The career of an eclectic northern California trio by the name of Primus has been marked pretty much by the impact they've had on today's hard-music scene, greatly influencing such top acts as Korn, Limp Bizkit and the Deftones.
Opening with the creaky sounds of a ship at sea, 1991's Sailing The Seas Of Cheese, their second full-length album, charts the funk-punk waters the San Francisco Bay area band returns to again and again. It's all here: the acerbic humor, Les Claypool's gurgling fretless bass lines, Larry LaLonde's seasick metal guitar, and Tim Alexander's Bill Bruford-inspired syncopation. The narrator of "Sgt. Baker" aims to "rape your personality," while the reapers of the "American Life" live out their dreams "residing in a cardboard box." Tom Waits makes a cameo on the funky back-alley tale "Tommy the Cat," and the protagonist of "Jerry Was a Race Car Driver" has "too many cold beers one night" and "wraps himself around a telephone pole." Primus concert fave "Those Damned Blue Collar Tweakers" helps round out this bizarre prog-punk masterpiece.