Primus Album: “They Can't All Be Zingers: Best Of”

I totally hand it to Primus...they don't sound like anybody else, and that's GOOD!! As much as I love pop/powerpop music, I hate FORMULA, and Primus, in the wrong hands, could have been an unlistenable mess. But there is a strange logic in their sound in that it all makes sense...in other words, what they do WORKS!!

Now, not everybody will GET Primus, and I don't go out of my way to recommend Primus to many people. Many would call Primus weird or annoying. They're not tunefully melodic in a conventional sense, their sound is dominated by Les Claypool's original bass playing, his vocals are kinda hick-like (perhaps a parody of white trash??), and Les' lyrics have a warped sense of humour & a sense of the surreal. If these things intrigue you and won't cause you to run the other way, try this collection of Primus' "Greatest Hits??!!??" by all means...they just might be the band for you!!!

Not many bands (if any??) combine musical wizardry with not taking themselves seriously...adding in their warped humour and jammy (but in an interesting way) tunes. In certain terms, I would call Primus an ACQUIRED taste. If I have to compare Primus with anybody, and one really can't, I would say they approach Frank Zappa, the Residents, Parliament/Funkadelic, early Chili Peppers, Pere Ubu, Captain Beefheart, Aquarium Rescue Unit, even Rush and early Talking Heads...wacky, unconventional artists & bands with musical ability and a vision they can only call their own. Live, they are one-of-a-kind, Les is possibly the best bass player alive today (but Ler and Tim are not-too-shabby on their respective instruments, guitar and drums, either), and they are a killer, unique live band.

Their songs are surreal, cool, fun and unique, and once they hit you or grow on you, you're a fan for life and will yell "Primus sucks!!" at their live shows. I like this "hits" collection, as they have at least 1 song from each of their albums...none from their 1989 "Suck On This" debut, their covers album, or Les' side projects like Sausage and Oysterhead. It's cool to have 16 tunes like "Too Many Puppies", "My Name Is Mud", "Jerry Was A Race Car Driver", "Wynona's Big Brown Beaver", "Tommy The Cat", and more all on one handy CD...perfect intro for the uninitiated...plus the BestBuy version has a bonus disc "Extra Cheese" with 4 live tunes from Woodstock 94.

Hey, it's not for nothing they landed Tom Waits in their corner for the voice of "Tommy The Cat" and producing "Coattails Of A Dead Man" from 1999's "Antipop", along with Les auditioning for Metallica!!!

Again, Primus are one of a kind...

There comes a time in a band's life that the record label will want them to release a Best Of or Greatest Hits. Now in the year 2006, Interscope felt it was time that Primus followed this requirement. What we have here is a collection of singles/songs picked by people at Interscope. So of course, these are mostly the songs that made Primus famous to begin with and so as was predictable, some fan favorites are missing and are instead replaced by those that received airplay. The following are my thoughts on the song selection, remastering, pachaging, bonus tracks and missing songs.

Selection: These are all great songs, but they are obviously picked by the record label, as they are mostly singles. The amount of material from the "Brain" era does not do it justice and is very unfair. There are only 3 songs and Coattails of a Dead Man is an extremely poor choice for a representation of The Antipop album, the title track would have fit much more nicely. On the plus side they give you a previously unreleased and extended version (an added 21 seconds) of Shake Hands With Beef.

Remastered: Wha?!!! It's about time that Sailing the Seas of Cheese was remastered, which leads me to believe that we'll see the whole album (and maybe others) re-released soon like Frizzle Fry. The sound quality is noticeably different when compared back to back with the originals. This is the bait to reel in the fans that have the whole Primus discography.

Packaging: One of my favorite things about this is the clever packaging. When you get your hands on a copy, do not tear open the plastic wrap. You'll want to keep it, trust me. Open it at the corners. It acts as if the CD is made of cheese singles (songs) and the artwork on the actual CD is cheese, a reference back to the album Sailing The Seas Of Cheese. After hearing about the Best of, some fans accused Primus of releasing it only for money so they jokingly put in the corner "Classic Primus songs repackaged for your listening convenience and our financial benefit."

Bonus Tracks:If you buy this best of from Best Buy, you get a second disc with the first four live songs (Those Damn Blue Collar Tweekers, Bob, My Name Is Mud, and Jerry Was A Racecar Driver) from their performance at Woodstock '94. These songs were previously available through the bands website (as well as the whole show), but here the sound quality is noticeably better. These songs are a treat but it would have been amazing if it were the entire show. If you buy the album through iTunes you get a live version of Mr. Knowitall back from the tour for Tales from The Punchbowl. The Best Buy version is the better deal.

Missing Songs? Personally I would have loved to see Professor Nutbutter's House of Treats, Sgt. Baker, their cover of Black Sabbath's N.I.B. with Ozzy on vocals or any of their covers for that matter, a better Antipop song like the title track and maybe a song previously exclusive to a soundtrack or two.

If you do not own many Primus albums or want to hear some of your favorites with better quality, then by all means pick up a copy of this at the Best Buy (I got mine on sale for 8 dollars). This is a fun album to stick in the CD player and press the random button, but it doesn't get as many spins as the actual CDs in my collection. Only buy if you are a dedicated fan or haven't heard much, but you know you like Primus.

For a while now I really did not like listening to my Primus discs. The sound quality was so inconsistent! Antipop is so well recorded it made Sailing the Seas of Cheese and Frizzle Fry sound like old stale cheese. Who cares that They Can't All be Zingers is a best of Primus disc. Primus does indeed suck and noone sucks better. For those that don't know the genius of Les Claypool's bass playing, the artistry of Larry Lalonde's guitar work or the blistering creative punch of Tim Alexander's drums, this is an excellent place to start. The remastering is excellent and you can hear way more of the nuance, feel and pulse of the older Primus material. These guys are all about the rhythm. If you don't feel the rumble in Jerry Was a Race Car Driver, then you need to crank up your subwoofer so you can get what Primus is all about. Yeah the lyrics are silly and yeah, Les does not sing as much as tell silly stories, see Tommy the Cat, To Defy the Laws of Tradition, etc.

Primus is definitely an acquired taste. Like taking an awful smelling cheese and putting on top of a burger to make it an award winning masterpiece. Primus was, and is, something special. Excellent move to remaster the old fromage.

First off, be careful opening this one. The shrink wrap tears easily, so if you want to keep the wrapper, open it carefully. The CD box & CD itself are designed to look like a slice of cheese. Very clever packaging. 5 stars for the packaging. The song selection is actually quite good for a single disc collection. Missing are tracks from their EPs of covers (Rhinoplasty & Misc. Debris), but otherwise good song selection. The "rarity" here is the "extended version" of "Shake Hands with Beef." It is only extended by an otherwise unnoticable 10 seconds. Still an excellent release from Primus. Two of the tracks ("Tommy The Cat" & "Coattails of a Dead Man") feature Tom Waits (another selling point). This is the perfect collection for an introduction to Primus.

there's no better word to describe primus than...wierd. although they're wierd, they are incredible musicians. this album perfectly shows off their off-the-wall lyrics and amazing musicianship. but get it at best buy: you get a bonus cd of 4 live tracks from woodstock '94.