Customer Reviews

Live Frogs: Set 2

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I bought this disc unsure of what to expect: I am a casual fan of Primus, enjoyed some of Claypool's collaborations and excursions with Buckethead and others, and certainly am a big Pink Floyd fan, though Animals is not one of my favorites, so I was not sure what this would sound like.

Here's the answer: Amazing! It's a jaw-dropping showcase of top-flight musicians, jamming and grooving on an album they obviously know and love. It's clear they are enjoying every minute, and the results speak for themselves, the music recalls the album but does not mimic it, with pure inspired performances from start to finish. Indeed, I have new-found appreciation for both this band and for the original Animals, which I promptly pulled out to listen after hearing this re-imagination.

It's also a bit different from other "stunt" albums along these lines, such as Phish's live Halloween tributes to the Beatles or The Who, which are ok but have more of a loose, fooling-around kind of vibe. This is the real deal, these musicians are deadly serious about making it work, they are invested in the material and the performances and it shows. Although Gilmour and Waters have nothing to worry about as far as Claypool's vocals are concerned, this one is a winner and I highly recommend.

This album is a testament to the universal appeal of music. You can't imagine two more different bands - in terms of geographical origin, philosophical outlook and musical disposition - than late-70s Pink Floyd and early-noughties Frog Brigade. And yet the Frog Brigade play Pink Floyd's album `Animals' live in its entirety, and something magical happens.

Do the Frog Brigade even know what they're singing about on here? `Animals' is a terribly bleak album. Its three major songs are cruel dissections of 1970s British society, with lyrics penned by the miserabilist Roger Waters - `Dogs' is about mercenaries and tyrants, `Pigs (Three Different Ones)' is a portrait of three unsavoury figures in British public life, and `Sheep' is an awfully scathing, not to mention awfully patronising, attack on ordinary Joes. That's you and me, folks. The drab sepia picture of London's Battersea Power Station on the cover of `Animals' says it all (this picture is reproduced on the back cover of `Live Frogs Set 2', but with the inflatable pig next to Battersea Power Station irreverently replaced with an inflatable frog).

The Frog Brigade, by contrast, are exuberant people, American through and through, who enjoy playing protracted jams wearing wacky costumes. And yet somehow, their rendition of `Animals' works. The Frog Brigade are clearly enormous fans of `Animals' (in the sleevenotes, Claypool touchingly recounts his first encounter with the album as a boy), and have worked hard to do justice to it.

The vocals are passable, if workmanlike. But the playing is phenomenal - although even in this department, the band is careful not to overdo it. After the barnstorming version of Pink Floyd's `Shine On You Crazy Diamond' that closed `Live Frogs Set 1' (followed by Claypool's inimitable words `we'll be back in 20 minutes with more Pink Floyd than any human being should ever withstand'), I was looking forward to the Frog Brigade really stretching out on the `Animals' numbers. But they restrain themselves - oh well.

The one song where the band does seem to let go a little, and undoubtedly the best song on the album, is `Pigs (Three Different Ones)', which has some awesome instrumental passages. (Again, reading Claypool's sleevenotes I discover that `Pigs (Three Different Ones)' is his favourite track on `Animals', so it makes sense that it would be the best performed.)

What would be really nice would be if Pink Floyd fans who have never heard of Les Claypool - hell, if the actual members of Pink Floyd - buy this album simply because the prospect of `Animals' played live in its entirety by another band intrigues them. I'm certain they would love it.

This entire album is a live recording of Les Claypool's band covering Pink Floyd's "Animals" album. This happens to be one of my favorite Pink Floyd albums, so when I happened to hear that he did this I picked it up. It definitely does not disappoint, staying relatively close to the album throughout. The musicianship is definitely on par with Floyd, and the vocals are surprisingly well done. A great effort and a great listen for any Floyd fan.

yeah the songs are long!duh,it IS the animals album they're covering here,folks!I think that they did a fine job.you also gotta realize that with cover songs/albums either the group tries to get the song(s) as close to the originals as possible,or improvises them some.in this case the just did them the same as the originals-big deal!there doesn't ALWAYS have to be drastic innovations and changes in a cover song to make it different(les claypool does the vocals-how much more "different" can you get?)
anyhoo,don't let the rediculous bad reviews of this disc lead you astray cause it's awesome and truly a "must have" if you don't already own pink floyd's original version.(I was actually bout to get the floyd cd before I looked in the primus section @ the cd store and saw this!)p.s. it's better than the first frogs set by faaaar!

Les Claypool's interpretation of Pink Floyd's masterpiece Animals does not vary much from the original work. There is no doubt that Claypool is a master bass player who has a penchant for the offbeat, but here Les' oddball personality is shackled and chained within the Floyd framework. For curiosity purposes only I bought this cd (and because I own everything else Les has ever done) with low expectations knowing full well that it would be difficult if not impossible to live up to the Floyd legend. I'm sorry to say, they don't pull it off. The Frog Brigade is an immensely talent band (much of which consisted of Sausage) but they should put their talents to original compositions instead of just retreading in common waters. Bottom line: if I want to listen to Pink Floyd Animals, I would put that Cd in my cd player. Recommended for hard-core completists only.

As a great PF fan I usually get quite agressive when hearing their songs being covered or, most of the time, getting raped. However, Les once again pulls it off. One can tell the great respect he must have for PF as he stays close to their original sound, he's not trying to re-invent the wheel as only so often is the case with covers. Someone who's able to recognize a great album for what it is and then has the courage to cover it in a way that keeps the same sound yet adding his own personal touch, well to me that someone is a great musician. Of course people who don't know 'Animals' might feel it's all a big jam session, I say educate yerselves and most of all....listen to the lyrics!
Nothing but admiration from my end for this fine piece of work and anyone agreeing with me should check out the Primus cover of 'Have a cigar'...excellent as well!!!

I have read much about this set not being as good as Pink Floyd's,but I beg to differ.I really like the Floyd album Animals very much.It is in my estimation the best they ever did.Now,with Les and the Frog's it takes on a new life.It is very close to the original but has more energy and life than the original.The musicianship is second to none,especially Les.His vocals aren't even too bad on this one.Do yourself a favor and take this for what it is.A tribute to a band that Les obviously has alot of affection for.Shame I could not rate higher than 5 stars.

It's not hard to see why Les Claypool chose to cover "Animals" by Pink Floyd, with the hard, driving bass line grooves of Roger Waters and the loose song structures affording some freedom to improvise. Also, like Waters, in my opinion, Claypool's vocals are not his strong point. His voice is too nasal and often downright annoying to me, but he sounds pretty decent here, and he isn't even the lead singer on "Sheep". The great lyrics are much easier to understand on this recording than they are on the original. The overall performance is very good, but the guitar work is noticeably inferior to that of Dave Gilmour. The sound quality is excellent. Any fan of Pink Floyd would probably enjoy listening to this. If you just want to hear the crazy sound that is Primus, you might not like this very much. If you appreciate Les Claypool for his great skills and don't expect the songs to sound like Primus, you might give it a try.

Two words: Major funk-a-licious!

Pink Floyd is my god. Animals is my bible. And Les Claypool... well, he's Les Claypool. And Holy Cow (or should I say Flying Frog?) does this live version of Animals sound incredible!

Okay, so Les isn't known for his vocals. This somewhat takes away (but in no way ruins!) from the songs, most noticibly on Pigs on the Wing I & II and Dogs. However, what Les lacks in singing, he sure makes up for in his bass. The rest of his gang never lets up either.

This album sounds a lot, and I can't stress this more, like the original Animals. Okay, so it's no perfect studio album, and the dog, pig, and sheep sound effects are barely there, but man, these guys worked hard, very hard, to have their sound become that studio album.

Pigs on the Wing I & II- Awesome guitar, so-so vocals. A great rendition of the "love" ballad.

Dogs - Incredible! Bass is pure funk and up-front, drums are dead on, but much louder than the studio!, the guitars are perfect, the keyboards keep the melody, and the sax/electro-thingy is an incredible filler. You can tell that Les was highly influenced by Floyd just with the emotion of this song alone. The only two drawbacks are the vocals, and the ending. The end is not as deep or heavy as the studio, but it still rocks.

Pigs - Pure bass. Incredible bass. Nothing more to say, except for what I said above.

Sheep - An incredible live version of this difficult song.

Like I said, this live album sounds purely like Animals. If you're a fan of Floyd, you'll love this. If you like Claypool, I'm sure you'll love this. And if Animals is your favorite album ever (as in my case), then this is a must have! You won't be dissapointed.

Later, and shine on...

I've been a huge Pink Floyd fan for the last 20 years and Animals was always the "Dark" albumn you'd listen to when in certain moods...
I've always liked Primus, but was never a HUGE fan.. until thier DVD came out and it seemed every other weekend I'd be jonesin to watch it.. I looked through the catolog of Les Claypool and found this.. 1 week later it came to my house and was put in without a second...
This CD has such a rock solid foundation of the original it is amazing! It actually seems more busy than the original meaning the bass just jumps out at you.. I guess I was expecting Les Claypool to adlib parts of bass, but he never does..It is a serious duplicate of the original.. Its got it all.. Voice Box guitars, keyboards, sounds like Gilmour himself is playing.. I highly recommend this cd to anyone who is a Pink Floyd fan.. This beats the crap outta Roger Waters solo "Live Wall" disaster... which is nuts cause that was 1/4 Floyd..