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Primus sucks! Once upon a time, in 1984, mild-mannered Californian Les Claypool wanted to put a band together. After about 1,000 lineup changes, the first incarnation of Primus as we truly know it was stabilized. Les Claypool on vocals and bass, Larry LaLonde (of Possessed, the first ever death metal band!) on “lead” guitar, and Tim “Herb” Alexander on drums. The band’s vision and progression was largely funded by Claypool’s father in the early days, but eventually these guttersnipes made it big and, now, Primus is an important band in the development of ’90s funk metal, for better or for worse. Claypool’s signature clown voice and bass virtuosity steal the show often and unapologetically, but LaLonde and “Herb” ain’t slouches either. Far from it. It’s clear that pure talent is required to make Primus’ unimitated, unduplicated sound work, and they succeeded in spades! If any element was askew, no one would probably have ever known these guys. That’s a fact, Jack.
The above band photo is also my all-time favorite band photo in history. It’s simply perfect.
JUMP TO:
(1990) Frizzle Fry
(1991) Sailing the Seas of Cheese
(1993) Pork Soda
(1995) Tales from the Punchbowl
Frizzle Fry (1990) – Rating: 9/10
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First studio album Frizzle Fry isn’t even Primus’ first release. Their live album Suck on This was released a year earlier in 1989. Five tracks from their live sets were rehashed for the studio, five brand new songs were written and recorded, and there are also two little vignettes and a reprise. And there you have Frizzle Fry.
Excellent debut, at any rate! Their approach to mixing was, uhm, unique. Claypool’s bass is front and center and LOUD while LaLonde sounds like he’s shredding his guitar next door. Tim “Herb” “Frank” “Butch” Alexander goes nuts with the drums. Funky bass, thrashy guitar, and jazz drumming, all three members are constantly doing something interesting. Add in Claypool’s extremely goofy, high-pitched drawl and this album is unlike anything, and I mean anything, that has come before it. The band wears their influences on their sleeves (Claypool’s big influence was Rush, LaLonde’s was King Crimson and Joe Satriani), and the way they were able to make such disparate styles work together is amazing. It sounds like it shouldn’t work, it CAN’T work, but it does. Frizzle Fry is truly a miasma of funk, punk, jazz, and progressive alternative rock/metal.
This album contains the most clear-cut melodies and the least avantgarde playing, at least from Claypool, of the first three classic Primus records. All of the songs have distinct personalities dictated by the distinct basslines. LaLonde is sawing his guitar in half in the background for most of this record, but you won’t even really notice that much unless you yourself are a lead guitar player kind of person, in which case you’ll be a little bit annoyed. But fuck you.
Highlights are everywhere. The incredible opener “To Defy the Laws of Tradition” couldn’t be a more perfect start to the album, and it can be mind-blowing for the uninitiated. Don’t forget, this was the year songs like Phil Collins’ “Another Day in Paradise” and Billy Idol’s “Cradle of Love” were topping the charts. Most tracks are great; “Groundhog Day”, “Too Many Puppies”, “Mr. Knowitall”, “John the Fisherman”, “The Toys Go Winding Down”, and “Harold of the Rocks” are indispensable. There’s a little lull with the small vignette pieces, and “Spegetti Western”, albeit hilarious (“I like spaghetti westerns/I like the way the boots are all reverbed out/Walking across the hardwood floors“), it runs a little too long.
Also, Les Claypool isn’t as good at the bass yet as he will be, so it ain’t a perfect album. BUT, this is easily my favorite of the first three records any day of the goddamned week!
Sailing the Seas of Cheese (1991) – Rating: 8/10
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This album is hailed as a classic, but don’t expect anything life-changing, or blissfully cathartic, or profound. It’s just fun music! Primus have upped the ante on their second album, and I’m sure money had a lot to do with it. The band has money now, this is a major-label debut on Interscope! Interscope Records! Lady Gaga! Billie Eilish! Maroon 5! Eww.
A lot of Sailing the Seas of Cheese is familiar territory: Claypool’s bass, strange lyrics, goofy singing, LaLonde’s fuzzy Robert Fripp-like guitar playing. The difference now is the bass parts are observably more technical, with frenzied workouts that often sound like Claypool is whacking the neck more often than not. Sometimes it doesn’t even sound like bass! While the bass on Frizzle Fry serves mostly to add heaviness to the funky beats, the bass on Sailing the Seas of Cheese serves mostly to just show off Claypool’s mastery of the instrument. Not a bad thing, he’s very good, and his playing style is quite original and interesting, to say the least. Everything whizzes by so fast, though, that the melodies themselves get lost in the whirlwind at times.
Blah blah blah bass bass bass bass bass. This stuff rules hard, ’nuff said! Highlights include the weirdo waltz of “Here Come the Bastards”, the grating herky-jerky “Is It Luck?” (which also displays Claypool’s lightning quick vocal delivery; I love the “No no-no-no no-no no-no no-no-no no-no no-no no-no-no!” during the bridge), and, obviously, the classic “Jerry Was a Race Car Driver”, which you may have heard for the first time on the first Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater video game if you were a skuzzy skankin’ kid in the late ’90s like I was! “Tommy the Cat” even has guest vocals by Tom Waits! The last two big epics, “Those Damned Blue-Collar Tweekers” and “Fish On” hearken back to the slow Frizzle Fry grooves.
So, yeah, my only issue then is that the extra virtuosity = sameiness. It’s my problem with Pork Soda too. But, hey, I love throwing this on once in a while. I just don’t do it that often.
Pork Soda (1993) – Rating: 8/10
No Full Album Review Yet
As if it were even possible, the band gets even more esoteric with their sound. Pork Soda represents the limit to which Primus could have progressed on this path (well, I’m assuming, only because it never progressed further than this in reality). If Frizzle Fry was the band’s exercise in funky accessibility, and Sailing the Seas of Cheese was the band’s exercise in melodic virtuosity, then Pork Soda is the band’s exercise in avantgarde technicality. It could’ve even gotten more avantgarde than this, honestly. If only!
Claypool’s bass gets even more staccato and stompy. LaLonde’s guitar gets even more scrape-y and sludgy. Herb pummels and plods along on his kit. The culmination of all this happens on the 8-minute jam “Hamburger Train”, in which the band essentially freaks out for a while. But before we get to that, we have song after song of demented, unhinged melodies driven by carnival horror basslines! Extra virtuosity = sameiness yet again, and lot of these melodies leave your brain when you’re done listening, but a lot of this is so unique and entertaining in the moment that’s it’s a wash. At least it is for me. Highlights include “My Name is Mud”, which was a fairly successful single that peaked at Billboard’s #9, “DMV”, an anxious and hammering ode to the soul-crushing banality of an errand at the DMV, and “Mr. Kinkle”, with its psychedelic breakdowns and crunchy riffs.
This is Primus at its most musically inaccessible. Even once you acquire the taste, it’s hard to handle too much of this music in one big session. Get high and break it up into chunks, my dudes! Lose yourself in the mess that is “Hamburger Train”. Treat yourself one in a while.
Tales from the Punchbowl (1995) – Rating: 8/10
No Full Album Review Yet
Often overlooked compared with what has been released thus far. This album is every bit as worthy as the Holy Trinity, as it were, that comprises the first three albums. What makes Tales from the Punchbowl polarizing for fans is that the “weirdness” is starting to seem a little more, well, normal. It’s almost like Claypool made a decision to focus less on bass gymnastics and more on songwriting. Some prefer bass gymnastics at the forefront with their Primus, but this album is full of varied and good songs, so if the songs are good then who gives a shit, says I?
The melodies and guitar-work are still as looney as ever, proving that Claypool, LaLonde, and Herb as a unit are still near-unstoppable when it comes to churning out the goods. Not anymore, though, does the band’s sound seem hazy and messy. There’s a focus and a tightness hitherto unknown since the days of Frizzle Fry, but I think this record suffers from being a bit too long and from the slight lull in the middle. There are some really kickass tracks here to make up for whatever problems I might have, such as the one the band’s biggest hits and most well-known songs “Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver” (which is, reportedly, not about Winona Ryder and her big brown beaver so stop talking about Winona Ryder and her big brown beaver, this song is about some other Wynona with a big brown beaver and not about Winona Ryder and her big brown beaver, thank you very much), and the irresistibly eerie, downtempo groove of the anti-poaching anthem “Southbound Pachyderm”. And, of course, “Professor Nutbutter’s House of Treats” kicks the album off proper with a 7-minute ode to some twisted Willy Wonka figure.
This would be the last album with Herb on the drums until 2014, and his departure was described as somewhat bittersweet and tense for the band at the time. He gives it his all on Tales from the Punchbowl as his swansong, and his incredibly tight jazz drumming style will be missed. Don’t sleep on this one, friends.
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