In 1994, Primal Scream took all the momentum behind its era-defining 1991 masterpiece, Screamadelica, and pissed it away with an addled disc of secondhand Stones riffs called Give Out But Don't Give Up. It was a career disaster that still gets the British band plenty of ink on worst-of lists, which makes it all the more insane that the group would want to revisit the scene on Riot City Blues. Working with guests such as the Kills' Alison Mosshart, the Bad Seeds' Warren Ellis and Echo & the Bunnymen's Will Seargeant, Primal Scream turns a blind eye to the mind-melting electronics of its most recent releases, Xtrmntr and Evil Heat, and instead settles into a laughable retro-rock groove highlighted by cliché-ridden songs such as "Suicide Sally & Johnny Guitar," "Nitty Gritty" and "We're Gonna Boogie." The good news is that the album is not a complete disaster. The ridiculous lyrics and honking harmonicas will admittedly find good homes on innumerable roadhouse jukeboxes. --Aidin Vaziri