Gillespie has described the album as an anarcho-syndicalistspeedfreakroad-movie record.[2] It is named after and inspired by the 1971 filmVanishing Point, especially the song "Kowalski", which is meant to be an alternative soundtrack of the movie. Lead singer Bobby Gillespie said, "The music in the film is hippy music, so we thought, 'Why not record some music that really reflects the mood of the film?' It's always been a favourite of the band, we love the air of paranoia and speed- freak righteousness. It's impossible to get hold of now, which is great! It's a pure underground film, rammed with claustrophobia."[2]
Recording
The album was written and recorded with the aid of two portable eight-track recording studios at the band's Chalk Farm rehearsal rooms.[2] The entire album was written and recorded in two months and mixed an additional month.[2] On their cover of "Motorhead", Gillespie sung the first verse through a Darth Vader mask.[3] According to an article, much of the album came from live improvisation and, "Then later on we'd layer other sounds and loops over the top, and the vocals," Gillespie said in an interview.[3] The track "If They Move, Kill 'Em" was originally to have included a sample from Sam Peckinpah's film The Wild Bunch (the song title is one of the earliest lines of dialogue spoken in the film), but it could not be cleared in time.[3]
Vanishing Point received positive reviews from critics, who welcomed it as a return to form after 1994's Give Out But Don't Give Up.[citation needed]NME named it the 4th best album of 1997.[14] In 2012, NME journalist Mark Beaumont ranked it as the band's fourth best album, calling it "a brilliant record for its statement of intent alone – it stamped in stone Primal Scream's mandate to never repeat themselves and consistently indulge their experimental spirit".[15] The album was also included in 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[16]
