On this, the first full-length release by the classic lineup of Primus in almost twenty years, the band has decided to deconstruct an American classic: the soundtrack to \u201cWilly Wonka And The Chocolate Factory.\u201d It\u2019s an interesting idea on paper that just feels kind of weak and uninteresting on disc.<\/p>\n
Probably the most twisted rearrangement is \u201cThe Candy Man,\u201d that ol\u2019 Sammy Davis Jr. chestnut now sung by Les Claypool as only Les can do it. The song still sounds catchy, but it\u2019s a different kind of catchy: all twisted and screwed up. \u201cCheer Up Charlie\u201d still sounds sad but remains upbeat; Claypool\u2019s vocals make him out like a storybook teller. The always-amazing Tim Alexander is an absolute percussive miracle, playing these unique arrangements like he hasn\u2019t a care in the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cGolden Ticket\u201d just doesn\u2019t work, unfortunately. It sounds too forced and overly repetitive. The centerpiece of the film, \u201cPure Imagination,\u201d has some amazing music from the band with help from Sam Bass on cello and Mike Dillon on vibes, but it just seems to be lacking the magic to make it a standard in Primus\u2019 repertoire. \u201cOompa Augustus\u201d sounds like an outtake from 1993\u2019s Pork Soda<\/i> and that\u2019s damn fine with me; the music sounds great and Les\u2019 vocals are at their utmost creepy. There\u2019s also the Oompa Loompa\u2019s take on Violet, Mike Teevee and Veruca Salt, but unfortunately they all sound the same. If they\u2019d taken a risk and changed the music of each one, it would\u2019ve made them more memorable.<\/p>\n
\u201cSemi-Wondrous Boat Ride\u201d relies largely on the great cello work of Sam Bass as it gives Claypool a chance to become the bastard offspring of Gene Wilder. \u201cI Want It Now\u201d is guitarist Larry LeLonde\u2019s chance in the spotlight as he takes a very rare vocal appearance and slays it. Definitely the standout of the record. <\/p>\n
Being a diehard Primus fan since I was a wee little thing, I had high expectations going into the record. Unfortunately, those expectations were not met, with this being the most overall woefully unsatisfying Primus record since 1999\u2019s Antipop<\/i>. If the great tracks on the record had been compiled into a six song EP, then it would\u2019ve done a whole lot better.<\/p>\n
Hopefully with their next full-length, they\u2019ll go back to the Primus of old and give the fans more than just a gleeful romp through an old childhood favorite.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":32178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5631],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-43930","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-primus","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=43930"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=43930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}