Primus: Pork Soda (2LP) [INTERSCOPE]

Why you'll love it

This 2LP set is remastered on 180g vinyl in a gatefold jacket. Pork Soda debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200, the band's first top 10 album, and went on to platinum.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Remastered
• 180g vinyl
• Gatefold jacket
• Pressed in the EU

About the album

Les Claypool explained that the name Pork Soda was meant to describe Primus themselves: an acquired taste, like a meat-flavoured soft drink. By 1993 rather a lot of people had acquired it. After nearly two years of touring, the trio of Claypool, guitarist Larry LaLonde and drummer Tim Alexander went back in and made a darker, heavier record, with Claypool playing more six-string bass than before.

"My Name Is Mud" is the big one, a lurching, slap-happy groove with a tall tale to tell, and "Mr. Krinkle" swaps funk for a bowed upright bass and a creepy carnival feel. "DMV" and "Bob" are sharp, "The Ol' Diamondback Sturgeon" carries on the Fisherman's Chronicles saga, and Alexander's drum showcase "Wounded Knee" is a highlight. "Hamburger Train" and "Hail Santa" round out a gloriously strange ride.

It went gold within months, which surprised a good few critics. Pork soda never did take off at the corner store, but the album has been selling steadily ever since.

Also at Kops: more Primus on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Listen

On Interscope / Prawn Song, a reissue of the 1993 album.