I know this is late, but I couldn't let this one pass ... Celebrity producers have been around for decades, often upstaging the acts they produce. Andrew Weatherall was the first such producer that I was aware of and admired. His groundbreaking work with Primal Scream in the early 90's shifted the goalposts of two genres. Indie rock bands, with the exception of several bands on Factory, weren't looking to dance music for inspiration. Weatherall dragged them there. Notably, he also had a hand in Factory's late 80's success with his remix of Happy Mondays. With Primal Scream laid down a blueprint for the fusion of rock and dance that cast a long shadow over the whole of the 1990's and beyond.
After years of wearing out "Screamadelica" and hearing its greatest moments in heavy rotation on radio and in clubs, I was sick of hearing "Loaded". Great art, no matter how original, loses its luster after overexposure. Fortunately, an extended hiatus is often all that's needed to restore its power to be great art again. A little while ago I heard Outkast's "Hey Ya" on the radio for the first time in years and was blown away all over again. Fifteen years had passed and nobody had caught up to them -- if "Hey Ya" hadn't existed and suddenly appeared on the radio today, it would be every bit as arresting. I had the same reaction when "Loaded" was played on the radio as a tribute to Weatherall after his death. Take the best bits from a mediocre rock track, loop it to infinity, craft a boombastic groove, and ride it to club domination -- such an absurdly simple idea, yet so difficult to pull off.
If classic albums are your barometer of greatness, then his contributions to "Screamadelica" are undoubtedly his most timeless achievements. His Sabres of Paradise and Two Lone Swordsmen projects are well worth checking out as well, and in recent years I've come to consider One Dove's "Morning Dove White" (produced by Weatherall) as a downtempo indie-dance masterpiece nearly equal to "Screamadelica".
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