Les Claypool And The Holy Mackerel: Highball With The Devil

There's no denying Primus frontman Les Claypool's abilities as a bassist, or his restlessly bizarre innovativeness. But his albums are really beginning to devolve into self-parody. Highball with the Devil, a one-shot side-project release, is the prototypical illustration of this creative decline: It's an aimless, meandering collection of cutesy spoken-word tracks ("El Sobrante Tonight"), boring instrumentals ("The Awakening," "Me and Chuck") and fleeting irritations in which Claypool falls back on what can best be described as an exaggerated Ross Perot impersonation ("George E. Porge"). Adding to Highball's bizarre lack of cohesiveness: an inexplicable appearance by Henry Rollins in spoken-word scary-guy mode. Claypool always sounds like he's having fun on his records, but that doesn't mean Primus fans will enjoy shelling out 13 bucks for this one.