Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Waiting on Primus

On Monday because I needed something cheerful for the first time perhaps since the first week I bought it I listened to Primus' 'Tales from the Punchbowl' in entirety and discovered it to be, truly great.
On tuesday, but alas I get ahead of myself...What I would pay, to be you, you my friend who has never, ever, EVER!! heard 'Frizzle Fry' I would pay I don't know how much it would cost it may even be achievable these days through hipnoses or some kind of laser surgery, but lets say 10k to have wiped from my memory the knowledge of 'Frizzle Fry' just so that...so that like you could do right now! so that I could go out and or down to JB Hi-Fi go and try a few sections to see where the fuck they keep Primus these days buy a nice velvety shrink wrapped copy of the album with the guys head frying in a pan with the purple lettering 'Frizzle Fry' on it, then take it home, switch off the wi-fi broadband. Close all the blinds. Disconnect the phone, take off all my clothing, sit on the couch. Put the CD into the stereo and hear for the first time 'Frizzle Fry'
Some if not most, would simply describe it as 'noise' but maybe you are not yet attuned to what you are hearing. I remember when my brother borrowed a whole stack of Primus CD's it took me a while to develop an ear for it. My friend Brenton clicked earlier but maybe he was just trying to impress me so I would sleep with him.
But alas, Frizzle Fry was one of the last albums I heard but truly one that deserves its own place in the Pantheon of Gods.
You will never hear anything like it again, now or even upon second listening.
And I mean there is a world of difference between 'hear' and 'listen' and that is the difference between 'hearing' some southern hick sing nonsensical stuff over the bunch of a whole lot of noise and 'listening' to music so coordinatedly skillful yet expressed from a worldview so detatched from your everday experience a world where people eat Taco Bell - yes 'listening' to Primus until your brain melts out your FUCKEN EARS.
And then 'Sailing the Seas of Cheese' provides many of Primus' most popular songs but has some of the poorest sound recording/finishing yet much of the lineup when experienced live is pure gold. Then there's 'Pork Soda' which need I say, is an aquired taste, and surprisingly the only Primus Album to go platnum does contain the classic 'My Name is Mud'.
Then came 'Tales from the Punchbowl' which despite being a bit of a filler album is as I said earlier despite being probably Primus' weakest LP is still truly great and provided their best promotional videos which are another way Primus shit on a lot of other bands.
This then marks the end of the Tim Alexander era and Brain comes in as drummer and you get the Brown Album which is great and some may remember the track 'Shake Hands With Beef' this has some of the catchiest tunes primus ever offered like 'Goldenboy' and 'Chastising of the Renegade' and I really like 'Return of Sathington Willoughby'
And then came Anti-pop the pop-est album. Its kind of too polished, its tunes are good and unobjectionable but for some reason whilst they easily get stuck in your head, easily dislodge.
And that was the last heard from Primus (I neglect to mention the Live EP 'Suck on This' which is arguably superior to Frizzle Fry in that many of the songs are the same but Suck on This is Live and has the best versions of the soon to be title track 'Frizzle Fry' and also 'Tommy the Cat' if I could hear this for the first time again I would be very pleased also)
Then Tim came back, and Primus released DVDs, mind blowing DVDs and Live performances and new material and they looked better than ever.
So what if the ship has sailed, I am waiting on Primus to make an old fogey out of me, releasing albums that the kids these days find dorky and one day I can use to indoctrinate my kids as to who 'the best bassist of all time' is similar to my dad and Cream.
So my kids will have heated arguements with their pears who all talk about Flea and have crappy posters or 'holo-posters' in the lockers or whatever they use in the future.
Wikipedia seems to think a new album will be forthcoming this year, but for me I also don't care I just want to put the record straight here, that I like Primus, and probably have been neglecting them on my blog in favor of Faith No More, and whilst FNM did produce 3 5 star albums (in my opinion) and Primus are a bit more hit and miss, their albums always are at the very least educational as to what still remains to be done on the frontier of bass, drums and guitar. A frontier that seems lost to the modern offerings of bands to the next batch of loser teenagers.
Do me a favour listen to Frizzle Fry you won't regret it after a week or so.

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