Primus
REVIEWS
Suck On This( Live)
Rating: 7.5
Best Song: Tommy The Cat
Worst Song: Jellikit
Les proves he's able to replicate those awesome basslines live.
Written by Shaun Downton
Primus' First release like Jane's Addiction, was a live one. Recorded on 2/25/89 and 3/5/89 at The Berkeley Square. With the classic lineup of Les Claypool, Larry Lalonde and Tim 'Herb' Alexander.Their highly original sound was very much intact from the first song on this record, i have yet to hear a band that sounds similar to them. They did keep the sound for most material. Although most of their albums from Sailing The Seas Of Cheese onwards had their own little takes on the original Primus sound. The band make a good start to their career by playing Rush's awesome instrumental jam 'YYZ' for about 30 seconds then very smoothly moving into their own classic 'John The Fisherman'. Immediately identifying one of the bands influences, most noticeably in Herb's drumming , also i heard that Les' idol is Geddy Lee. So that all makes sense.
Out of all the nine songs only 'Jellikit' wasn't given the studio treatment on later albums. Five tunes, 'John The Fisherman', 'Pudding Time', 'Harold Of The Rocks',
'Groundhog's Day' and 'Frizzle Fry' were put on the subsequent album, Frizzle Fry. 'Tommy The Cat' reappeared on Sailing The Seas Of Cheese, 'Pressman' on Pork Soda and 'The Heckler' snuck onto Antipop as the hidden track at the end.
Well, hopefully they might do 'Jellikit' on their next studio release because it's a decent song with a very nice drum solo in the middle by Herb The Ginseng Drummer as Les names him after his solo. I also dig the primus humour like, when at the end of 'Jellikit' Les end the shows by saying "Thanks a lot, we're Primus and we suck." and when he gets the crowd to cheer "Larry, You're a bastard!!". Also the production is quite good on this and I rarely even notice it's a live album. So live album haters don't despair. Overall a good live album but maybe not the best choice for a debut. And you may not want to bother with the album at all since you can get eight of the nine songs on other studio albums anyway.
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Frizzle Fry 1990
Rating: 7
Best Song: John The Fisherman
Worst Song: Sathington Willoughby
A decent album with it's share of highlights but not a recommended first purchase.
Written by Shaun Downton
Primus' first studio effort deceivingly starts off playing
the first ten seconds of Suck On This, making it like sound like someone put
the wrong record on. It then kicks into 'To Defy The Laws Of Tradition',with
obvious lyrical matter. The song revolves around a killer bass line with exceptional
drumwork which Herb capably manages to weave around Les' fretwork and instead
of a lightning fast guitar solo they opt for some fast strumming instead,
which is refreshing after all the hair metal solos of the late 80's. The title
track starts off slow with a catchy chorus or two before it gets to one of
the highpoints of the album, a guitar solo with a bass solo behind it. The
bass completely overpowers it and stands out much more with insane virtuosity.
Getting faster and more intense, before reaching an incredible climax with
some drumming that sound mindboggling complex. This being one of the moments
that makes me realise how truly great Tim is.
And not to forget the Primus classic 'John The Fisherman', with a very memorable
chorus and of course Tim supplies a few brilliant bursts of pure awesomeness.
'The Toys Go Winding Down' features a very original and unique bassline that
I've heard nothing similar to on 300 cds worth of material. But the problem
revealed on repeated listenings is that its played for the entirety of the
song with minor variatians here and there. ' Pudding Time' has a memorable
little guitar hook throughout but other than that it's standard Primus. Also
we get the amusing tale of 'Harold Of The Rocks' with some of the best music
on the album to go along with the lyrics. Including a slowed down section
with a bluesy guitar solo reminiscent of Led Zeppelin. But thats where the
highlights seem to end.And 'You can't Kill Michael Malloy' and 'Sathington
Willoby' are silly little ditties which go for about a minute each . And to
close the album of we get a reprise of the first track called 'To Defy'.All
in all, this album has it's share of moments(mostly the title track) but it
just isn't consistent enough for me to give it a high rating.
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Sailing The Seas Of Cheese (1991)
Rating: 9
Best Song: Hard to say.
Worst Song: Los Bastardos
The first true Primus classic
Written by Shaun Downton
Primus' second studio album, their supposed breakthrough album was a thoroughly consistent event, all though not as diverse as I'd like it to be. With every song being good, it's hard to pick a favourite. And different people will give you different answers. Like a few of my friends at one point said "Fish On" was their best song, but some people like Philip Maddox and I find it to drag on a bit too much. Although I still find most of it enjoyable but i think its a notch below the rest. At some point or another, most of these songs have been my favourites, particulary "Those Damned Blue Collared Tweekers", "Tommy The Cat" and "Eleven". Also try to get the video clip of "Tommy The Cat". One of my favourite videos ever. With old black and white animation and some good shots of Les being a god on bass. So a lot more consistent than Frizzle Fry, hell I even like the 42 second intro track "Seas Of Cheese". And it has "Tommy The Cat" on it. So I'll give it a low nine.
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Miscellaneous Debris (EP 1992)
Rating 8.5
Best Song: Have A Cigar
Worst Song: Sinister Exaggerator
The first collection of Primus covers
Written by Shaun Downton
A five song collection of covers. And if there's one thing Primus do well, it's reproducing tunes and making the bass more prominent in the mix, so these songs pack that Les Claypool wallop without any of his own penned sillyness. First off is a cover of Peter Gabriel's "Intruder", which is less original, more plain but not bad, just not as good. XTC's "Making Plans For Nigel" is also covered, which is easily better than the original. The least exciting of the bunch is The Residents "Sinister Exaggerator". There's the funky lil one minute and half cover of The Meter's "Tippi Toes". But the favourite here would have to be Pink Floyd's "Have A Cigar" off of the Wish You Were Here Album. It lacks the keyboards of the original but makes up for it with the added bass beefiness. Opinions are divided are when it comes to the question of whether or not this is better than original but I happen to think it isn't but it is slightly different and enjoyable in it's own right. And Les does a respectable job of filling in the vocals. They also change some lyrics in the song, the one that I noticed is, " oh by the way, which one is pink?" to "and who the hell is this guy, they call Bob Cock". Who the hell is Bob Cock anyway? An EP with five songs and four that I really enjoy and considering it's an EP I give it an 8.5.
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PORK SODA, (1993)
Rating: 9
Best Songs- Welcome To This World
Worst Song- Hail Santa
Sounds like Les was getting into the drugs a bit more on this release.
Written by Shaun Downton
PRIMUS !! A nice little banjo played intro sets us up for a good start but then
that terrible detuned bass comes in and ruins all the fun with the minimalist,
ultra boring sound of 'My Name Is Mud'. Thankfully, the run of the next five
songs is one of the best Primus runs ever. 'Welcome, DMV, and Nature Boy' are
just great typical Primus songs and I mean they are GREAT! 'Bob' is some sort of
quirky Primus ballad, if there were ever such a thing. Les takes the spotlight
again in the song with some of his least annoying singing ever and his simple
bassline and Ler adding some nice squeals and wiggles here and there. I dig
that insane chant at the end too. 'The Ol' Diamonback Sturgeon' is the third
part in the 'Fisherman Chronicles' and succeeds where 'Fish On' failed. It
really paints a great picture of yourself sitting on a boat with a few friends
with a line over the edge, watching the sun go down. Terrific stuff.
'Wounded Knee' is a percussion instrumental which does not a lot for me but does
give a change of pace from the darkness of the album, if you prefer to listen to
your album as a whole. 'Pork Soda' has this cool ascending/descending bassline
with Les rambling softly in the mix but going acapella to yell quirky redneck
fashion "Grab yerself a cain of pork soderr" and Ler repeating some annoying
little guitar bit over the top which distracts from Tim's great drumming. 'The
Pressman' is the studio version of the song of the same name off of the Suck On
This album. I guess it's better but not by much. Half of the reason 'Mr.
Krinkle' is as great as it is, is the sound of the bass, which I'm not quite
sure how he did achieve it but it sounds like some heavy brass instrument. It's
definately not a common sound and that's what make Primus great. 'The Air Is
Getting Slippery' is a hilarious, nursey rhymeish sounding ditty with amusing
lyrics. 'The Hamburger Train' is a bass heavy instrumental which I'm not a big
fan of. The overall feel for this is a lot darker than any other Primus record.
A very original sounding album too, with about 45 minutes of great music and
some silly stuff thrown in too.
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