Disco de Primus: “Miscellaneous Debris [EP]”

this one ... is worth getting too. Primus are somewhat limited in their covering style in that they seem to primarily choose songs that already kind of sound like Primus, then just meet them partway and completely make them primus songs. Well no one really sounds like Primus (although some of the residents material kind of would if they used live instruments on a regular basis), but there's always some Primus like element to the originals. Ler's scarily accurate interpetation of the creepy fake xylophone solo on peter gabriel's "intruder" is an example of this, as is the kazoo solo taking place of the closing whistling of the original. However, the problem is when they head towards something that is a bit beyond their reach, in this case XTC's "making plan for nigel". While they do have an interesting take on the groove, les' voice doesn't really have the melodicism to carry the vocal line, so the result is a bit of a mess. Compare this to their cover of another early XTC song "scissorman" which seemed tailormade for the band from the start. However, aside from that, on this ep, they manage to keep a balance of not making entirely predictable choices but also not going anywhere Primus was never meant to go.

Les Claypool is not a great singer, not really even a good singer, but he has an offbeat and charismatic sound that you won't get anywhere else. When he writes songs for his own voice, the limitations rarely matter. But he cannot come close to capturing Peter Gabriel's sinister leer on "Intruder" or the quirkiness of XTC on "Making Plans for Nigel," nor does Primus reinterpret the tunes enough to compensate. "Sinister Exaggerator" gets better, because it doesn't ask as much vocally and because the ending allows Primus to settle into one of their trademark grooves. The real success of the EP, though, comes after a brief "Tippi Toes" interlude: Pink Floyd's "Have A Cigar." Claypool doesn't mimic Roy Harper here; his version of Floyd's record executive is demented rather than just shallow. And unlike the other covers, this one significantly reinterprets the music into the sort of hard-edged hippie funk that made Primus so important. In sum, unless you can buy the last track through an on-line service, this recording is really only for people who feel they have to own everything Primus did.

I have always been a huge Primus fan for over a decade, but for some reason never picked up this album. Sure glad I did though. While I only knew one of the songs they covered on this album, it was well worth it. This is a must for any Primus fan, big or small!

Primus produces some great music. This is also a pretty cool album of 5 songs they had remade from other Artists. They did a great job on all of them but, overall I especially like Have a Cigar. Great EP but, many of there other albums are more worth getting. Les Claypool is a amazing, plays the bass like no other.

Primus Sucks!

The songs on this album are not cheap rip-offs of the originals, nor do they detract (or surpass) the original versions. They have been carefully played in the style you would expect from Primus, which is a good trick, given their diversity. If you didn't know better, you would think they were originals.

This is one of my favorite Primus CDs, and it doesn't grow old even after many years of listening. If you like Primus's style, then you will treasure this album.