Colonel Claypool's Bucket Of Bernie Brains

They should change the name of the Kevin Bacon game to six degrees of Les Claypool, as the Primus leader has become the man of many faces…and bands. With the number of projects Claypool gets involved with he gives Warren Haynes a run for his stage time as the hardest working man in live music.

In his newest venture, Les Claypool teams up with long time drummer Brain, legendary keyboardist Bernie Worrell, and the enigmatic guitarist Buckethead as Colonel Claypool’s Bucket of Bernie Brains. Worrell is best known for his work with Parliament/Funkadelic, Bootsy Collins, Keith Richards, Yoko Ono, Maceo Parker and the Talking Heads. Buckethead, a mainstay in the underground music scene, has worked with a number of greats including avante garde artist John Zorn, Bill Laswell and was part of the last lineup of Guns N’ Roses, along with Brain, who was the drummer in Primus from 1997-2002. In addition, Claypool’s accomplices are no strangers to each other. They had joined forces along with Bootsy Collins in 1992 as Praxis, which was considered a “futuristic fusion of hardcore, funk, and industrial.” This time the cast of characters, or “C2B3” as they’ve come to be-known, return for their debut with The Big Eyeball In The Sky.

Happy circus music opens The Eyeball and builds into the opening biographical track, Buckethead. Claypool’s vocals play over Bernie Worrell’s keyboard leads, as the rest of the band slowly joins in the fun, later finding Claypool laying down a signature bass line and starts chanting “Buckethead”. This interesting track bends in describing the creation of Buckethead “the enigma.” Although Claypool’s comical style still is unique, it’s hard for him to not ad his bizarre and kooky vocals. However, it’s the presence of Worrell’s inventive keyboards that instantly differentiates Eyeball in the Sky from previous Claypool collaborations. In addition Buckethead’s mutated guitars that lend to helping the album become its own entity.

"Tyranny of the Hunt" has a spacey feel, more compliments of the multi-dimensional Worrell, as the futuristic sound of the keys creates an excellent backdrop. Several instrumentals span the album, most notably ”Elephant Ghost,” a 10-minute jam which exemplifies Claypool’s recent jam yearnings. “ Scott Taylor” has a heavy edge with brief intermissions of fantasy keyboards, while “Jackalope” is an opportunity for Brain to showcase his thunderous talents. The closing track “Ignorance is Bliss” is one of the highlights of the album, as Buckethead’s blazing guitar leads make will have you spinning Colonel Claypool’s Bucket of Bernie Brains for another listen and maybe have you probing for The Big Eyeball In The Sky.