Review Summary: III: It's not Primus caving to the mainstream; it’s the mainstream caving to Primus.
Beneath alternative rock’s growing popularity, bands were changing. Grunge was securing its place in the history books, while ambitious acts like Tool, Rage Against the Machine and Deftones were steadily taking their places in the Pantheon of rock and metal. But Primus stood on the catacombs of this growing metropolis, casually grinning as they constructed another warped, proggy hit for their discography, one that was sure to alienate the comfortable mainstream, just like
Frizzle Fry did before. But
Sailing the Seas of Cheese, Primus’ second LP, is routinely marked as the commercial breakthrough of the California trio. It featured some of the band’s most popular singles like “Jerry Was a Racecar Driver”, all while climbing to platinum status over the course of ten years. It was accepted by the mainstream as a gritty, slamming collection of rock songs, with Les Claypool enthusiastically yodeling and sneering the whole way through.
The aesthetic of Primus didn’t change one bit with their second LP, but those subtle improvements to their songwriting finally convinced the radio crowd that the band was something special. That is
Sailing the Seas of Cheese’s biggest strength. That is why it’s a masterpiece of alternative rock and the finest work Primus ever released.
Sailing the Seas of Cheese features all of the established markings of Primus. Les Claypool remains the most intricate bass player in his class, ripping apart songs with clanging bass chords and rubbery twangs. Single “Tommy the Cat” is superhumanly complex, one of the finest examples of bass playing ever heard. Claypool slaps, strums, and rocks his way through obscenely diverse playing styles, all with a funky groove that never lets up. “Is it Luck?” is another standout track, with a consistently funky metal bass rhythm that bounces across the ricocheting guitars and drums. But Claypool’s funk doesn’t command the entire album’s sound. Songs like the stomping “Those Damned Blue-Collar Tweakers” lay on the heaviness with steady, low-tuned bass strums. They’re much less complex, but Claypool constantly makes his bass playing known, never falling into the background and always introducing something unexpected, but apropos to the songs. His vocals follow suit, with diverse singing styles like the stuttering mumbles in “Tommy the Cat” and the cleaner grooves in “Jerry Was a Racecar Driver.” Claypool never stays in a single lane on
Sailing the Seas of Cheese; the entire album is a precise demonstration of everything the musician has in him, and from start to finish, every single track has something to love.
Guitarist Larry LaLonde and drummer Tim Alexander don’t drag their heels either, as both musicians are at the top of their games as well. LaLonde stays within the same gritty, grimy thrash off-shooting as he began on
Frizzle Fry, but slings even more loose solos around with his performances. The nimble solo on “Is it Luck?” sharply contrasts the trailer sirens of “Those Damned Blue-Collared Tweekers.” With
Sailing the Seas of Cheese, LaLonde’s dirty solos are perfectly at home. They’re still abrasive as hell, scratching and tearing the skin alongside Claypool’s loud bass bumps. Alexander’s drumming equates its versatility to Claypool’s songwriting, offering ample opportunity for tempo shifts, tone changes and mood dimensionalization. The military march of “Sgt. Baker” keeps things steady (but surprisingly nimble) and the flickering dance of “Is it Luck?” is packed with virtuoso fills and drum rhythms.
Sailing the Seas of Cheese is a showcase of all three members’ talents, giving every aspect of their musical skill a chance to shine. Every moment, no matter how unique from the others, sounds just right. This is a band with command over every element of their skill.
Sailing the Seas of Cheese isn’t as proggy or thrashy as
Frizzle Fry. Many of the songs have more condensed lengths, the perfect structures for radio. “Jerry Was a Racecar Driver” is the poster-child of the radio friendliness of
Sailing the Seas of Cheese, with its infectious bass hook, slick croony vocals, and simple three-minute length. While some might find the song to be less adventurous as anything from
Frizzle Fry, that is wrong in every sense. This is Primus taking on the challenge of taking their wonky, purposely unusual vibe and introducing it as something honed and precise. “Jerry Was a Racecar Driver” has all of the appeal of any song from
Frizzle Fry; every single thing that made Primus such a blatant oddity is there...just condensed. “Tommy the Cat”, for all its explosively intricate solos, has a catchy chorus, all with
Tom Waits’ snarling growls telling Tommy’s story. Even the non-singles like the thumbing bass anthem of “American Life” have the hooks clearly displayed, but bathed in all of the sensibilities that Primus established with
Frizzle Fry. The fact that Primus can take such alien musical philosophies and make them radio-friendly without losing their intricacy is something unbelievable. It’s a downright impossible feat that Primus seem completely comfortable accomplishing.
Sailing the Seas of Cheese can’t be called a “sell-out record.” Its music might have been played on radio and MTV like crazy, but behind all that popularity, Primus haven’t changed a bit. Their bizarre vibe is still omnipresent and blissfully complex, showing weirdness and daring in every second of every track. But that ability to condense and refine their music into something more compact and complete is even more admirable. Not a trace of their past album’s intrigue has been left behind with
Sailing the Seas of Cheese; it’s a goldmine of stellar songwriting, the single component of
Frizzle Fry that felt incomplete. It’s Primus at their peak, comfortably settled into their own tractor trailer of experimentalism and creativity, but leaving little tastes of accessibility behind, a trail of bread crumbs that got the growing alternative rock crowd to take notice and finally follow the Prawn Legion that
Frizzle Fry initiated.
Sailing the Seas of Cheese is not Primus caving to the mainstream; it’s the mainstream caving to Primus.
