REVIEWS:
Primus is quite the odd little band. The focus is almost entirely on lead singer Les Claypool's bass, but their music isn't funky at all. It's dissonant, strange and jumpy, so it should at least be a LITTLE funky, but it isn't. Let me try to describe the Primus sound - Les Claypool plinks and plonks on his fretless bass and sings about random stuff in a cartoon voice, Tim Alexander (or new drummer Brian Mantea) plays odd, syncopated beats, and Larry LaLonde makes weird, squealing noises with his guitar in the background. I guess you'd have to hear it. Anyway, the group released 2 independant records, neither of which gathered much attention. After moving to Interscope records, they released Sailing The Seas Of Cheese, which was a moderate hit and even eventually went gold. After 2 more similar sounding albums, Tim Alexander left, leaving drummer Brian Mantea to take his place. On the follow up, The Brown Album, the beats were a little harder, but the sound basically remained unchanged. Primus continue to groove on in their little niche, releasing albums every now and then.
--Philip Maddox
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(reviewed by Philip Maddox)
Primus' big breakthrough album doesn't really sound different from their earlier, independent stuff. In fact, it doesn't sound different at all. Les still plonks along, Tim still plays weird beats, and Larry still makes squaling noises on his guitar. The style is a bit inaccesable, but it does have its moments, which this album has in spades. The single "Jerry Was A Race Car Driver" is the best of the lot, featuring a totally awesome, booming bass riff and a hilarious vocal delivery (Les never sounded goofier). "Tommy The Cat", featuring Tom Waits on guest vocals, packs a wallop, too, featuring lots of awesome bass runs and such. Darker fare, like the dark-side-of-life tale of "American Life" or the grinding "Eleven" (in 11/4 time, of all things) basically have the same basic sound, but are in a darker sounding key and feature less goofy lyrics.
Gosh, it's hard to find a lot to say about this album, because every song sounds exactly the same and once you've described the basic Primus sound, it's hard to variate from it. Oh, here's something - Primus can write some damn good songs, but when they write a bad song in their particular style, it tends to suck BAD. The 7-minute "Fish On" drags on and on and on and on and on and one and... well, you get the point. But really, it's the only one on this album that does that, so you should feel free to give this a lesson. It's unique, catchy, consistent, and extremely well played (Les Claypool is my second favorite bass player, behind John Entwistle of the Who). Pick this up. You don't really need any more Primus, though. Buy one and you've got 'em all.
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(reviewed by Philip Maddox)
Same old same old. Primus doesn't sound any different here than they ever did. All I can really do is describe some highlights and lowlights. OK, here goes - the opening "Professor Nutbutter's House Of Treats" is a metallic bassfest, and actually manages to earn its 7 minute length by grooving along extremely well. Primus' biggest hit single, "Winona's Big Brown Beaver" is here, and it delivers good, standard Primus (it's basically "Jerry Was A Race Car Driver" with new lyrics, but who cares?). "Glass Sandwich" is a slow, menacing number (well, as menacing as helium voiced Les Claypool can pull off). "Mrs. Blaileen" features some (gasp!) excellent basswork and a memorable, weird groove. Finally, "De Anza Jig", which really sounds like a whiskey jug played hootenany, is loads and loads of fun, and actually sounds different enough to stand out. The problem here is that a lot of the remaining songs sound a lot like that boring one on Sailing. Numbers like "Southbound Pachyderm", "Del Davis' Tree Farm", "On The Tweek Again", "Year Of The Parrot", and a bunch of others simply don't go anywhere. You're much better off with another Primus album.
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[email protected] (Shaun Downton)
I have to really disagree bout the albums sounding the same. The first 3 maybe.. but after there they each had theyre own sound.
(reviewed by Philip Maddox)
A total stylistic change! Well, not really. But that phrase got your attention, didn't it? Anyway, this is another identical sounding Primus album. Brian replacing Tim on drums barely changed the sound at all. It IS an improvement over Punchbowl, however, as none of these songs drag on endlessly. Your typical Primus highlights are here - semi-funky distorted bass on "Shake Hands With Beef", "The Chastising Of Renegade", "Golden Boy", and "The Return Of Sathington Willoughby", Primus style chunkiness on "Puddin' Taine", "Over The Falls", and "Hats Off", blah blah blah, yadda yadda yadda. But wait! A few of these songs actually sound a little different! "Camelback Cinema" and "Kalamazoo" feature some distorted, blazing guitar that's never been featured on a Primus track before! And hey, that drummer actually does affect some of the songs - not a lot, mind you, but he does affect them. The drums on "Puddin' Taine" are particularly cool. This album does still suffer from your typically boring Primus songs (the idiotic "Arnie", "Restin' Bones", and a couple of others) that make it less good than Cheese, but it's still a decent listen. If you absolutely fell in love with Cheese, this is a good one to buy next.
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Personally I feel that Tim's departure really did change the sound of the band. "Brain" as he apprently likes to be called is simply not as good a fit for the band. He's a straight ahead skin basher---you know, the generic 4/4 power drummer. Tim's Neil Peart inspired drumming made the band far more interesting than they had a right to be, and man does that show on this release after his departure. Thanks to the plodding drumming of brain, a lot of this album is a snoozefest. I miss Tim (sniff).
Oh yeah, "Golden Boy" is a great tune that escapes Brain's less than adequate touch rather unscathed. Although I'm sure Tim would have made it even better.