Frizzle Fry

Frizzle Fry is the debut studio album by American rock band Primus. It was released on February 7, 1990, by Caroline Records. Produced by the band and Matt Winegar, the album was recorded at Different Fur Studios in San Francisco in December 1989. In 2015, Primus frontman Les Claypool ranked Frizzle Fry as his favorite Primus album.^[3]

Frizzle Fry
Studio album by Primus
Released	February 7, 1990 (1990-02-07)
Recorded	December 1989
Studio	Different Fur, San Francisco
Genre	Funk metal[1] alternative metal[2]
Length	51:23
Label	Caroline
Producer	Primus, Matt Winegar
Primus chronology
Suck on This (1989) Frizzle Fry (1990) Sailing the Seas of Cheese (1991)
Singles from Frizzle Fry
"John the Fisherman" Released: May 17, 1990 "Too Many Puppies" Released: July 26, 1990 "Mr. Knowitall" Released: 1990

Background

Primus self-financed the recording of Frizzle Fry using proceeds from their preceding album, Suck On This.^[4] The completed album was then released in 1990 on Caroline Records.^[4] Frizzle Fry features guitarist Larry LaLonde playing many parts written by previous guitarist Todd Huth who left before the recording of the album.^[4]

Frizzle Fry features the band's first single and minor radio hit "John the Fisherman". It was remastered in 2002, after the original had been out of print for years, and was released on Prawn Song Records. The remaster includes an extra track, named "Hello Skinny/Constantinople", a cover of the tracks "Hello Skinny" and "Constantinople" by the Residents.

"Too Many Puppies" is the first Primus song Les Claypool ever wrote.^[4] "You Can't Kill Michael Malloy" is an excerpt from the Spent Poets song of the same name. The album's producer, Matt Winegar, who also recorded and produced Suck on This, was a member of the group, and a clip is featured just before "The Toys Go Winding Down". The beginning of "To Defy the Laws of Tradition" is an excerpt from the instrumental "YYZ" by the Canadian rock band Rush from their 1981 album Moving Pictures, sampled from the live version of "John the Fisherman" which appears on Suck on This. Another Suck on This sample also appears at the end of "Groundhog's Day"; the "Hey hey, Bob Cock here!" spoken intro from that album's version.

Live performance

Primus supported Frizzle Fry by opening for Jane's Addiction on a North American tour.^[5]

The album was performed live in its entirety on the band's Hallucino-Genetics Tour in 2004 and a few more times in 2010.^[6] During the Hallucino-Genetics Tour, "You Can't Kill Michael Malloy" was featured in its entirety as a short set break, as opposed to merely the excerpt that appears on the album.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[7]
Chicago Tribune	[8]
Christgau's Consumer Guide	[9]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[10]
Metal Reviews	86/100[11]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[12]
Spin Alternative Record Guide	8/10[13]
Tiny Mix Tapes	4.5/5[14]

Robert Christgau described the album as "Don Knotts Jr. joins the Minutemen."^[15] The Washington Post wrote that "echoes of San Francisco's late and (in some quarters) lamented Dead Kennedys can be heard in this S.F. trio's cartoonish vocals and blasts at adult hypocrisy ('To Defy the Laws of Tradition') and mindless conformity ('Too Many Puppies'), but the sound is jazzy speed-metal, not punk."^[16] The Times said that "Primus exhibits the delinquent musical tendencies of early Frank Zappa updated to sit comfortably in the modern milieu of bands such as Anthrax and Faith No More".^[17]

Trouser Press stated that Frizzle Fry "effectively showcases drummer Tim 'Herb' Alexander's tight, frenetic technique and guitarist Larry LaLonde's aggro-fusion chops."^[18] Reviewing the album for AllMusic, Ned Raggett noted that "it's pretty easy to see in retrospect how much of a melange went into the group's work. Nods but thankfully few outright steals to everything from Frank Zappa's arch humor and Funkadelic's sprawl to the Police's early, spare effectiveness crop up and, indeed, so does plenty of Metallica." He contended that "something about Frizzle Fry is ultimately and perfectly of its time and place."^[7]

Track listing

No.	Title	Music	Guitar melodies by	Length
1.	"To Defy the Laws of Tradition"		Huth	6:42
2.	"Groundhog's Day"		Huth	4:58
3.	"Too Many Puppies"			3:57
4.	"Mr. Knowitall"			3:51
5.	"Frizzle Fry"		Huth	6:04
6.	"John the Fisherman"		Huth	3:37
7.	"You Can't Kill Michael Malloy" (performed by Matt Winegar)	Winegar		0:25
8.	"The Toys Go Winding Down"			4:35
9.	"Pudding Time"		Huth	4:08
10.	"Sathington Willoughby" (Title misspelled as "Sathington Willoby" on back cover)			0:24
11.	"Spegetti Western"			5:43
12.	"Harold of the Rocks"		Huth	6:17
13.	"To Defy"		Huth	0:36
Total length:				51:23

All lyrics are written by Les Claypool; all music is composed by Primus, except where noted

2002 reissue bonus track

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
14.	"Hello Skinny/Constantinople" (The Residents cover)	The Residents	4:48
Total length:			56:11

Personnel

Writing, performance and production credits are adapted from the album liner notes.^[19]

Personnel

Primus

• Les Claypool – vocals, bass, electric upright bass, double bass
• Larry LaLonde – acoustic guitar, electric guitar
• Tim "Herb" Alexander – drums, percussion

Additional musicians

• Todd Huth – acoustic guitar on "The Toys Go Winding Down"
• Sathington Willoughby Orchestra
  • Les Claypool a.k.a. "Snap" – banjo, string bass
  • Larry LaLonde a.k.a. "Chunker" – archtop acoustic guitar
  • Tim Alexander a.k.a. "Herb" – toy organ
  • Matt Winegar a.k.a. "Exxon" – toy piano, composer – "You Can't Kill Michael Malloy"
  • Todd Huth – acoustic guitar
• Stan Hearne – vocals on "Harold of the Rocks"

Production

• Primus – production
• Matt "Exxon" Winegar – production
• Ron Rigler – engineering
• Matt Murman – second engineer
• Stephen Marcussen – remastering

Visual Art

• Lance "Link" Montoya – sculpture
• "Snap" – airbrushing, cartooning
• Paul Haggard – jacket design, photography

Studios

• Different Fur, San Francisco – recording
• Marcussen Mastering, Los Angeles – remastering

References

1. Carey, Ryan (September 28, 2011). "Primus: Green Naugahyde". Paste. Retrieved January 20, 2019.
2. "The 25 Best Alternative Metal Albums — Metal Descent". Archived from the original on February 4, 2017.
3. Jones, Bill (June 4, 2015). "Rank Your Records: Les Claypool Rates Primus' Albums". Noisey. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
4. Hart, Ron (February 7, 2020). "Les Claypool Looks Back on Primus' Debut 'Frizzle Fry' at 30". Billboard. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
5. Barton, David (December 21, 1990). "Primus Is in a Category All Its Own". The Sacramento Bee. p. TK28.
6. "Interview with Les Claypool of Primus: Odd Man Out | The Aquarian Weekly". Theaquarian.com. October 8, 2010. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
7. Raggett, Ned. "Frizzle Fry – Primus". AllMusic. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
8. Kot, Greg (August 16, 1990). "Primus: Frizzle Fry (Caroline)". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
9. Christgau, Robert (2000). "Primus: Frizzle Fry". Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-24560-2. Retrieved December 16, 2018.
10. Larkin, Colin (2011). "Primus". The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 9780857125958.
11. "Primus - Frizzle Fry". metalreviews.com. 2019. Retrieved August 2, 2019.
12. Kot, Greg (2004). "Primus". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. p. 654. ISBN 9780743201698.
13. Norris, Chris (1995). "Primus". In Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig (eds.). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. p. 310. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
14. Roesgen, Jeff. "Primus – Frizzle Fry". Tiny Mix Tapes. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
15. Christgau, Robert (January 29, 1991). "Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
16. Jenkins, Mark (August 17, 1990). "Market Trends of Heavy Metal". The Washington Post. p. N16.
17. Sinclair, David (July 20, 1990). "Primus: Frizzle Fry". Features. The Times.
18. Fricke, David. "Primus". Trouser Press. Retrieved July 25, 2024.
19. Frizzle Fry (remastered edition, liner notes). Primus. Prawn Song Records. 2002.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)