This is a great book for serious Primus fans, chronicling the history of the band and its various iterations through its evolution until present day, when the band has found its sweet spot playing mid-size arenas to their hardcore fandom. Told through extensive research and interviews with not only band members, but also collaborators and other prominent music industry friends of the band, the style of writing is interesting and keeps things fresh by giving more than one viewpoint. This is not a juicy gossip rock tell-all; this is the authorized story of the band through their albums, videos, tours, experiences, and personal stories. I won this book from LibraryThing. ( )

5 stars for what it is - an oral history of Primus. This is for you if those first few notes of plucky bass you heard landed the Les Claypool hook.

I remember being struck by how different and funky they sounded. Still do. ( )

This is a hefty book! I was impressed with the amount of pages and all the musicians (aside from the members of Primus) who contributed to this book. This is written like an oral history so it's perfect to dip in and out of and does necessarily need to be read cover to cover. I'm not the biggest Primus fan but I enjoyed skipping around and read about 75% of the book this way since I received it in November. It's definitely a must-have for Primus fans though. I read passages aloud to friends who were Primus fans and they too were pleased with the amount of content provided.

Being aware of Primus from only what was played on local radio in the 90's gave me very limited knowledge of the band and it's members in general. On a whim I decided it would be fun to learn more and maybe get some insight into the band and others in their orbit. While the book does have several fun stories, mostly from the early years, I found it quite repetitive. Being an oral history, a style I had never read before, at times some recollections were completely different than others. In some cases this was funny but in others it was a bit jarring. I've made it about 60% into the book and I'm honestly not sure if I'll finish. Since it is an oral history it isn't told in a style that is compelling enough for me to want to pick it up. I do believe that if I was a super fan of Primus or Les Claypool this wouldn't be an issue. However, as an absolute casual knowing only two or three songs it wasn't enough for me. I received this book via a giveaway in exchange for an honest review. ( )

I'm a huge music fan but have never been that into Primus specifically. I've certainly been aware of them since the early '90s and enjoyed various of their songs, but have never purchased any of their albums or seen them in concert. Nevertheless, this book provides a fascinating oral history of the band (plus, various side projects that Les Claypool has been involved in over the years). The chapters are organized roughly chronologically, although there are frequent diversions that discuss the style and musicianship of the band and its assorted members. The book is entirely composed of quotes from various band members, musical collaborators, friends, and managers. It's not always clear what questions were asked of the interviewees, and often the quotes jump from one topic to the next in a single chapter with no transition. But this creates a great insight into the personality and philosophy of the band and definitely inspires me to take another listen to Primus.

I received this book as a free advanced reading copy (it was originally published in 2014 and this is the paperback release), but this review is my own opinion. ( )