Review Summary: What a great album. Truely represents who Primus is, and what they're sound is like. Wierd as all hell but enjoyable as heaven. If you like Primus, or just like good music, go pick this album up.
I remember the first time I heard primus. Their sound was so unique, and so different from what ive ever heard before. At first it was almost repugnant. It took a few weeks for me to really get into it. The first song I ever heard which appears on this album is My Name Is Mud. I was in FYE listening to it and going "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?" the strange sound was so alien to me at the time. I couldnt imagine getting into it at all. Friends of mine liked Primus alot, so i figured they were really good. At first i thought they were crazy. Then a few weeks later around Christmas time my uncle gave me seas of cheese. I liked most of the songs on it and couldn't get the masterful slap bass playing of Les Claypool out of my head. Tommy the cat was constantly on my mind. I quickly found myself heading to youtube.com trying to find primus videos for a few days non stop. Then finally i grabbed my FYE giftcard and bought this album "They Can't All Be Zingers". Here i was buying the very unique sound i thought was repulsive weeks before. I was worried i might be disapointed, or i might get bored with this album. Wow was I wrong.You can go track by track and be satisfied with almost every song on this album.
So whats so good about Primus you ask? I say their sound is based all around Les Claypool. He plays slap bass, and if you've ever seen him play he is crazy at it. His crazed playing is the backbone of Primus' sound. His basslines are brilliant in almost every song, and are so addicting. Primus has been through different guitarists and drummers, but whomever it is they're playing fits in with Claypool's crazed playing. They're sound is definitly different than that of other bands, that's whats so good about them. The only weak point I used to think Primus had was vocals. I thought Claypool's singing was pitiful at first. But then i realized that his vocals mimmic the strange beat that the instruments play. It ties in perfectly, and i wouldn't really have any other vocalist in place of Claypool in Primus. To me each song is wierd, just insane. The sound can be compared to someone escaping from a mental asylum, just out there. Different from anyone and everyone else.
If I had to reccommend anything on this album for you id probably say every song. Just one thing you should know before you listen to Primus, is not to take the lyrics all that seriously. They are basically just a bunch of funny tall tales, that fit in with the beat of the song. This album is defintily enjoyable in almost every aspect. There is a bit of material to fill your time up with, theres 16 songs. Primus doesn't make 2 minute songs but they don't make anything huge and rarely go over 7 minutes. Each song has something equally special and unique about it. Like i said Primus' sound is unique to say the least, you can easily tell that by the lyrics to each song. The basslines are quite addicting, and like to stick around your memory banks for quite awhile. If you pick this cd up it will take a long time for you to get tired of it. Like i said i got it a week ago and can't stop listening, i haven't lost any interest. There wasn't much left out of the song list here, but there is some. I would have liked to seen Is It Luck? or Sgt. Baker on here (i only have this album and seas of cheese so if there is more sorry) but nevertheless this ablum is truely excellent.
If there is one possible flaw i would have to choose in this album or just Primus in general I would probably have to say vocals. Claypool truely isn't a good singer in any way. He rarely dramatically changes dynamics, and keeps a steady regular sound. His voice sounds very strange also, it's so different, fast yet slow, and mostly like everything else in Primus; crazy. His vocals sound anything but normal, or close to that of other singers. In spite of all that i still really like his singing. Sure he isn't a good singer, but his vocals like i said before fit in with the true sound of Primus, and are definitly a key component to they're success. So all in all, buy this album, and enjoy hours on end of entertainment.
