Oysterhead
The Grand Pecking Order

THE REVIEW

This trio is made up of very different artists. Different personalities, different styles and musical backgrounds, and different sounds that set them apart. Among the artistic careers of the three, there is a disparity vaguely resembling only the hats and clothes they wear on the back cover. They need no introduction: Les Claypool, voice and bassist of Primus, Trey Anastasio, guitarist and singer of Phish, and last but certainly not least, Stewart Copeland of the former Police. It's a bit like those special issues where comic book heroes create a super-adventure, like a story with Altan's Colombo, Pazienza's Zanardi, and Mickey Mouse. It's like mixing truffle, lobster, and chocolate into a single dish, yet managing to have a delightful taste and a digestibility of a salad without dressing. And that's precisely what the three do: their fusion is a mix that works, and rather than seeking flashy effects and virtuosity, they create a truly enjoyable and varied album, and, I’m not saying commercial, but still accessible even for those who do not love either Primus, Phish, or Police. So we're not talking about the classic supergroup that puts the exaggerated ego of the individuals first, there's no annoying battle over who's better; sure, they have technique to spare and they know it, but they go beyond, they gauge it, and put it at the service of the efficiency of the ensemble. Listen to believe...

The album starts with "Little Faces", an intro with a filtered and suspicious guitar, wait twenty seconds and then come the ride and snare played in a way that might seem almost confused, then Mr. Claypool's evil, almost out-of-place bass enters. The theme starts, the drums keep a tricky tempo with simple hi-hat and snare played with a stick... the voices aren't beautiful in the classic sense but are very recognizable and inimitable, almost mumbled and intertwine in verse and chorus. The bass takes center stage and the timid guitar refines in never banal ways with hypnotic motifs. The train of the first three songs flows by quickly, the rhythms are engaging but never frenetic, more like Primus "Brown Album" than anything else. "Shadow of a Man" revisits the darker atmospheres of "Pork Soda," and together with the title track, are the least listenable (and least successful) episodes of the album. In "Radon Balloon" and "Birthday Boys" Trey takes up the acoustic guitar, and the atmosphere becomes almost country; "Pseudo Suicide" starts funky and continues Sabbath, and in "Army's on Ecstasy", over the relentless upstroke rhythm, there's one of the few, delightful guitar solos. "Polka Dot Rose" has an Eastern European tinge, and the bass part, along with "Rubberneck Lions", could be from a Raul Casadei at full throttle. The lyrics are heavily humor and surrealism-focused, tinged here and there with anti-militarism (so many -isms in the last sentence!).

Overall, what's most striking is the variety of the pieces, too different from each other to become tiresome. At the first listens, one is amazed by the impact of the first three songs that function almost as a simple incipit for something that progressively reveals itself as more intricate and vast than expected. The album was released in 2001 by Elektra and, as far as I know, there's no sequel planned at the moment.
If you want a sincere piece of advice, if you find it, since I tried to look for it as a gift and it's out of print, listen to it and you won't regret it. Scout's honor.