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
Primus
Pork Soda
Genre: Alternative Metal, Alternative Rock, Experimental Rock
Les and company are still riding on their creative high taking their very odd brand of rock and metal deeper into their own bizarre style of playing. Even though there is much of a progression or growth for this band, this production has an impressive batch of clasic tracks like "My Name Is Mud", DMV, Bob and Mr. Krinkle. Also, the album, in general, has a pretty dark tone in its sound and in lyrics. Sadly there are a couple of fillers on this production.
Overall: 59
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
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
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)
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
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
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
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
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