Primus and Les Claypool's side Projects and Solo stuff: Sausage, Oysterhead, Frog Brigade, Bucket of Brains and The Duo de Twang complete Discography

Primus
Suck on This (1989)

Genre:  Alternative Metal, Funk Metal

 Les Claypool pretty much redefines on this album the role of bass players in a rock/metal band, instead of Flea's bass humping your face approach it's more like bass punching your face jajajaja, and for me a bass player that's just fantastic, and Larry LaLonde guitars and Tim Alexander both already have a very particular and technical styles of playing setting primus apart from any other band of their time.

 Les's voice and singing style is somewhat an acquired taste but his lyrics are funny as hell. This album is recorded live and some of the songs are not totally finished because when they are progressively put out on studio records they do have a couple of modifications.

Overall: 60.6

Primus

Frizzly Fry (1990)

Genre:  Alternative Metal, Funk Metal


A limited progression from Suck On This, because the band mostly focused on finishing and rounding out the material that they had from their live album for the studio, but there is a fair share of new material for Frizzle. All the songs off this album are Primus classics and it has a couple of Holy Shit moments of musical brilliance and heaviness like on my favorite track Mr. Know It All on Spaghetti Western.  And something that got to mention even though Larry always is under Les's insane bass playing shadow, he's one hell of a guitar player he really gets to show his stuff on this album and he's freaking versatile player.

Overall: 60.3

Primus

Sailing the Seas of Cheese (1991)

Genre: Alternative Metal, Funk Metal, Experimental Rock, Progressive Rock, Hardcore Punk Funk
The first time I ever heard Primus in my life was on the Woodstock 1994 CD where they play Those Damned Blue-Collar Tweekers, and I was a fledgling bass player and it  blew me away he did stuff on that live track that I didn't know you could do on the bass, and the fact of having the bass in the forefront of the band just seemed cool as hell for me.  
Now on this album, the band just dives head first into their own sound and style being very experimental and unorthodox in the way they write songs, but at the same time writing surprising accessible songs.  More experimental with odd chord and note progressions like Jerry Was a Race Car Driver, which nothing on that song should work jajajajaja, but Les pulls it off, and holy shit the Chorus is probably the heaviest thing I've ever heard. "Is It Luck" is an insane hardcore punk funk track which I've never heard anything like it and Tommy the Cat sound like a Bass Slap orgasm. Less expands on his bass playing style adding to his trademark style slapping, typing on Jerry and even melody like on Fish On. Larry experiments with guitar pedals  And Tommy the Cat has the guest vocals of Tom Waits. What can I say this album is incredible.


Overall: 61.8

Sausage

Riddles are Abound Tonight (1994)

Genre: Alternative Rock/Metal, Funk Rock/Metal

Ok today I bring you guys one of Les Claypools side projects from the mid 90's Sausage, which actually is Primus’s first lineup with Jay Lane on drums and Todd Huth on Guitar. "Riddles are Abound Tonight"  is their first and only album and it isn’t that good compared to Primus, Les’s singing and Lyrics are just not up to par, Huth’s guitar work isn't that interesting compared Larry Lalonde’s (Primus), but I must say Les and Lane really have some really good grooves on a of tracks. So as a conclusion   this production is probably is only for dies Les Claypool fans,  for the rest stay away. 

Overall:  41.5

 Primus

Tales From the Punch Bowl (1995)

Genre:  Alternative Metal/Rock, Progressive Rock, Experimental Rock

Even though this album is solid as hell, with an impressive track list you do get the feeling that the band is sort of running out of steam and fresh ideas, and this is the last album with Tim Alexander on the drums.
Overall: 57.1

 Primus

 Brown Album (1997)

Genre: Alternative Metal, Funk Metal, Experimental Rock, Progressive Rock, Hardcore Punk Funk

So Les tries to change things up in this album with the band's sound and production, the album feels more organic, more acoustic instruments are played like an upright bass acoustic guitar and the band sounds like they were recorded all together in a bar or some kind of room with wooden walls, nuch less metal to their sound. Tim is replaced with Bryan the Brain Mantia (Praxis, Guns N' Roses, Bootsy Collins...) and he has a particular drums style that kicks ass and accommodates well with the Primus style. But lyrical and instrumental even though Les and the band do a good job creatively there isn't anything too incredible, they are running out of zany ideas and there are at least 3 or 4 fillers on this album.
But I got to say I love this album anyways because it was the first Primus album I ever had, I got it off a mail catalogue, but when it arrived the asshole at the music store keeped the original and gave me a copy, jajajajaja, the thing I listen to the hell out of that album.

 Overall: 53.6

Oysterhead

The Gran Pecking Order (2001)

Genre: Alternative Rock, Funk, Alternative Funk, Experimental Rock, Jazz Rock

Being a Primus fan I stumbled onto this side project that Les Claypool had with Trey Anastasio, from Phish and Stewart Copeland from Police. This album is mind blowingly good and it's a great introductory album to jump into to the world of Phish, Primus or any of Les’s other projects.

Vocals and Lyrics: Vocally Trey and Les work really well together and their lyrics at moments are funny as hell 10

Instrumentation: 

Guitar: Trey is a formidable guitar player; his solos are great and he does a bunch of weird stuff with pedal effects.

Bass: Les plays more like he does on his solo projects a lot more funkier and less muscular.

Drums: Stewart’s trade mark drumming  are just perfect for these songs and he uses  percussion in a experimental way giving the song a very original feel. 9

Melody and/or Structure: The songs have a basic pop structure in general, but melody wise Trey brings a lot to the table. 10 

Sound, Production and Feeling: The Album sounds fantastic with a whimsical feeling, with all kinds of trippy effects floating around in the production. 10 

Songs: Even though they are super band the album is really solid at each track is great. 12

Originality:  This Album is a high point for  Les in the 2000's after this none of his solo stuff has this level of quality  10  

Overall:  61

Les Claypool Frog Brigade

Purple Onion (2002)

Genre: Alternative Rock/Pop, Alternative Funk, Experimental Rock

So here we go with Les Claypool’s first solo effort, and it’s pretty much Les’s oddness and bizarrefulness running loose and unfiltered. This album like most of his future solo stuff is less heavy compared to Primus and he experiments with different styles and genres, album does lose focus at moments but overall it’s a enjoyable experience in general.

Vocals and Lyrics: Les’s vocal style and lyrics are pretty much the same as the stuff  that he has done with Primus, which is telling stories that are fun, but Mr. Claypool tries to be more provocative at moments in this produccion. 8

Instrumentation:

Guitar: Eenor does a good job on guitar but the album predictably isn’t guitar driven, but there are some nice solo on his behalf on couple tracks.

Bass: Les’s bass playing as usual is top notch, he use more trippy effects and Les introduces to the world his crazy new instrument the Whamola,  also as a little treat on  “D’s  Dinner” has three Bass Players with Norwood Fisher ( Fishbone) and Lonnie Marshall.

Drums and Percussion: Jay Lane, along time Claypool associate (Sausage and the Holy Makarele)  does a great job and we have  Fish Fisher (Fishbone) as a guest on the “Whamola” track. On percussion we have Mike Dillion  and he plays a couple of instruments  from the vibraphone, marimba, Tabla baya…he’s pretty active in the album.

Saxophone: Sherik Sax sounds like an angry T Rex at moments, it bring an odd heavy element to some of the song.10

 

Melody and/or Structure: Les is able is able to keep things interesting on a structure level, but most of the songs are just excuses to Jam and let loose on the instruments.   8 

Sound, Production and Feeling: The album sounds great and Les’s production does a good job at setting the mood. 9

Songs: The whole album is great but it doesn’t start that strong it get much better as it progresses.  12

The Bad: 

Originality: Les tries really hard to differentiate his solo stuff from Primus, but the apple doesn’t fall to far from the tree. 8  

Overall:  57

Colonel Claypool’s Bucket of Bernie Brains or I call them Praxis + 1

Great Big Eyeball in the Sky (2004)

Genre: Funk Metal, Funk Rock, Experimental Rock

When I discovered that Buckethead, Brain and Bernie Worrell (Praxis), joined forces with Les Claypool to make a band, I really jumped in joy thinking that Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis) II wouldn’t be too far down the line, but to my surprise the Great Big Eyeball the album they made together doesn’t go in that direction but more in jam band funk rock/metal extravaganza, so here we go with my brief review: 

Vocals and Lyrics: Les just repeats too many thymes that he’s already worked on other project but to his credit he actually tries to be more provocative at moments and I love Gabby La La’s backing vocals on two tracks. 8

Instrumentation:  

Guitar: Buckethead is as versatile ever, he really shows off how flexible of guitar player he is using a large arsenal of guitar playing styles and his solo playing is on a guitar god level.

Bass: Les’s sick slapping is just fantastic just playing off Buckethead’s craziness; use a fretless bass during most of the album.

Drums:  Brain is one of my favorite drummers and I love his chemistry with Les.

Keyboards: Wow it’s one of Bernie’s Worrell’s best performances; he really lets loose at moments and he uses all of his classic Funkadelic sounds.  9.6  

Melody and/or Structure: Most of the tracks are songs born from  jam sessions while some songs are just straight up jams, so the structures are pretty basic. 8

Sound, Production and Feeling: The album sound good in general but nothing out of the ordinary.  8 

Songs: Album oscillates between songs and jams. 10

The Bad: Oh man “Junior” is just a terrible track why did they leave this track on the album. -1

Originality: It’s a good introductory album to get into Praxis or any of Les’s projects. 9

Overall:  51.6 

Les Claypool

Of Whales of Woe/WW (2006) and Of Fungi and Foe/FF (2009)

Genre: Experimental Rock, Alternative Rock, Alternative Funk

So I’m back today with a double whammy, 2 back to back solo albums from bass bad ass Les Claypool,

here we can see the tendency of Les's to dive deeper into his bizarre carton world, but the bad thing is that as the material progresses from one album to the other the songs are not that good, the songs in general just aren’t there. Whales does have some great songs but with a ton of throw always, while Fungi is just isn’t up to par for a guy of this caliber.

Vocals and Lyrics: Lyrically Les is running out of ideas, he normally tells funny stories but he starts to revisit one too many old  themes and from Whales to Fungi it gets worse WW 7 FF 6

Instrumentation:  

Guitar:  Very little guitar on both albums and Les play most of them.

Bass: Les play much more bass on Whale’s compared to his previous album Purple Onion and some of the bass lines are just fantastic like on “Rumble of the Diesel” while on Fungi there isn’t anything to interesting. 

Drums:  Les plays the drums on Whales and does a decent job; while on Fungi Paulo Baldi does the honors playing a pretty laid back style.  

Extended band: Skerik on the Sax, Gabby La La Theremin and Sitar, Mike Dillion marimba, table and other percussion this dude is a monstrous force in the album he just really rocks out on those marimbas and Skerik sax solos are super cool too. On Fungi Mike Dillion is back and he also shines in this album. WW 8.1 FF 7.8

Melody and/or Structure: Both albums seem to be inspired by jam session material that Les didn’t do much to rework into actual songs this is particularly evident in Fungi. WW 7 FF 6

 

Sound, Production and Feeling: Whales sounds good in general but Fungi’s sound and production really stands out and is the only interesting thing on the album, the album has a real dark mood to it. WW 8 FF 9

Songs: Whales has a couple of really good tracks, while Fungi is pretty mediocre, except for the “Booneville Stomp” is the only exceptional track from this album. WW 10 FF 8 

The Bad: While Whales has a couple of stinkers, Fungi is chuck filled with them. WW -1, FF -2.

Originality: Les tries to compensate the lack of good ideas on a composition level with making us jump into his bizarre world, Whales is Ok, but Fungi is pretty redundant in his catalogue.  WW 7 FF 6

Overall:  WW53.1 FF 40.8

 

Les Claypool/The Duo de Twang

Four Foot Shack (2014)

Genre: Country, Blue Grass, Alternative Rock

I always thought that Les just liked to poke fun at hillbilly culture, but this album proves that he really loves and respects Blue Grass and Country. On this album he collaborates with his pal Bryan Kehoe from M.I.R.V, and reworks songs from Primus, from Les’s solo projects and some interesting covers from Alice in Chains and the Bee Gees, giving them a Blue Grass/Country/hillbilly overhaul, infused with moonshine, being played only with Bass, Guitar and Kick Drum. This album is brilliant I really enjoyed it and its sound is super basic, but this helps you appreciate the songs more, nothing gets in the way of you being able to appreciate how very well executed each song is, so I super recommend this album, it’s one of the best stuff Les has done outside of Primus so far.

Overall: 57 

 
Claypool and Lennon Delirium
Monolith of Phobos  2016
Genre: Psychedelic Rock, Experimental Rock
 


This is a fascinating album and I'm happy to see the Sean Lennon has put Les back on track, because he had been lately lacking focus on some of his projects, it probably his best collaboration since Oysterhead. It pleasant to hear vocally this odd pair really working well together. Instrumentally it obvious the bass will be great and Les tributes Paul Mc with a Beatlelesk bass line on Mr. Wright, but I must add the work on the keys Synthesizers and the Mellowtron by Sean really evokes old school psychedelic rock. The album is short but sweet and its sounds retro and fresh at the same time, it has a happy and whimsical feel, with touches of darkness.
I must note that this album really introduced me to Sean Lennon, that is a super artist in his own right I'm actually discovering the gem of Sean's Friendly Fire while I was writing this review.

Overall: 58.5 

Primus
Primus and The Chocolate Factory  with the Fungi Ensamble (2017)
Genre: Experimental Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Progressive Rock

This album was sort of a let down for me, since it's a Primus production as a band,  I thought to my self that it was going to be a more of a straightforward rock album instead of an overly infused musical drug trip that Les has been indulging lately, I was pretty wrong, get ready for another crazy show. It a concept album centered around the Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory soundtrack, which I do not understand the cultural obsession around that movie. The mood of this album is dark as hell and Les vocally does a good job conveying an interesting mix darkness, insanity, and innocence and we get the treat of Larry Lalonde sings on a track and he does a great job. On an instrumental level, the band does a top-notch job in this voyage into crazy land, Mike Dillion work on vibraphone, marimba, and tablas, does get to shine on this album, and Tims Drums sound pretty unorthodox and have a very interesting sound. The band is able to incorporate melody into their which isn't very prevalent in any primus albums, but track wise there a couple of moments that are stinkers and even are tedious, where they overindulge in the craziness. 
 
Overall: 55

Primus

The Desaturating Seven  (2017)

Genre:  Progressive Rock

So Les and crew make their second full-on concept album, which is bizarre as hell but leaning more on their 90's style of playing,  centered more around a core band with Les finally working more complex and proggy bass lines and having Larry and Tim working around that to make interesting songs. Now the thing is that even though the concept of the album is interesting lyrically it lacks the charm and wit that Primus's earlier work had and the album is freaking short, so it's a bittersweet affair.

Overall: 57.5