The band gear up for their arena tour

Smith has reworked 13 songs for the release

'Rome' also features Norah Jones

A raised eyebrow last week, when the new Earth album arrived, accompanied by a press release citing Pentangle, Fairport Convention and Tinariwen as key influences. It’s been a fair while, of course, since Dylan Carlson’s outfit made music quite so doomy and reductive as their reputation.

Primal Scream have long held firm to the belief that the past is a hostile foreign country, much of it best left unvisited. It’s a condition that extends, for the most part, to their first two albums. Rarely – if ever – do they perform any of those tracks live, while 2004’s Dirty Hits compilation did a very good job of pretending nothing existed prior to the band’s self-declared Year Zero: Screamdelica. But it’s a strange policy, really. After all, without that self-titled second album – in particular the ballad “I’m Losing More Than I’ll Ever Have” – Screamadelica arguably wouldn’t exist, and we wouldn’t be here tonight.

Band set for shows in Scotland before full UK jaunt.

Bristol band join Strokes, Arctic Monkeys and Primal Scream

Both acts dedicate songs to the 29 dead

Anton Corbijn’s poetic take on the Euro-thriller. Clooney stars with impeccable restraint...

Super Furry Animal Gruff Rhys tracks his famous relation in Argentina...