ANIMALS SHOULD NOT TRY TO ACT LIKE PEOPLE

I used to know Primus as just this band that did weird videos on MTV that Beavis and Butthead made fun of and of course the band that did the South Park opening theme. Then I had the good fortune to catch Les Claypool's Frog Brigade on AOL radio's Progressive "station". This was my first venture into Primus territory and it hooked me. Claypool's vocals are an acquired taste, but the musicianship is solid. The CD stuff is a reunion of the original drummer, Tim Alexander, with Les and Larry LaLonde after Tim took a break from the band. Brain aka Brian Mantia.

It's got one short CD and one DVD. The DVD is packed with all their videos and some "bootleg" quality live stuff. If you don't get cracked up by Winona's Big Brown Beaver, you have no twisted sense of humor at all. Kind of like psychedelic/psychotic cowboy music. Really cool claymation work in Southbound Pachyderm. DMV, is the Department of Motor Vehicles only as bad as it is in the United States? I can certainly identify with the lyrics there. Also includes a Primus version of The Devil Went Down To Georgia. I don't think that one's shown up on any Primus CD. Let's face it Les vocal style is a little hickish, which is why it turns off so many of y'all. Look I grew up in the U.S. southeast and still live in Georgia. TDWDTG is a progressive country music piece, if there is such a thing. All the collected videos here are a great way to introduce yourself to this band. The best stuff however is the music which didn't make it to video. The opening track, The Carpenter and the Dainty Bride, bears a little resemblance musically to the South Park theme. "The grass is always greener on the other side."

Pilcher's Squad is an excellent RIO song. It's about an English police sergeant who went around busting musicians for drug use in 1968.

Mary the Ice Cube. How many odes to an ice cube to you have in your collection anyway? Great basswork from Les. "Doesn't nothing ever last forever?" "Pretty little ice cube, where have you gone?"

The Las Superpower aka Rapscallion, shows Les' political side. The lyrics are about the U.S. in light of the current weasels controlling our government here. Has kind of a heavy King Crimson flavor to it. I can't help thinking that La Londe/Claypool/Alexander must be big fans of Fripp/King Crimson.

The CD wraps up with My Friend Fats. It's hard to really count all the Claypool songs about weird people. Fats apparently really loves to get wasted. Another song that I think illustrates this band belongs in the RIO category. It's musically complex and very weird at the same time. Great heavy instrumental jamming at the end.