Primus/Pork Soda, had to dig out an old favourite.
I've also rocked some later Primus recently, Anti-Pop, Tales from the Punchbowl (good spins in their own rite),
but i don't want to talk about them, i wanna talk Pork Soda.
this came out in 1993, and it completely BLEW MY MIND!!
Man, what the fuck is going on here?!?!?!?!
I was way too young to understand what was goin on here.
...bass...
Never had i heard a bass like this, fretless, distorted, all these other effects.
The playing style?!?! just so weird, different and out there.
If I had kept on my path of Claypool worship this album started me on, i'd be pretty whigged out right now.
The bowing bit on "Pork Soda" is simultaneously hypnotic and annoying.
A re-recording of the song "The Pressman" (first heard on their live debut) churns out a nice bendy bendy riff that the dude probably made up one day while tuning.
and of course there is the oh-so-interesting SLOP of "My Name is Mud."
man, when i think about how many times i have heard somebody try to do this. just gross.
In a huge understatement, this album is covered with awesome bass work.
...guitar...
There isn't really any other guitar play to compare with Larry Lalonde.
He is doing such complicated things that really just sound like wankery.
I still can't wrap my head around this guys' style (on this or any other album he is on) but I like it.
The way he noodles around the basslines on "The Ol Diamondback Sturgeon" is just perfect.
Cut a track ahead and he is in perfect nu-metal swagger with the bass line on "Nature Boy"
(I would be first in line to admit that this generation of "rock" influenced the worst generation of "recorded material" thinkable)
There aren't really any solos or riffing, just a ton of texture coming from those guitar strings.
...drums...
Tim "Herb" Alexander is the last shove-as-many-notes musician I appreciate.
It's like dude is TRYING to make you think he is playing to much,
and, while i admit that he actually is, it seems to drop right in line where it should.
It compliments the bass just as the guitar lines do, excellent support roles.
It also helps that the dude obviously has drum chops that put him well above the level of "master" of the drum kit.
...voice/lyrics...
Nothing can be said about Les Claypool's voice to credit it that hasn't beed said before
also
Nothing can be said about Les Claypool's voice to knock it that hasn't been said before.
Like it or love it, it is what it is and it fits primus perfectly.
I mean, it's not like he's trying to pull off some Creedence Clearwater Revival or Sam Cooke golden sounding music, they are basically making loud, electric carnival music to show off what they can do with effects, polyrhythms and some damn good chops (the bonus of this, being that they pull it off pretty well becasue the songs hold up) and his near-catterwauling suits that theme just fine.
With lyrics as dark as "Bob" and "My Name as Mud" you get the sense that this guy might be a little too depressing to get along with.
With lyrics as ridiculous as "Mr Krinkle" and "DMV" you feel like you could get some doobies and draft beer and have a dance party.
Hell, a song dedicated to fishing is always gonna at least be interesting (Ol Diamondback Sturgeon).
I can pick any song on Pork Soda and my mind will automatically revisit the chamber I have buried that thinks lines like...
"a pack of mentholated cigarettes keeps my air nice and thick"
"I've been to hell I spell it...I spell it DMV"
"My genetalia and pectoral muscles aren't quite what I would like them to be"
&
"if sweatiness makes you horny, well darlin' I think you're in luck, 'cause all of this clever banter giver me the urge to F%^&"
...are brilliant
but is is the delivery that really makes it.
His voice is equal parts: whine, nose, nerd & hick.
While the lyrics are equal parts: juvenile, scholar, nerd & hick.
an equation, that in Primus' case, works out just fine.
...
having this album turn me on to their earlier, "classic" (by psuedo popular definition) albums
[Frizzle Fry, Sailing the Seas of Cheese, and their live debut Suck on This]
is one reason i am proud to have been a part of the Phase One MTV Generation (before it became a reality station, it was pretty boss).
the videos for 'Mr Krinkle' and 'My Name is Mud' were damn radical. go yuotube 'em
other things of note (for me) about this album...
- it is one of the first cassettes i just HAD to get on CD
- it is one the first digi-paks i remember ever seeing
- it is one of the first cds i remember tripping balls too
- i learned it note-for-note, forgot it, and now have fun in the fact that i convinced myself i actually used to know it.
-worm
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