By the time of their third album, 1991's
Galore,
the Primitives found themselves out of step with the times and almost completely out of fashion. Their brand of cheery, simple pop came off as a little quaint by then and even though it's likely their most consistent album, it's also the one that marked the end of their initial run. Featuring a batch of very clean, very hooky songs that had a touch of Madchester in them, the
Ian Broudie-produced
Galore shows that even though they had changed dramatically since their noisy beginnings, their skill at crafting brilliant guitar pop was still intact. Two of the album's singles are classic
Primitives pop, with "Lead Me Astray" featuring one of
Tracy Tracy's better vocals. "Earth Thing," the third single, was a little bit of a stretch with its heavily baggy guitar riffing, but even its of-the-moment production doesn't sound too bad. The rest of the album is made up of bright and cheerful pop that may have been a little too unadventurous for the times, but was never less than lovely. The album's best songs, like the dreamy ballad "Empathise" and the folk-rocky "Smile," even show some new directions that
the Primitives could have explored a little more if this hadn't been their last album. Even though it's a forgotten piece of a small catalog, and wasn't even released in the U.S.,
Galore is something of a hidden gem that fans of well-crafted, well-preserved '90s guitar pop would do well to check out. [
Cherry Red's 2015 reissue of the album adds three songs, including the should-have-been-a-single "In My Dream," that were only on the Japanese release of the album, plus a second disc of remixes, single versions, and live songs. The remixes aren't particularly revelatory, though
Robin Guthrie's mix of "Lead Me Astray" is an interesting period piece, but the live tracks are a lot of fun. The most important thing about the reissue is that it finally may give the album a little bit of the attention it deserved at the time and never got.] ~ Tim Sendra
![Moon Safari [25th Anniversary Edition]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/5054197906770_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "Moon Safari [25th Anniversary Edition]")
