Primal Scream have never made up their minds about whether they want to be political-minded techno-indie-funk futurists or the Rolling Stones circa 1972. Until now! Utterly lacking the experimentalist tendencies of, say, 1991's Screamadelica, the Brits' ninth studio album, Riot City Blues, sounds like a collection of Exile on Main Street outtakes and often good ones at that. Country rocker ''Hell's Comin' Down'' is an excellent showcase for Bobby Gillespie's Scotland-via-Nashville drawl, while the harmonica-infused lament ''Sometimes I Feel So Lonely'' may be the most lachrymose moment of their career.

