Oysterhead is made up of Trey Anastasio (Phish), Les Claypool, and drummer Stewart Copeland (The Police). It’s a superstar outfit that draws influences from all over the musical landscape.
“Little Faces” opens with bizarre flavors that remind you of the most tripped out Pink Floyd tracks. “Oz Is Ever Floating” works its way in and out of a great bit of guitar work by Anastasio. The album’s first single, “Mr. Oysterhead”, gets life from Claypool’s oddball vocal delivery. “Radon Balloon” is lovely and tender, but it also seems to belong to Paul McCartney.
“Shadow Of A Man” dominated my listening. “Birthday Boys” is more to Anastasio’s strengths. Its folk flavor is fantastic and reminds me a lot of some classics by the likes of Robert Johnson.
For all its quality instrumentalists, the album can often feel very disjointed. It’s not quite as organic as you would hope and takes on a lot of Claypool, perhaps because his vocals dominate. While I’m listening to “The Grand Pecking Order” I can’t help but wonder if someone somewhere is really going to enjoy this. It’s hard to know, but I do know: even though it’s Lennonesque, I can’t really get into the vibe.
+ rae gun
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