Primus: Green Naugahyde (2LP, ghostly green vinyl, 10th anniversary deluxe edition) [ATO]

Why you'll love it

This anniversary edition spreads the album over two 45 RPM LPs on ghostly green vinyl, in a deluxe jacket with enhanced artwork. Green Naugahyde was Primus's first album since 1999's Antipop and the lone studio record with Jay Lane on drums.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Ghostly green vinyl
• 10th anniversary deluxe edition
• Cut at 45 RPM
• Gatefold jacket
• Download card included
• Pressed in Canada

About the album

The title comes from "Lee Van Cleef," a song about a bunch of friends watching spaghetti westerns and riding around in a yellow Studebaker with a green Naugahyde interior, which is about as Primus as a sentence can get. After years of side projects, Les Claypool and Larry LaLonde reconnected, called up Jay Lane (who'd first played with Claypool back in 1988) and went to make a record on the strength of how good the road felt.

Claypool produced it himself, and the trio sounds loose and hungry. "Hennepin Crawler" and "Eternal Consumption Engine" lock into deep, slapping grooves (Claypool said Lane's return breathed life back into the project, and you can hear it), "Tragedy's A'Comin'" and "Eyes of the Squirrel" serve up the band's trademark twisted storytelling, and "Moron TV" and "Lee Van Cleef" lead into the long, winding "Extinction Burst" and "Salmon Men."

Ten years on, it plays like a homecoming, and the 45 RPM cut gives that bass a little extra muscle. As upholstery goes, it's held up rather better than most car interiors from the era.

Also at Kops: more Primus on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Listen

On ATO Records / Prawn Song (cat# ATO0581), a reissue of the 2011 album.