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Archive for the ‘Sausage’ Category

Rivka Galchen–“Medical Meals” (New Yorker, November 3, 2014)

Posted in Colonel Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade, Essays, Food, King Crimson, New Yorker, Pink Floyd, Rivka Galchen, Sausage, The Doors on January 20, 2015| Leave a Comment »

nov3SOUNDTRACK: COLONEL LES CLAYPOOL’S FEARLESS FLYING FROG BRIGADE-Live Frogs Set 1 (2001).

220px-Live_Frogs_Set_1With Primus on hiatus, Les Claypool set out to do some solo work with a band that was quite different from Primus’ three man set up.  But staying ever true to his roots, he included former Primus guys Todd Huth (guitar) and Jay Lane (drums) in addition to guitarist Eenor, Jeff Chimenti on keyboards and Skerik on saxophone.

The band in this incarnation released two live albums that were recorded in 2000.

This first one is the first set which is a couple of covers and some Les solo work all extended into lengthy jams.

The opening track is a cover of King Crimson’s-“Thela Hin Ginjeet.”  Musically they are great–the get all the complicated sounds perfectly.  Les can’t quite hit all the vocal notes that Belew does, but that’s okay.  There are a few lengthy jamming solos, which are quite different from the original.

Next comes the Sausage song “Riddles Are Abound Tonight.”  It’s the shortest song on the disc even with the sax solo.  Then come’s Les’ solo song “Hendershot.”  I like the album version better because of the dynamic way it is sung, but it’s cool live too.  “Shattering Song” has more energy live than on record.  I enjoyed the segue into “Riders on the Storm.”

“Running the Gauntlet” has a weird opening with that crazy watery bass and a song about a chicken laying a hard-boiled egg.  Then it gets into the song proper. After each section, a musician gets to take a solo.  Skerit goes over his allotted time  and Les gives him a hard time about it.  “Girls for Single Men” sounds much more sinister here and Les sings it very quickly–it’s a weird version.

The set ends with a really good version of “Shine on You Crazy Diamond.”  They really nail the music of it and Les sings it quite well, too.  This is a really solid collection of songs, especially if you like prog rock.

[READ: January 20, 2014] “Medical Meals”

This week’s issue of the New Yorker was its semi-annual food issue.  As such there were four food-related essays by writers who I’ve written about before.  The section was called “Rations.”

The first was by Rivka Galchen.  I’ve enjoyed Galchen’s writing quite a bit in the past.  And while I may have known she was a nurse, I never thought about her going to residency school or anything like that.

So this essay is about the kinds of crappy food that medical school students would eat during their rotations.  This is of course kind of funny to think that they are eating badly while they are supposedly taking care of other people.  It seemed especially obnoxious that they were eating this badly while working at a bariatric surgery center. (more…)

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Danielle McLaughlin–“The Dinosaurs on Other Planets” (New Yorker, September 15, 2014)

Posted in Beavis and Butthead, Danielle McLaughlin, Marriage Trouble, Nature, New Yorker, Primus, Sausage, Short Story on January 11, 2015| Leave a Comment »

ny915SOUNDTRACK: SAUSAGE-Riddles Are Abound Tonight (1994).

Sausage_riddles_are_abound_tonight_cd After Pork Soda, Primus took a little break and Les reunited with the original members of Primus–Todd Huth and Jay Lane (guitars and drums) to make the Sausage album.  The album contains new songs and what I assume is the original version of “The Toys Go Winding Down” which sounds quite different from the Primus recorded version.

The first two songs sounds the most like conventional (what?) Primus with big smashing choruses. The biggest difference on the whole album is in the guitar, which is not just making shapes and noises, it is laying an interesting riff.  And the single “Riddles Are Abound Tonight” sounds absolutely the most like Primus–with interesting guitar sounds and Les’ popping bass (the “ho hoy yea” in the middle is also very Primus).

Another big difference is that Jay Lane’s drumming is a very different style than Tim Alexander’s.  Alexander is a force to be reckoned with–he’s all over tha place, playing weird time signatures and all manner of drums.  Jay Lane is more of a jazzy drummer–he keeps things fairly simple with a lot of hi-hat work.  So yes, even though Les is the same (and the star) in both bands, Sausage sounds quite different from Primus.

It’s also not to say that Huth doesn’t make crazy noises (he was the original Primus guitarist after all)–“Here’s to the Man” has a scorching noise from Huth over Claypool’s fairly conventional bass line.  But this song, as with most of them on the disc are quite long and don’t offer the wide array of sections that most Primus does, which loses its impact after a time.  So even though Les is talking some silly nonsense over the song (which is very hard to hear), it doesn’t make the song much more compelling.

Sausage has more of jam band feel.  As with “Shattering Song,” a 7 minute piece with a conventional drum bass and guitar structure.  It goes on in the same vein for some 4 minutes before turning into the more enjoyable “Kern Kern the butter churn” section, which I wish was longer.  Because I love the Primus release of “Toys” I find “Toyz 1988 to be unsettling in its slowness. Although I do love the opening bass riff.  “Temporary Phase” also has a good thumping bass riff and some noisy guitars.

“Girls for Single Men” is a fun song with a wild bass line.  It has a repeated chorus and a lot of spoken word.  As with a lot of these Claypool solo pieces, if the spoken stuff was just a bit louder, it would be more enjoyable.

“Recreating” i a short song with a cool opening bass section that is primarily based on Les’ whammy bar.  The final song, the 6 and a half minute “Caution Should Be Used While Driving a Motor Vehicle or Operating Machinery”  has a cool repeating bass line and some noisy guitars but it is most notable for all kinds of street noises–jackhammers, air raid sirens and the like.

I don’t love the Sausage album that much, but there is some good stuff here.  And the video for “Riddles” is pretty outstanding (and was actually the basis for the Beavis and Butthead character of Cornholio!)

[READ: January 8, 2015] “The Dinosaurs on Other Planets”

There’s quite a lot going on in this story and I enjoyed very much even if the ending wasn’t entirely satisfying.

The story is set in the house of Kate and Colman an older married couple (they met when he was 40 and their kids are grown).  We learn that they have not shared a bed for about a year.  He moved his lathe into their son’s room and basically just stays there all the time, and while she seems upset by this she doesn’t talk about it.  The only thing that sparks them moving back into the same room is their daughter’s upcoming return visit.

Emer has been living in England (I assume her parents live in Ireland given character names) and she is planning to come to visit for a few days with her son Oisin.  So Kate gets the house ready–she fixes up Emer’s old room and fixes up their son’s room (he is in Japan) for a  bedroom for Oison.

But when they show up, Emer has a man with her as well.  His name is Pavel, and when Cormac (who is none too pleased to have an extra guest) asks Oisin when Pavel is from, Oision (who is 5) says “Chelsea.” (more…)

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Greg Prato–Primus: Over the Eletric Grapevine: Insight into Primus and the World of Les Claypool (2014)

Posted in 24-7 Spyz, Books about music, Buzz Osborne, Chuck D, Drinking, Drugs, Eugene Hutz, Fishbone, Geddy Lee, Greg Prato, Hank Williams III, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Larry LaLonde, Les Claypool, Limbomaniacs, Matt Stone, Metallica, Mike Watt, Muse, Oysterhead, Possessed, Primus, Sausage, South Park, Stewart Copeland, Tim Alexander, Tom Morello, Tom Waits, Trey Anastasio on January 5, 2015| Leave a Comment »

primus bookSOUNDTRACK: PRIMUS-Suck on This (1990).

primus suckThis was the disc that introduced me to Primus–it was on a beach vacation with my friends Al, Joe and Rad.  Al made this the soundtrack of the drive and, man, it was weird and crazy and super cool and by the end of that trip I was hooked.

Actually I was immediately hooked when the band opened this live disc with a rough version of Rush’s “YYZ” which then launched into “John the Fisherman.”  What do you make of this band and this weird song?  Stomping bass which is doing all of the lead stuff, with guitars that are just noises and craziness but which really work with what the bass is doing (once you listen a few times, anyway).  The drums are mammoth and very prog rock.  And then there’s Les’ voice–cartoony and unconventional–sometimes deep, sometime really silly, sounds that work perfectly with the storytelling lyrics.

The quality of this recording is pretty poor, although I find that it sounds a bit better on smaller, less “good” stereos, where Ler’s guitars don’t get lost so much in the bass.  Most of these songs have been re-recorded for later albums, so perhaps the newer versions sound cleaner to me.  [Groundhog’s Day, Frizzle Fry, John the Fisherman, Pudding Time and Harold of the Rocks on Frizzle Fry and Tommy the Cat on Sailing the Seas of Cheese].

The best songs on this disc have really catchy parts: “John the Fisherman” (most of it) or the insane fast bass and wild soloing section of “Groundhog’s Day.”  Sometimes it’s just when the noise stops and Les gets a line, like “It’s Just a Matter of Opinion” (in “The Heckler”).  Although the noise there is really catchy too–listen to what Ler is playing during the funky bass section–it’s wild and amazing.

Of course “Tommy the Cat” is a major standout from all three guys.

The only song that doesn’t really work for me is “Pressman” which seems a bit too long without a lot of resolution (although the end is pretty cool).  I often get “Jellikit” (the other song that didn’t make it to a studio album) in my head, whenever I think, Did you like it?  There’s even a drum solo from Herb the Ginseng Drummer in that song

What’s fun is that the audience is totally into it and they know most of the songs–anticipating lyrics and even singing along.  And this is where “We’re Primus and we suck.” comes from.  It was a shocking debut when it came out, and it’s still pretty unusual, although not as unusual as some of their later songs would be.

[READ: January 3, 2015] Primus

As I said above, I’ve been a fan of Primus since near the beginning of their existence.  And yet, for all of my enjoyment of them, I didn’t really know all that much about their origins.  I didn’t know that the original line up was Todd Huth and Jay Lane (guitars and drums), and that the three of them wrote the songs that appear on Suck on This and much of Frizzle Fry.  Ler had to learn these unusual parts (Ler took lessons with Joe Satriani and is much more accomplished than his lack of flashiness indicates) and did so wonderfully. I also didn’t know that Les and Kirk Hammet were in the same class in high school (and that he’s the reason Les picked up a bass in the first place, even though they never formally played together).

The book is constructed as a series of quotes from a vast assortment of people.  The “cast” is two pages long and includes current and former members of the band and management as well as fans like Trey Anastasio, Matthew Bellamy (from Muse), Geddy Lee, Chuck D, Eugene Hutz, Tom Morello, Buzz Osborne, Matt Stone, Mike Watt, Hank Williams III, guys from 24-7 Spyz, Fishbone, Limbomaniacs and even Linda Perry (!).

It opens with Les talking about his high school years.  And what’s amazing is how many people who were involved in Primus are friends from when he was a kid.  If they didn’t play together, they were involved with art or management or something.  We also get the origin story of Bob Cock, which answers many questions.

Les had formed Primate (legal dispute with the band The Primates made them become Primus) with Todd and Jay.  They toured a lot and were gaining a following, but Les was always looking for something more.  He even auditioned for Metallica after Cliff Burton died (Kirk thought it sounded great but I guess James didn’t). (more…)

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