Customer Reviews

Highball With the Devil

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

les does almost all of of the important playing on this album including, often, guitar, bass, drums, and vocals. he also plays arco quite often. henry rollins also appears on track 8 with his usual interesting spoken word type poetry. this album has pnenomenal funky bass solos as well as thoughtfully composed bass pieces. if you like primus, you will probably like this; if you like bass-dominated music, you will probably like this; hell, if you like good music....

Aother fine product from Frisco's Nature Boy. There is no question on why he can be a Bass Player magazine Hero. Phenominal playing on the disc. From what I understand he wrote it in his home studio (which is a spectacular site). He chose musicians that fit his songs personalities. He is definitely a genius.

I admit that I am probably a very biased Claypool fan. He could put out an album of himself using the toilet and I would write about how great it is. That being said, I don't think I am relying on that bias to call this album his masterpiece. Primus is incredible and likely the reason we all know who Les is, but this album digs into the psyche of Les Claypool. The tunes here are far more raw and rough than Primus, but I think that is the point of this album as a solo project....to give us some insight into who Les really is. It's odd that some reviewers claim that "the Awakening" is the only tune of value here. I found Awakening to be my least favorite recording. When I saw Les live in Seattle on July, 3rd, 2007 they opened the show with "Highball With the Devil" and it was so obvious that he had retreated into some very safe, happy place while performing, much more so than the two times I have seen Primus live. Highlights of this album for me include "Highball With the Devil"," El Sobrante Fortnight" and "Carolina Rig". The bass line on Carolina rig digs into your gut and the vocal overlay makes you feel as if you have been hangin' with Les all day on some remote lake.

This stuff is crazy good. CRAZY! I like more than PRIMUS. Its got the funky drive you'd expect from LES and just all kinds of all out insanity on this peice. HIGHBALL WITH THE DEVIL is in itself a great track, I DIG the repetition at the end and I think it should be about ten minutes longer. HENDERSHOT too is very cool; but thats just the beggining. GET CRAZY! Some of LES' BEST.

It is nice to hear Mr. Claypool let his real genius unwind, without the pressures of keeping Primus poppily accessible. He must have realized no one would buy this album (so few reviews! Why is this under Misc.! ), so he could perhaps tone it down just a notch for grateful listeners as myself. The perks of Primus are here, plus some delightful instrumentals to give a much-needed rest from his...unique...vocal style. Hats off to you, Mr. Claypool, and please fish on.

I got this CD a couple months ago and it is a GREAT CD. i think it's really cool what les claypool did on this album. it's basically a solo album for him...on some songs he plays all of the instruments and and some songs he only plays some of the instruments....but it's truly les claypool style. it sorta reminded me of the Brown Album, but better.

Claypool's bass creating the space for Henry Rollin's voice on "Tendrils" alone is worth more than the price of this one.

This is a great CD. Sure, it's not perfect, not a masterpiece but it makes for great listening, if you're a Primus fan. Les Claypool unwinds completely, kicks back, relaxes and has fun. This album is 100% Les, I believe. If you want to hear Les doing what he does best, check out the wonderful instrumental "The Awakening". There are far too many standouts in this CD. But if you want to hear Les doing his great bass work, then "The Awakening" alone is worth the price of admission, I believe.

I'd actually rate this album 3.5 stars. I gave a 4 star rating because this cd deserves more than a 3. As said before by other members the first four songs are impressive. Running the Gauntlet is a little too short, clocking in a little over a minute. Holy Mackeral and Highball With the Devil are the album's highlights. Hendershot is a good song, which is very reminicent of an oldie song. Calling Kyle is not a good song to say the least. Claypool's vocals are rather irritating. This is why I think a lot of the songs on this cd failed to impress me. Rancor, Cohibas Esplenditos, and George E. Porge are rather boring songs. Delicate Trendils, Awakening, Precipitation, Granny's Little Yard Gnome, and Me and Chuck are all very good. Whereas Sobrante Fortnight and Carolina Rig are just decent.
To sum it up, this is no where near being a bad cd, nor is it Les's best side project. It is a decent cd with some amazing songs and several flops. Les good have done a better job with the vocals. His vocals were not as fun as other cds I have heard. I recommend Purple Onion, The Grand Pecking Order, Frizzle Fry, Sailling the Seas of Cheese, Tales From the Punchbowl, and Angel Dust over this cd. Hope I was of some help...Oh and check out the lyrics to 'Granny's Little Yard Gnome'. It is a quite humorous song.

the first four songs are just plain awesome. any primus/claypool fan should be able to dig these tunes as well as a few others on this album like precipitation and granny's yard gnome. those are definately 4/5 star songs all the way. and they sound even better when played live and that's very nice. the rest of the album isn't bad, but it won't really grab you like a primus album or like some of les' later solo side projects. those songs are just 'ok'.

the collection of great songs and ok songs make for a decent album. buy it for running the gauntlet, holy mackerel, high ball with the devil, hendershot and a few others. everything else on the album is alright.