Primus Albums (8)
What The Critics Say
On the surface, all Primus albums seem to sound alike, especially to outsiders (read: anyone who either respects the group but doesn't get them, or the minority that actively hates them, particularly Les Claypool's demented comedy schtick). That's not really true, even if the same basic elements remain in place each time, no matter who is in the band. And Primus has never tried to shake things up as much as they do on their seventh album, AntiPop. Primus enlisted a dizzying array of collaborators -- Stewart Copeland, Tom Waits, James Hetfield, Tom Morello, Jim Martin, Matt Stone, Martina, and Fred Durst among them -- all in the purpose of challenging themselves to find different dimensions to its music. Some play or sing, some produce, but it's amazing how much each individual guest changes the tone of the music. It's not always for the best, but it keeps things fresh, if not necessarily coherent. Though there are a couple of good lyrics here, this is by and large an album about music; it would have been even better if it had been primarily an instrumental album, actually, since the vocals get in the way occasionally. By now, the popping bass, dissonance, and angular riffs don't seem like schtick, but the lyrics and singing do. Still, it's possible to get past those and hear AntiPop as one of Primus' most ambitious and best efforts. No, they're not always successful, but no two songs sound the same, and some collaborations are among the best things Primus has ever recorded. AntiPop is dense music that isn't afraid to be goofy or fall on its face -- and even if it's not to your particular taste, it's hard not to respect this. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Rhinoplasty? Call it Miscellaneous Debris, Pt. 2. An EP of covers and live cuts designed to buy time between albums, Rhinoplasty is another small treasure for fans. When Primus covers songs, it rarely sticks to the original recorded versions, preferring to turn in new, sometimes startling arrangements that are often unpredictable. If the band hasn't chosen any surprising covers -- there are more Peter Gabriel and XTC tunes, as well as Police, Stanley Clarke, Metallica, and Jerry Reed songs, plus a new version of their own "Too Many Puppies" -- it makes up for it with great performances. Rhinoplasty is certainly an EP intended for the dedicated, but it does the most important thing any specialist release can do -- it doesn't disappoint. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The replacement of drummer Tim "Herb" Alexander with Brian "Brain" Mantia doesn't affect Primus' sound in any notable way on The Brown Album. That isn't surprising -- Les Claypool's side project Sausage sounds identical to Primus. What's notable about The Brown Album is how Claypool moves Primus even further into progressive and jazz-rock territory, concentrating entirely on the instrumental interplay of the group and caring very little for writing full-fledged songs. "Shake Hands With Beef," the first single from the album, has a reasonably amusing adolescent lyric, but the real attraction of the song is how its thunderous bass riff weaves in and out with the syncopated drums and avant guitar. In that sense, it does let the listener know what the album is about, and very few Primus fans should be disappointed by what The Brown Album delivers. It's standard Primus -- all instrumental interplay and adolescent humor -- but it's delivered with more finesse and skill than ever. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
'Tales From the Punchbowl'
Release Date 1/1/1995
Tracks 13
Label Interscope
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
By now, Primus' modus operandi is clear and well-established: twisted bass/drum grooves reminiscent of King Crimson gone horribly, horribly wrong, insane ringmaster vocals with cartoonish lyrics, and cutting, off-the-wall guitar. There is much unabashed prog rock in Primus' sound, which even the thick dollops of irony that the band seeks to impart to its compositions are unable to mask completely. Primus' musicianship continues to improve, with the intonation of Les Claypool's trademark fretless bass (a sore spot in the past) more spot-on than ever, and guitarist Larry LaLonde's Fripp-isms are truly convincing for the first time. The funk influences that have always been hinted at on previous Primus records seem more convincing here, as Claypool and drummer Tim "Herb" Alexander lay down some extremely grooving figures, as on the Red Hot Chili Peppers-esque "chorus" to "Mrs. Blaileen." Of course, the high-energy angular rhythms that Primus is known and loved for are as present as ever; they are just pulled off with greater zest and looser precision (if there is such a thing) than they have in the past. LaLonde in particular seems to have improved a great deal between Pork Soda and Tales From the Punchbowl. His dissonances seem a bit more calculated and less gratuitous and lazy than they often came off before. With high energy and full of surprises, Tales From the Punchbowl is one of Primus' finer discs. ~ Daniel Gioffre, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Once audiences got a chance to hear Primus' instantly recognizable sound, driven by Les Claypool's bizarrely virtuosic bass riffs, their audience grew by leaps and bounds. It was enough to make their second major-label album, Pork Soda, one of the strangest records ever to debut in the Top Ten. Stylistically, it isn't much different from Sailing the Seas of Cheese, though the band does stretch out and jam more often. This can result in some overly repetitive sections, since Claypool's riffs are the basis for most of the compositions, but it also showcases the band's ever-increasing level of musicianship. Their ensemble interplay continues to grow in complexity and musicality, and that's really what fans want from a Primus record anyway. The material isn't quite as consistent as Seas of Cheese, though there are numerous high points; among them are "My Name Is Mud," on which Claypool plays his instrument like percussion, and "Mr. Krinkle," where he switches to a bowed upright bass. There are hints of lyrical darkness stripped of the band's usual goofiness (especially in the suicide lament "Bob"), but for the most part, the humor is again split between eccentric character sketches, cheery paranoia, and annoying novelties (with a slightly higher percentage of the latter than before). Still, despite occasional flaws, what makes Pork Soda a success is that the band keeps finding novel variations on their signature sound, even if they never step out of it. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide
'Sailing the Seas of Cheese'
Release Date 1/1/1991
Tracks 13
Label Interscope
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
The first Primus album to achieve much widespread airplay (thanks to its release on a major), and the one that broke them on MTV, Sailing the Seas of Cheese completely redefined the possibilities of the electric bass in rock music for those who'd never heard the group before. Slapping like a funk player, but strumming power chords and finger-tapping like a metal guitar hero, Les Claypool coaxed sounds from his instrument that had rarely if ever been made the focus of a rock band. Claypool's riffs were so full and dominant that they hardly needed to be doubled by guitarist Larry LaLonde (and wouldn't have had the same effect anyway), which freed him up on most songs to launch into dissonant, atonal solos that essentially functioned as texture, complementing Claypool's oddly whimsical sense of melody. The combination results in a weird atmosphere that could be transformed into something dark or eerie, but Claypool's thin, nasal voice and demented blue-collar persona place the record firmly in the realm of the cheerfully bizarre. The compositions are mostly riff-driven, fleshing out their heavy metal roots with prog rock tricks from Rush and Frank Zappa, as well as the novelty side of Zappa's sense of humor. The willful goofiness may alienate some listeners, but it can also obscure some genuinely dark humor, and it never detracts from the band's frequently stunning musicianship. Somewhat analogous to jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, Claypool hasn't inspired many direct imitators because of his tremendous feats of dexterity. But his stature as a virtuoso able to take his instrument into previously undreamed-of realms is without question. Though Sailing the Seas of Cheese tones down Primus' penchant for jamming, it's the tightest, most song-oriented representation of their jaw-dropping, one-of-a-kind style. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Primus' first studio album wouldn't necessarily be a surprise to anyone familiar with their Suck on This days, not least because a good chunk of that album ended up being represented here. Not that this was surprising, but what was pleasant was how well and easily the at-once frenetic and extremely precise way the trio had around its spastic rhythms, translated into a great effort away from the stage. Certainly the fact that Les Claypool had once tried out for Metallica was clear enough with the doomy metal opening of "To Defy the Laws of Tradition," but once Claypool started singing about brides choosing colors other than white for marriages, the band's own world came to the fore. It's pretty easy to see in retrospect how much of a melange went into the group's work. Nods but thankfully few outright steals to everything from Frank Zappa's arch humor and Funkadelic's sprawl to the Police's early, spare effectiveness crop up and, indeed, so does plenty of Metallica (the title track's extreme climax in particular). But whether it's due to Claypool's reedy, whacked-out voice or the fact that just about every song seems like it could be a soundtrack to a moshpit gone wild, something about Frizzle Fry is ultimately and perfectly of its time and place. The tightly wired and wound lope of "John the Fisherman" probably remains the most concentrated blast of them all, but nods should also go to the grinding march/stomp "Too Many Puppies," with its wry and worried vision of an overcrowded future, and the equally slow death crunch of "The Toys Go Winding Down." Then there's the already established live fave "Pudding Time," which is one of the goofiest anti-celebrations of consumer culture around; and all the better for it. ~ Ned Raggett, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The first Primus album was actually a fairly canny way for the band to get itself recorded -- like a number of other acts from the late '80s and after, the trio decided to simply record a couple of live shows for its debut. This has the advantage of not only demonstrating Primus' undeniable live flair for art/prog rock/funk of its own devising, but capturing an already rabid fan base getting off on it big-time. That said, a good chunk of the album ended up in studio form on Frizzle Fry the following year, so aside from hyperfans Suck on This is going to be a bit of a secondary listen, though many of those same fans would claim it as the superior release. Certainly the band is flat-out throughout, its tempo-shifting riffing and Funkadelic-meets-Rush rhythm explosions benefiting from a fairly crisp recording. The downside is that Les Claypool's voice is sometimes searching for breath or a touch buried in the mix, though -- songs like the merry grind of "John the Fisherman" and "Harold of the Rocks" suffer a little for it. Still, anyone who likes the Zappa/Beefheart goofy voice approach Claypool is fond of will be perfectly happy with his nutty lip-flapping on songs like "Groundhog's Day" and "Pudding Time." The highlight is probably "Tommy the Cat," an early favorite that didn't surface in the studio until Sailing the Seas of Cheese. Here, sans Tom Waits cameo, it's a rollicking explosion of beatnik rant and spastic lust, while the band makes one hell of a righteous noise unto the heavens. Various stage-patter snippets and other odd moments -- at one point Claypool cheerily asks the crowd to proclaim Larry Lalonde a bastard, while elsewhere the band's slogan "We're Primus and we suck" takes a bow -- fill out the disc. ~ Ned Raggett, All Music Guide
