Chase It Down: A Quick Review Of The New Album From Bobby Gillespie (Primal Scream) & Jehnny Beth (Savages)

Bobby Gillespie (Primal Scream) and Jehnny Beth (Savages) get more points for effort than execution on this one. What probably seemed like a winner on paper is an unwieldly record. Still, Utopian Ashes, out today via Third Man Records, is compelling in spots. If this isn't exactly Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra, it's been clearly inspired by them in a few places.

Opener "Chase It Down" is decent, a neat approximation of Gainsbourg-type stuff, though punchier than anything Mick Harvey and the late Anita Lane ever attempted, while "Remember We Were Lovers" didn't work for me on any level. A grim, po-faced riff on Gram Parsons and Emmylou, I guess, what's here is far too lifeless to earn any such comparisons from me. Elsewhere, "You Can Trust Me Now" finds Gillespie trying on a Scott Walker vibe.

A career spent flitting from persona to persona helps Gillespie sound at ease here on this album, while Beth is less well-used throughout Utopian Ashes. The album suffers for not having more songs like "Stones in Silence" on it. That Sixties-flavored composition has more spark than most of the rest of the record, and it's a hint of what could have been achieved by this partnership had things gone in a more favorable direction.

Utopian Ashes is out today via Third Man Records.

More on Bobby Gillespie and Primal Scream via the official site.

More on Jehnny Beth and Savages via her own official site.

[Photo: Third Man Records]