Primus - Rhinoplasty

I will never claim to be a Primus fan, that would be an insult to their fans. I will say that Les Claypool is one of the greatest bassists alive. The only living bassist I hold above him is Geddy Lee, and anyone that tries to say differently is a moron. No one outplays Geddy. But I also love the fact that Primus is the modern Frank Zappa in many ways.

The Rhinoplasty album is actually a cover album, that I originally picked up for just one song. What I didn't notice at the time was I actually picked up the Japanese Import that had bonus tracks. I thought it was just clever packaging. After all, it's Primus. The reason I picked it up for only one song was due to the fact I only knew one of the songs.

Cover albums are a great way to discover older artists.

The first song on the album is Scissor Man, by New Wave band XTC. This is a really fun and bouncy song. It's meant to have fun while listening to it. If you know Primus at all, you know that musically it's going to have a very solid and wicked performance. To this day I still have never bothered to listen to the original. I don't want to tarnish the chuckles I get everytime I hear this song, because I generally don't like New Wave.

The Family And The Fishing Net is a Peter Gabriel tune. This song comes from the same album as Shock the Monkey, and I think that Primus does a good cover. My only complaint would be the bass is pushed too far forward, and it drowns out some of the other parts in the song.

Silly Putty is an instrumental. It's a song originally done by American Jazz bassist Stanley Clarke. It's easy to see, or better yet hear, where Les got some of his influence. This song is just wild musically to the point that the records being scratched by DJ Disc can be overlooked.

Now one wouldn't generally think of going from Jazz to Country, but Primus does it with Amos Moses. Originally written and recorded by Jerry Reed in 1970, this version is totally kickin'. Sure it still has that country twang, but it's some really wicked twang. I don't know if I would put this on my Mp3 player for bike riding, but it would go on a mix tape for cross country driving.

It's on to another instrumental, but this time it's from The Police originally. Behind My Camel is a good song, with an awesome soundtrack like ambience. This might have something to do with the fact that Andy Summers ended up becoming a movie score writer and producer after leaving The Police.

The sixth song on the album is a cover and rework of a Primus song. Too Many Puppies was the first song that Les Claypool ever wrote for Primus, or so the story goes. This is your typical Primus song in the sense that it's totally out there musically, and lyrically the words aren't always as simple as they seem.

The official Rhinoplasty E.P., which is what it is, ends with the song I bought the album for. The Thing That Should Not Be is one of the most heavy, thick, and beastly Metallica songs ever written. The Primus cover is done spot on, pretty much, but it will clearly never be the original. I remember even reading once about how hard this was for Les to record, because of playing the bass parts, and then having to do the vocals on top of that, at the same time. We are talking about trying to play like Cliff Burton while howling like a younger James Hetfield. Not an easy task for anyone, but when Les Claypool says how hard that is, you have to listen because he knows what he is talking about.

The Japanese import has two bonus tracks. Tommy The Cat and Bob's Party Time Lounge, recorded live at the Henry J. Kaiser Auditorium, New Years Eve 1997-98. I'm not a fan of either song on here, and I don't know the originals enough to say one way or the other either. Both songs are really well done, they just don't strike my fancy. I'm very hit and miss with my Funk Metal.

There is one more song buried on this CD and if you know the magic word you can hear it, and see the awesome claymation video. The CD is an enhanced CD, which was really big just before the turn of the millenium. Basically a lot of bands were throwing extras on compact discs for computer use. Sadly, the programming is so outdated now, that my computer can't run it without a load of problems. So I suggest you go youtube Primus, The Devil Went Down To Georgia. It pisses me off that I don't have just a normal copy of the song, because it's done so well.

All in all this is a really cool album. It's a hidden gem for those who are really listening, and enjoy the type of music that Primus loves to serve up.

7/10 - content

8/10 - production

6/10 - personal bias