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The Brown Album

Primus

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Album Review

The replacement of drummer Tim "Herb" Alexander with Brian "Brain" Mantia doesn't affect Primus' sound in any notable way on The Brown Album. That isn't surprising — Les Claypool's side project Sausage sounds identical to Primus. What's notable about The Brown Album is how Claypool moves Primus even further into progressive and jazz-rock territory, concentrating entirely on the instrumental interplay of the group and caring very little for writing full-fledged songs. "Shake Hands With Beef," the first single from the album, has a reasonably amusing adolescent lyric, but the real attraction of the song is how its thunderous bass riff weaves in and out with the syncopated drums and avant guitar. In that sense, it does let the listener know what the album is about, and very few Primus fans should be disappointed by what The Brown Album delivers. It's standard Primus — all instrumental interplay and adolescent humor — but it's delivered with more finesse and skill than ever.

Customer Reviews

Underrated

One has to admit that The Brown Album isn’t Primus’ best work; it’s not as revolutionary as Frizzle Fry, not as fun as Sailing the Seas of Cheese, and not as mind-blowing as Pork Soda. But this doesn’t make it a horrible album. Les’ playing is as amazing as ever, if a bit understated. Ler’s guitar lines are more melodic than on other albums (though hear his great, rambling solo on “Shake Hands With Beef”). And Brian’s intricate-though-reserved drumming is perfect for the to-the-point song structures featured here. I think the only real problem with this album is its “naturalistic” production. Most rock albums have that requisite rock-n-roll drum sound - big, bright reverb, a deep low end. And most, if not all, of Primus’ other albums have this sound as well. But Primus went another direction here, and many of their fans weren’t willing to go along with them. Which seems odd, actually, since they’ve been willing to follow Primus in all sorts of other strange directions. Perhaps listeners let the album’s drab title color the way they heard it. Don’t make the same mistake, though. The Brown Album deserves some fans.

This album is great! wwaayyy 2 underated!

Come on give the brown album a chance, there are some really great songs on here, fisticuffs, shake hands with beef, kalamazoo, return of sathington willoughby, ect. The truth is most of these customers come looking for THE BEST PRIMUS ALBUM EVER, seas of cheese antipop & frizzle fry AND COMPLETELY OVERLOOK THIS ONE ! You should BUY IT! or at least TRY IT !, IF YOURE A PRIMUS FAN YOULL LIKE IT ! Though it may not be the absoloute best of primus it should still be in your collection, ITS GOOD MUSIC!

Not Perfect, But Excellent in its Own Right

The Brown Album is not incredible. It's not revolutionary, nor is it progressive. But it's Primus, nonetheless. Primus tends to be a bit more creative than most other contemporary bands, because they can afford to be. They have the talent and the power to be progressive. The Brown Album, if listened to all the way through, would seem to be a compilation of several entirely different tracks, each one taken from a previos Primus album. But digested in small bits, this album is mind-blowing. This album, like the rest of Primus' previous works, features intricate basslines written and performed by Primus frontman Les Claypool, screaming (although sometimes atonal) guitarwork to complement the insane bass riffs, and driving drumlines to tie it all together. Although this album, as a whole, is kind of... bland, to put it bluntly, it does have some excellent tracks. The highlights of this album are: -Golden Boy, featuring bouncy basswork from Claypool and country-esque guitarwork similar to that of Wynona's Big Brown Beaver (in execution, of course) -Fisticuffs, a powerful tune with a powerful guitar/bass synthesis -Shake Hands With Beef, which, although jerky and stumbling in some parts, is still playful and fun (the guitar solo is incredible, too) -Puddin' Taine, which sounds very much like a psychadelic polka, rather than a funk-metal tharsh tune -Coddingtown, a simple but funny tune-- it'll definately make you wanna get up and dance -Arnie, a spacy, drifting tune with powerful spoken-word lyrics underscoring the kind of "theme" established at the beginning of the album with the ominous REturn of Sathington Willoughby All in all, the Brown Album is... average. But average for Primus is excellent by any standard. Buy this one for sure.

Biography

Formed: 1986 in San Francisco, CA

Genre: Alternative

Years Active: '90s, '00s, '10s

Primus is all about Les Claypool; there isn't a moment on any of their records where his bass isn't the main focal point of the music, with his vocals acting as a bizarre side-show. Which isn't to deny guitarist Larry LaLonde or drummer Tim "Herb" Alexander any credit; no drummer could weave in and around Claypool's convoluted patterns as effortlessly as Alexander, and few guitarists would willingly push the spotlight away, like LaLonde does, just to can produce a never-ending spiral of avant-noise....
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