Les Claypool - 5 Gallons of Diesel

Price: $9.90

Bassist Les Claypool wears many hats, literally and figuratively, in the course of 5 Gallons of Diesel, a comprehensive look at his many band and solo projects. Clocking in at well over three hours, including bonus material, this mostly-live collection finds the former Primus mainstay performing with no less than five different groups, all of them feature Claypool s amusing stage outfits (replete with an ever-changing array of crazy lids), supremely funky playing, decidedly strange songwriting, and so-so vocals, but each is distinctive enough to warrant its own monicker. They include Sausage, a kind of heavy industrial funk trio appearing in a very entertaining video for Riddles Are Around Tonight (imagine an ingenious set combining Rube Goldberg and the Blue Man Group and you get the basic idea), Holy Mackerel, best described as Egyptian surf music, Oysterhead, a virtual alt-rock supergroup with Claypool, former Police drummer Stewart Copeland, and Phish mainstay Trey Anastasio (whose guitar comes with a set of antlers--and yes, he does play them), the Frog Brigade, whose eight tunes (all live) reveal influences ranging from Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart to the Ramones and Jimi Hendrix, and Colonel Claypool s Bucket of Bernie Brains, another star-studded outfit (with guitarist Buckethead and P-Funk keyboardist Bernie Worrell) whose lengthy metal-funk jams never quite coalesce. And wait, there s more: a live performance of Riddles, another appealingly weird video (for Buzzards of Green Hill), behind-the-scenes and making of footage… it goes on. Claypool is not a great singer, and his songwriting is an acquired taste. But superb musicianship and an abiding sense of humor mean that 5 Gallons of Diesel is never less than entertaining, and often a good deal more. --Sam Graham

It has it s moments - There are flashes of Claypool brilliance, Flying Frog Brigade at Bonneroo for example, but much of it is bad home video reminiscent of bootlegs. Worth watching

Les Claypool makes Flea even Fleaer - A Must-Have Dvd for anyone who cares about good/original music. Les Claypool rules! John Lydon does too.

Its ok, but - This is on the Les Claypool website below: 5 GALLONS OF DIESEL - Les Claypool DVD5 Gallons Of Diesel is a comprehensive sampling of visual elements associated with the ever evolving and always eclectic world of bassist/singer/songwriter Les Claypool. The DVD contains 3-1/2 hours of footage featuring Oysterhead, Colonel Claypool s Bucket of Bernie Brains, Sausage, Frog Brigade, Holy Mackerel and more. It includes live performances, videos, behind the scenes footage and other bonus material.( Okay, notice the first band thats mentioned is Oysterhead, first means most of the show right? first on food lable means this is whats most inside the certain dish right? yes it doesWhat do we get with this dvd? ONE Oysterhead song!!!!! and the Frog Brigade songs, half of them are in daylight, no guys, lame. esp for a DVD. people like night show, you know, lights, not so many things you can see all the time to detract from the show, like things happening on the side of the show, to many shots of fans. everyone knows this its no secret, shows at dark are way better. And just where IS this Frog Brigade anymore? one of the best shows I ever seen, yes it was at night. The fishing trips on here were great, Les just hanging out throwing the rod, chatting away. One Oysterhead song, what a scam. You have more filmed Les, come on man, who IS in charge of your camp. On Les s site, only ONE Frog Brigade shirt, and its a girl shirt! and many of the reg mens shirts you cant get XXL. just flat more decisions. Is this 2 hard 2 please? I dont think we are asking for allot here. Get your camp in order Les. The state of music major bummer today, Bass Players of his caliber are rare, but nope I am not going to see this show in Dec 06 when they hit my town, been twice to Primus already, I always give people 2 chances. just a bunch of noise and sounds like 3 guys that keep running into each other and falling down. no grove like Frog B and Oyserhead. But then, Les is the man in Primus, he doesnt have to worry/deal with other egos, he is the Alpha in Primus. Egos, feeds us all huh?

Les Claypool is more than just a great bass player... - He is a multi talented artist with a great imagination, he has his own world and a great spirit for slap his bass. After so many years with funk rock or maybe alternative rock band primus now he is more experimented... always adding new sounds to his projects such as sax, marimba, sitar, funk keyboars, etc...I will always buy his new cds ... he is an only choice in his style !!!... Les keep your work ... I recommend you to start using some latin beats,... I wonder what would happened... This dvd shows all his side projects, It is a great souvenir of all what les involves... even fishing experience...

4.5 stars really, great dvd for claypool fans - this dvd is honestly one of the best i own, the jamming on all the frog brigade live tracks are out of controll, so much energy and the version of Buzzards of Greenhill off the jam cruise is the absolute greatest thing ive ever herd, i dont remember the guys name, but a special guest comes out and RIPS on the guitar for this song, honestly the biggest highlight of the entire dvd, i had to watch it again to let it set in for me, its honestly and overwhealming amount of great jamming on this dvd, the only disapointment for this dvd, is the lack of Oysterhead tracks, i love Oysterhead and i was pretty bummed out to see the only track of theirs on here is Shadow of a Man, a great song, but a little too eerie and slow for this dvd i think, all in all its a spectacular dvd, and worth the buy

Les Claypool - 5 Gallons of Diesel