The Primitives: Spin-O-Rama (Reissue) (Elefant)

With a plethora of live dates in the offing, a tenth anniversary reissue of Coventry indie pop pathfinders The Primitives most recent LP Spin-O-Rama is ideally timed.

Dipping their toe back into the water with 2012 covers album Echoes and Rhymes which showcased the band’s intricate knowledge of obscure 1960s garage rock and psych pop, their first LP of new material since 1992s unfairly overlooked Galore is a full-on plunge. With a title evoking a brand of vintage jukebox (Spin-O-Rama is derived from ice hockey it turns out), the record plays like a string of classic indie pop hits, albeit by the same artist.

Presumably assembled from a stockpile of best unreleased tracks since their initial dissolution, the set is as strong as anything issued during the outfit's 1984- 92 run. Constructed around Tracy Tracy's diaphonous vocals and Paul Court's buzzsaw guitar lines, the call and response vocals of Lose the Reason and Petals’ wry message to a prospective lover have become long-standing live staples.

Shifting gears, the piano-led VU-style chug of Follow The Sun Down begins on the offbeat before skilfully clicking into place midway through while the aptly titled Purifying Tone based around the wavering frequency of an oscillator is an out-there slice of 1960s experimentation. Hidden In the Shadows and Dandelion Seed shimmer with girl group vocal melodies and garage band crunch, while the dry humour of Working Isn’t Working: ‘I wasn't born to stand in line / I like to sit around’ is a sequel of sorts of to John Lennon’s celebration of blissful torpor, Revolver gem I'm Only Sleeping.

Reissued with three addtional cuts: an acoustic version of the title track and two B-sides, Up So High is a cover of a brilliant 1960s garage obscurity while Always Coming Back sounds much like one, but is a Prims’ original. Superlative, alternative seasonal anthem You Trashed My Christmas isn't featured however, possibly due to a lack of space.

With the lead and flipsides of their recent singles ably demonstrating the quartet have lost none of their songwriting vivacity, a follow up the present disc would be highly appreciated. 4/5