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THE BIG EYEBALL IN THE SKY
(Prawn Song)
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From the opening seconds of "Buckethead" — a keyboard trill from former Parliament member Bernie Worell more fit for a baseball stadium than a rock record — it’s obvious that this isn’t just another misguided side project from Primus frontman Les Claypool. The singer/bassist has released his share of misfires in years when his Primus have been on break, including the Oysterhead collaboration with Phish’s Trey Anastasio and Police drummer Stewart Copeland, a CD that marked his entry into the jam-band universe and also signaled a lull in his eccentric creativity, with each song serving as a painful reminder that his virtuoso bass playing can be boring and his whiny vocals more annoying than eccentric. Here he finds himself again, thanks in part at least to his collaborators. Guns N’ Roses guitarist Buckethead plays noodly lead lines on "Elephant Ghost"; drummer Brain finds reggae-ska windows full of shiny cymbal crashes and out-there frills. It’s the first time since early Primus records (like 1991’s Sailing the Seas of Cheese, which was recently resurrected in a comeback tour) that Claypool has let his band steal the spotlight, even if on tracks like the Zappa-influenced "Jackalope" and the roaring "Junior" his slap-happy bass style is the main attraction.
