Frizzle Fry

Untitled

Frizzle Fry is the first studio album recorded by the band Primus as Suck on This was a live album.

Released in 1990 on Caroline Records, it included the tracks Frizzle Fry and Groundhog's Day, not to be confused with the 1993 movie Groundhog Day. As well as the bands first single and minor radio hit "John The Fisherman". It was remastered in 2002, due to the original being out of print for years, and it was released on Prawn Song Records. It included 2 extra tracks, "Hello Skinny" and "Constantinople" (both covers of songs by The Residents).

Stylistically the album can be described as "thrash with a lot of bass". The albums guitar riffs were indeed thrash based, and much of the bands original cult following were thrash fans. This album also featured some more bizarre exotic influences, on the title track Claypool's bass lines sound at times like Indian music, while "Sathington Willoughby" sounds like an old American folk song. The album was also the band's least dissonant, and at times hard to take album, perhaps due to leftover songwriting from original members Todd Huth and Jay Lane.

"You Can't Kill Michael Malloy" is an excerpt from the Spent Poets song of the same name. The album's producer, Matt Winegar (who also recorded and produced "Suck on This" with merely a four-track recorder), was a member of the group, and a clip is featured just before "The Toys Go Winding Down." During Primus' 2004 Hallucino-Genetics Tour, where the second set would be Frizzle Fry in its entirety, the entire song of "You Can't Kill Michael Malloy" is used, as opposed to merely the excerpt.

Les Claypool, the band's front man, is not without a sense of humor. Having claimed Rush to be one of his greatest influences, the song "To Defy The Laws Of Tradition" starts off appearing to be the first track of Primus's previous live album (Suck On This) which starts with a cover of the Rush song "YYZ", but quickly transitions into the actual song's beginning.

Although merely an indie sensation at the time of its release, many Primus fans consider it their favorite album today; Claypool himself says it is his best work with Primus. It contained Primus's first single, John The Fisherman, which was slightly popular and attracted attention. "Too Many Puppies" has been adopted into a song at sports arenas. Frizzle Fry quickly went gold in 2002, shortly after it was reissued.

Track listing

1. "To Defy The Laws Of Tradition" – 6:40 (Claypool/LaLonde/ Alexander)
2. "Groundhog's Day" – 4:58 (Claypool/Huth)
3. "Too Many Puppies" – 3:56 (Claypool/LaLonde/Alexander)
4. "Mr. Knowitall" – 3:49 (Claypool/LaLonde/Alexander)
5. "Frizzle Fry" – 6:03 (Claypool/Huth)
6. "John The Fisherman" – 3:37 (Claypool/Huth)
7. "You Can't Kill Michael Malloy" – 0:25 (Winegar)
8. "The Toys Go Winding Down" – 4:34 (Claypool/LaLonde/Alexander)
9. "Pudding Time" – 4:07 (Claypool/LaLonde/Alexander/Huth/Lane)
10. "Sathington Willoughby" – 0:25 (Claypool)
11. "Spegetti Western" – 5:41 (Claypool/LaLonde/Alexander)
12. "Harold Of The Rocks" – 6:17 (Claypool/Huth)
13. "To Defy" – 0:37 (Claypool)
14. "Hello Skinny" (bonus track on 2002 remaster) (The Residents)
15. "Constantinople" (bonus track on 2002 remaster) (The Residents)

Personnel

• Les Claypool - bass guitar, vocals
• Larry "Ler" LaLonde - guitars, synthesizer
• Tim "Herb" Alexander - drums, percussion