The Double Doghouse

hello folks! this week for the weekly review, we’re taking a look at Primus’s record second record, release in 1991, Sailing the Seas of Cheese. i’ll be honest up front – i haven’t listened to a ton of Primus, as the bits ive heard haven’t really been my style. i’m aware of Les Claypool’s skill on bass and heard a track here and there by the band, but haven’t given any albums a listen before. i’m very interested to see how this album goes!

Seas of Cheese is a nice little intro track, leading us into Here Comes the Bastards, which is a weird, loping track. here they come indeed. Sgt. Baker does some extremely fun stuff – the bass, guitar, and guitar form this roiling, bubbling mass beneath the barking vocals. p solid track. American Life is creating a kind of droning, bleak progression to discuss, well, the American dream. another neat song, and the solo here is really good too. Jerry Was a Racecar Driver is a track i’m extremely familiar with from hearing it on Tony Hawk – i mostly remember the instrumental bridge from that, but yeah can’t help but feel fondness for this one, haha. Eleven’s intro is doing some wild stuff, percussively. this is a very compelling song, musically. i’m not super fond of Claypool’s vocals, but i like this a lot. i think i’m picking up a lot of Danny Elfman vibes on this song, vocally and thematically, which is definitely not hurting, haha. there are part of Is It Luck? that i like but overall i think i’m not super fond of it. Grandad’s Little Ditty is a small intermission of sorts. funny that it launches basically directly into Tommy the Cat, featuring a familiar face, Tom Waits, as the cat. Sathington Waltz feels like another transitional track. Those Damn Blue-Collar Tweekers feels surprisingly conventional. i kinda dig this one. Fish On (Fisherman Chronicles, Chapter II) is lyrically a lot more lighthearted than i expected, especially from what i know of John the Fisherman, Chapter I of this cycle of songs. i dig it – and musically it feels like they’re having a lot of fun, haha. Los Bastardos reprises Here Comes the Bastards – pretty smooth transition into a cacophonous end. neat.

faves – Jerry Was a Racecar Driver, Eleven, Tommy the Cat, Those Damn Blue-Collar Tweekers
dislikes –

i gotta say, i was pleasantly surprised by this record. i can’t quite pin down what i didn’t really dig about Primus’s music before, whether it’s just not acclimating to Claypool’s vocals or if it’s the “funk metal” style in general, but i definitely found some stuff to get into here, and i can see what’s appealing about Claypool’s songwriting style. maybe it’s something i’ll check out more in the future, who knows!

Sailing the Seas of Cheese – 6/10

for the next Weekly Album Review, i’ll be listening to Draining Love Story, the 2020 record from Sewerslvt. i’ll be back next Friday, November 3rd with that review and to pick another weekly record, and in the meantime, let me know what album you’d like me to review! (i pool all suggestions in one place, and draw a person, then one pick from that person, so feel free to drop as many as you’d like! if you leave an email or username i’ll contact you when i’ve gotten through all your suggestions.)