Brown Album

Background

Brown Album was the first Primus release to not feature drummer Tim Alexander and the first to feature Bryan "Brain" Mantia. Claypool stated "Herb's departure was like a marriage that just slowly decayed to an end." "When it came down to it, we came very close to dissolving entirely, to ending Primus. I went to Ler and said, 'Look, I'm not content anymore. We've got a good thing going between us and we should probably get a new drummer.' When we talked to Herb about it, he wasn't surprised at all--in fact he seemed very relieved. He's got his own thing now. He's writing and singing [with his new band, Laundry] and he's much happier." Regarding the name of the album, Claypool said "This is a milestone record for Primus so it needed to have a milestone title. The Beatles have their 'White Album,' Metallica have their 'Black Album,' now Primus have their 'Brown Album.'"

Musical style

Claypool stated "Song-wise I think Brown leans back to Suck... or [1990's] Frizzle Fry". "It's a far more aggressive album than we've done in a long time. The differences between this album and [ Punch Bowl...] are far greater than the differences between this album and the very early stuff."

Reception

In his review for Allmusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine contends that "the replacement of drummer Tim "Herb" Alexander with Brian "Brain" Mantia doesn't affect Primus' sound in any notable way", but also notes that the album "moves Primus even further into progressive and jazz-rock territory". In conclusion, he describes Brown Album as "standard Primus – all instrumental interplay and adolescent humor – but it's delivered with more finesse and skill than ever." For Entertainment Weekly, Wook Kim describes the band as "in decline" since their "satisfyingly eclectic" early albums, noting that with Brown Album they "cross that thin line between novel and novelty." The San Diego Union labeled the album as "flat-sounding".

Tom Moon, for Rolling Stone, describes Brown Album as "precisely the type of weirdness that Primus have been peddling for years – progressive-rock instrumentals camouflaged in the tattered rags of punk and the absurdist narratives of a junior Zappa", although he notes that the songs "all wind up sounding the same... Galumphing processionals more notable for their robotic persistence than for their musical invention." He calls the album "more accessible" in the way that it "moves away from Primus' pet herky-jerky shifts of meter long enough to establish serious, straightforward grooves", but also "more accomplished than inspired" with an "increasingly obvious soul deficit." Songs from the album are rarely played live, although the song "Fisticuffs" has been used in sets from the last few years.

Track listing

All lyrics written by Les Claypool; all music composed by Primus.

Chart history

Singles - Billboard