazz that you can't help but fall for its charms.
  4. Rolling Stone
    60
    The band mostly avoids the mythic seriousness of the past in favor of party-ready stuff like "Country Girl" and meaty rock sonics.
  5. Q Magazine
    60
    In creating a party record that will easily translate to the festival season's main stages they've also reversed out of the narrow tunnel that, for all their adventure, they were being led into by the bombastic Xtrmntr and Evil Heat. [Jul 2006, p.110]
    All this publication's reviews
  6. PopMatters
    40
    Riot City Blues would make a wonderful addition to any pub’s jukebox, but it’s galling how ordinary Primal Scream sound when they’re not crackling with the sparks of invention that coloured a record like Screamadelica.
  7. Pitchfork
    23
    It's as if Primal Scream have run completely out of ideas and so they've reverted to the detestable fallbacks of honking harmonicas and bar-band choogles, acting like college freshmen who just discovered blues.

See all 19 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 21
  3. Negative: 5 out of 21
  1. gastonm
    Nov 12, 2006
    10
    It's a great album.and with this album they show they're just not electronic music. pd1:i love the mandolin solos pd2:the song when It's a great album.and with this album they show they're just not electronic music. pd1:i love the mandolin solos pd2:the song when the bomb drops is fuckin' great pd:fuck pitchfork and stylus magazine… Expand
  2. Giulio
    Jun 14, 2006
    9
    classic 70's stones sound but extremely amusing! It's only rock'n'roll... and I like it!
  4. sbastow
    Jan 17, 2015
    9
    Just a great rock album really. With enough 'alternative' thrown in to make it interesting.

    The tempo's high, the riffs great and although    Just a great rock album really. With enough 'alternative' thrown in to make it interesting.

    The tempo's high, the riffs great and although the lyrics aren't all gems, the overall effect is memorable.

    It was a surprise to me after sampling some of their previous efforts. I hadn't expected the full-on rock, but it was a pleasant surprise, a very pleasent surprise! I spent the whole album waiting for a weak track to appear and, unusually, it never did.

    The gentle closing song "Sometimes I Feel So Lonely" hits just the right note as well.

    Well done 'Scream!    … Expand
  5. [Anonymous]
    Jun 15, 2006
    8
    Rawk and Roll
  6. BenG
    Oct 23, 2006
    7
    Pitchfork are not the gatekeepers of quality. Sometimes music should be fun, not innovative. I like Primal Scream's forays into Pitchfork are not the gatekeepers of quality. Sometimes music should be fun, not innovative. I like Primal Scream's forays into electronic music, but it's nice to hear some Give Out-type tunes again.… Expand
  7. Steve
    Jun 19, 2006
    4
    Extremely disapointing. I love Primal Scream and was expecting something innovative and catchy, which they always manage to do, until now. Extremely disapointing. I love Primal Scream and was expecting something innovative and catchy, which they always manage to do, until now. There's absolutely nothing interesting here. Just a very bland, shallow album.… Expand
  8. MichaelM
    Jul 30, 2006
    0
    All I can say is, "What the Hell?!?" At the first song, I thought they were kidding. By the last, I was still hoping that they were, because All I can say is, "What the Hell?!?" At the first song, I thought they were kidding. By the last, I was still hoping that they were, because offering this turd of a Stones rip-off with a straight face would mean that this once mind-melting band has truly given out and given up.… Collapse

See all 21 User Reviews