After the partial success of "Sailing the Seas of Cheese," the pseudo-progressive hard rock band Primus--certainly one of the top 5 strangest bands of all time--released "Pork Soda," which debuted in the top 10. Now "Pork Soda" is one weird album. It probably isn't a good strater for Primus, but I have purchased it as my starter album and am willing to continue listening to Primus. Of course, it probably helps that I listened to a few of their songs before purchasing.
While bassist Les Claypool was heavily influenced by Yes and Rush, his bass-playing is completely different from Chris Squire and Geddy Lee, and his band is the only one of its kind, outside of Claypool's numerous side-projects.
Primus at the time was:
Les Claypool - Vocals, Bass Guitar, Bowed Bass, Mandolin
Larry "Ler" LaLonde - Guitar, Banjo
Tim "Herb" Alexander - Drums/Percussion
Let's get started on this oddball:
1. Pork Chop's Little Ditty (0:21)
Just a short intro to the album (a Primus signature). Also serves as a build-up to the next track which is...
No Rating
...2. My Name is Mud (4:46)
One of Primus's 4 or 5 most famous songs. Has one of the best basslines of all time, and features Claypool playing his bass like a percussion instrument, creating a trippy stereo drumming effect. The song is about a creepy hillbilly named Mud (short for Alowishus Devadander Abercrombie), who tells you how boring he is before revealing that he got into an argument with his friend and, well, killed him. With an aluminum baseball bat. I like how Ler stays behind the music before bursting into the song. John Frusciante has a similar style. The last 1:30-2:00 are instrumental, with the exception of "Where you goin', city boy?" I reccomend watching the music video.
10/10
3. Welcome to This World (3:40)
An interesting bassline is the foundation of this pseudo-intro. I can't make much sense of the lyrics, except that Les seems to be pointing out random things. A good song, but I don't have much to say.
8/10
4. Bob (4:40)
A very dark song about Les's "friend" (I don't know if it's true or not, but it does mention Ler) who commited suicide in his apartment. Very repetitive, and the vocals become horrible near the end as Les creates the image that he's breaking down and crying. The only non-instrumental with a lack of humor.
7/10
5. DMV (4:58)
The second-best song on the album. Driven by a great bassline and funny lyrics, especially in comparison to "Bob." The song is about the horrors of the DMV (I've been to hell, I spell it...I spell it D-M-V.). The 3rd verse is nonsensical (Barbecues, tea kettles, gobs of axle grease/There comes for every man to sail the seas of cheese/Now, life's a bowl of bagel dogs, but there are unpleasantries/Cold toilet seas, dentist chairs, and trips to the DMV), but it's a great, high-energy song.
9/10
6. The Ol' Diamondback Sturgeon (Fisherman's Chronicles, Part 3) (4:40)
If you haven't read the other reviews, Les's favorite sport is fishing, and this is the 3rd part of a series of fishing songs. Not great instrumentally, and Claypool's vocals are hard to understand. Lyrically, it's a straightforward song about catching a diamondback sturgeon. Decent.
7/10
7. Nature Boy (5:33)
This is a weird song. It's one of the better ones on the album musically and lyrically. It's about an odd man who never opens his blinds because 1. He dances around naked and 2. The sun glares off his TV. Srong drumming from Herb in this song.
8/10
8. Wounded Knee (2:25)
A drums/percussion instrumental. Second best of the 5 instrumentals on this album. Not much to say about this short song, other than it's probably Herb's best drumming on the CD.
7/10
9. Pork Soda (2:20)
Ugh. This is one of the most annoying title tracks of all time. When you look at the lyrics, it sounds like a funny song, but the words are drowned out by the annoying instruments. Bad.
5/10
10. The Pressman (5:11)
An (intentionally?) unimpressive bass performance from Claypool. The song seems to be about a lonely writer trying to make a good story. LaLonde's guitar-work is shown well in the background, with Alexander's drums helping to keep the song alive. A little boring.
6/10
11. Mr. Krinkle (5:27)
I might take back what I said about "DMV." This could be the second best song on the album. In this song, Les plays bowed upright bass, but manages to create a great riff. Great work from the other two as well. Random lyrics go well with the random video.
9/10
12. The Air is Getting Slippery (2:31)
The last song with lyrics on the album. This song feature a bouncy bassline and strange lyrics describing the protagonist's friends and how hot it is in there. Ends every verse almost saying the F-word, before finally saying it at the end (although it's drowned out by a window breaking).
7/10
13. Hamburger Train (8:11)
The best instrumental on the album. The song conjures up an image of the band playing on a...hamburger train. The sound of Ler and Les weaving in between leads makes me think of them flying and weaving through the air (Jethro Tull's "Steel Monkey" makes me think of similar images for some reason). The band certainly shows off their talent during this song, but it gets a little boring after 4 minutes.
8/10
14. Pork Chop's Little Ditty (1:03)
The same as the first one, only longer and serving as an outro. Well, it SHOULD be the outro, but they made the mistake of making the next song the closer.
No Rating
15. Hail Santa (1:50)
I guess the band wasted their ability to make good instrumentals on "Hamburger Train," because this song just plain sucks. Annoying sleigh bells ringing over boring bass. And it has such a cool title! Why waste it on this? A bad way to finish an album.
3/10
Overall: 7/10
