Review Summary: Primus continues their descent into craziness.
Primus is a fairly well known band, not to say they are a successful mainstream rock band actually they are far from it. This band is so odd that when you pop in one of their cds in on iTunes the genre they are placed in is “Primus”. They are often labeled as metal, but they are much more than your typical run of the mill metal band. Fronted by Les Claypool, Primus are on a quest to make you feel a little…. Funny.
The first about 20 seconds of this record is about the only section of this album you could consider normal. Right when Claypool starts up his trademark slap bass assault, and his extremely odd voice seeps out of your speakers you should get a good idea if you’re going to like this at all. Speaking of Claypool’s playing style it is indeed some of the best bass playing to ever grace my ears and I’m sure many others would agree. The bass is almost always in the forefront though, but that’s not to say the guitarist just stands round like he is being held up by a gang of puppies. No sir, there are some pretty awesome riffs on “Frizzle Fry”, the tone is very thick and funky.
Now in regards to the vocals I can’t stress how inaccessible they are at first, but once you get used to them, if you can they are very fitting to the odd music and nonsensical lyrics. Claypool takes the time to enunciate every word, with him doing this in his hillbilly voice comes off a little well, funky but who cares you’re in the world of Primus everything normal went out the window when the album started playing. Every song on the record falls into a groove almost immediately, typically there are quite a few tempo changes, not enough to be mind boggling or anything but enough to keep everything fresh and interesting.
So about those lyrics, it seems as though Claypool was on an acid trip when he wrote them. On future releases most songs had a theme or story they followed, on “Frizzle Fry” it seems like he just kind of winged it, this is most noticeable on “Too Many Puppies”, and “Pudding Time” both of which are fun songs, actually some of the best on the album, but definitely not the most intelligent. Just don’t pop this in expecting some sort of lyrical genius, unless your consider songs about dogs that weild guns genius this is the wrong place to look for it.
The album has very many memorable moments; my personal favorite moment on the whole album is the odd bass riff on “The Toys Go Winding Down”. The song mentioned before is also one of the only songs that doesn’t come off as cheerful and fun, and it is the closest thing you’ll get to metal on this record and in their whole discography to be honest. The slowest track on the record is “Hello Skinny/Constantinople” and it showcases another side of the beast that is Primus.
Overall I’m giving this a 4.5 out of 5. One thing about Primus is no one can argue they aren’t unique, or the fact that they are bringing something new, or very different at the least to the table. The bottom line is that I believe anyone with an open mind can at least find something they respect about this record, I’m not saying in anyway you’re going to have some sort of epiphany and start listen to it religiously, but if one can’t find something worthwhile on this album you clearly came in expecting this to suck. Everyone should check this out or at least one of their albums, this is the best place to start though.
