Pork Soda
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| Pork Soda | ||
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| Studio album by Primus | ||
| Released | April 20, 1993 | |
| Recorded | ??? | |
| Genre | Alternative rock Funk metal Alternative Metal |
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| Length | 57:36 | |
| Label | Interscope Records | |
| Producer(s) | Primus | |
| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| Primus chronology | ||
| Miscellaneous Debris (1992) |
Pork Soda (1993) |
Tales from the Punchbowl (1995) |
Pork Soda is the third album by Primus. Released in 1993, it is considerably darker than the band's earlier efforts, dealing with murder (My Name Is Mud), dissatisfaction with the human race (Nature Boy), insanity (DMV), and suicide (Bob). It was a certified Gold record shortly after its release and is currently certified Platinum, and is Primus' largest seller to date.
The music on Pork Soda also drifts further from the "thrash funk" style that dominated the band's previous two albums into a more obscure heavier sound. The bass takes on a more dominant role with a dirgier abstract sound, while the guitar plays random "heavy metal" leads in unpredictable places and the drums keep the music anchored while also managing to make it sound more abstract still through rhythm changes and unconventional drumming methods. The songs are all like limericks of decadence sounding as if they were shouted by a carnival barker, mostly consisting of old melodies from nursery songs and children's rhymes, while the lyrics tell odd stories about characters in depressing situations.
This album also showed more work from Ler LaLonde and Tim Alexander, while Les Claypool had been the star of their previous albums, LaLonde and Alexander stepped up to the plate more on this record - LaLonde with the 8 minute jam "Hamburger Train", where, on guitar, he showcases his advanced technical skills and unique styles; on "The Air is Getting Slippery", he showcases his multiple talents with a banjo. Alexander, playing percussion rather than actual drums, contributed "Wounded Knee", an all percussion intrumental showing off his African music influences. Claypool himself grew beyond the (albeit talented) four-string stylings of the previous two studio albums - having acquired a fretted six-string shortly before recording the album, it would be featured heavily, as would his fretless (the "Rainbow bass") - his fretless intonation a sharp improvement over "Sailing the Seas of Cheese". Claypool is also heard on an upright bass ("Mr. Krinkle", "The Air is Getting Slippery"), as well as a mandolin (both "Pork Chop's Little Ditty" segments).
Despite being lyrically darker and somewhat more obscure than previous releases, it was well received by fans and critics alike. While in the future the band would shift even further into other genres and almost reinvent themselves with each album (psychedelic on Tales from the Punchbowl, 70's rock on Brown Album, and metal on Antipop), Pork Soda for the most part was very similar to the band's previous two releases.
Contents |
[edit] Track listing
- "Pork Chop's Little Ditty" – 0:21 (LaLonde)
- "My Name Is Mud" – 4:47 (Claypool/LaLonde/Alexander)
- "Welcome to This World" – 3:40 (Claypool/LaLonde/Alexander)
- "Bob" – 4:40 (Claypool/LaLonde/Alexander)
- "DMV" – 4:58 (Claypool/LaLonde/Alexander)
- "The Ol' Diamondback Sturgeon (Fisherman's Chronicles, Pt. 3)" – 4:39 (Claypool/LaLonde/Alexander)
- "Nature Boy" – 5:33 (Claypool/LaLonde/Alexander)
- "Wounded Knee" – 2:25 (Alexander)
- "Pork Soda" – 2:20 (Claypool/LaLonde/Alexander)
- "The Pressman" – 5:11 (Claypool)
- "Mr. Krinkle" – 5:27 (Claypool/LaLonde/Alexander)
- "The Air Is Getting Slippery" – 2:31 (Claypool/LaLonde/Alexander)
- "Hamburger Train" – 8:11 (Claypool/LaLonde/Alexander)
- "Pork Chop's Little Ditty (Full Version)" – 1:03 (LaLonde)
- "Hail Santa" – 1:50 (Claypool)
[edit] Personnel
- Les Claypool - Electric bass, Upright bass, Mandolin, Vocals
- Larry LaLonde - Guitar, 6-String Banjo
- Tim "Herb" Alexander - Drums
[edit] Production
- Ron Rigler, Derek Featherstone - Engineers
- Manny LaCarrubba, Neil King, Kent Matchke - Second Engineers
- John Golden, K-Disk - Mastering
- Tom Whalley - A&R Direction
- Leslie Gerard-Smith - Project Co-ordinator
- Paul "Bosco" Haggard - Cover layout
- Jay Blakesburg - Front Cover and Background Photography
- Lance "Link" Montoya - Clay sculpture on front cover
- SNAP - Airbrushing
- Recorded at: Ultrasound
- Mixed at: The Plant, Sausolito
- The Air Is Getting Slippery and Hail Santa recorded at The Corn, Berkeley
- Wounded Knee recorded at Log Cabin, Oakland
- Management:
David Leftkowitz Management;
Assistant: Stephanie Watts
3470 Nineteenth St.
San Francisco, CA 94110
- All songs published by Sturgeon (BMI) except:
Pork Chop's Little Ditty and Hail Santa: published by Long Corn Publishing (BMI)
Wounded Knee: published by Wounded Knee Publishing (BMI)
[edit] Popularity
Pork Soda was Primus's most successful release to date, it debuted on the Billboard Top 10 and featured 3 singles, "My Name Is Mud", "DMV" and "Mr. Krinkle"
[edit] Dedication
In the album credits, underneath the credit for lyrics, there is a dedication to Buck Naked, a musician friend of the band, blacked out. Buck Naked was the lead singer of Buck Naked and the Bare Bottom Boys, an up-and-coming band with Primus in the 1980s. Shortly before the release of this album, he was killed while walking his dog in the panhandle of Golden Gate Park. This is one of many dedications Primus would make to him - one in the video for "Mr. Krinkle," a song off of this album (a painting of the vocalist), and another in the video for "Wynona's Big Brown Beaver," off of the succeeding album, Tales from the Punchbowl (drummer Tim Alexander's bass drum head).
