Primal Scream [ tickets ] is a band that reinvents itself every couple of albums. First, they created Brit-pop brilliance with the psychedelic "Screamadelica." Then, on their 2000 release, "XTRMNTR" they went aggro-electronic.

Now, the British five-piece morphs back into a whiskey-soaked bar band with "Riot City Blues," bottles flying and wild women slinking around every messy guitar riff and shuffling drumbeat.

"Riot City Blues" is a Rolling Stones/Faces-style take on blue-eyed blues, only not quite as satisfying as those groups' golden efforts. Still, Primal Scream is super catchy. First single "Country Girl" is one of those songs that reminds you of a million others, jammed with catchy lines and hooks. "Nitty Gritty," with its lively chorus of singers, is a swaggering shakedown that comes courtesy of a '70s time warp.

Primal Scream, who only six years ago embraced electronica on "XTRMNTR," now drops the digital effects and Chemical Brothers collaboration for tried-and-true classic rock-and-roll arrangements--filthy guitars, saloon piano and punk attitude. They even channel The Hives/Ramones/Clash trifecta on their cover of John Lennon's "Gimme Some Truth," and the group's passion for '50s-era rockabilly is undeniable on "Hell's Comin' Down." There's even one of those monster acoustic ballads at the end in the form of "Sometimes I Feel So Lonely," complete with weepy harmonica and slow-Great Plains strumming. Indeed, it cements the group as official Arena-Rock wannabes.

"Riot City Blues" is inspired by every great rock album of the last 40 years--without any of the cheekiness that hindered the group's past straight rock efforts.

It's timeless. It's loud. And it's cool. Primal Scream reinvented. Again.