The man who wrote "Wynona's Big Brown Beaver" and the son of the man who penned "I Am the Walrus" are back together as the Claypool Lennon Delirium. After most assumed (myself included) that 2016's Monolith of Phobos would be a one-off, Les Claypool and Sean Lennon team up again on the far more impressive South of Reality, an album brimming with psychedelic prog rock, Beatles-y harmonies, and like most of Claypool's career, oddball lyrics and clear Pink Floyd influences.

I've long waited for an excuse to send out something by Les Claypool, and South of Reality is the best thing from him in years. He's had an interesting if unorthodox, to say the least, career. Best known as the leader of Primus, the eccentric Californian also wrote the theme song for South Park, has covered whole Pink Floyd albums in concert, appeared on a number of Tom Waits records, and even auditioned to replace Cliff Burton in Metallica following the bassist's death in 1986.

(I know significantly...uh...les(s) about Lennon's career.)

Always donning a bizarre singing style, on South of Reality the fly fishing fanatic and sometime winemaker's voice blends surprisingly well with Lennon's, whose own vocals resemble a 20-something George Harrison more than his own father's. As with everything Claypool, that distinct style of propulsive bass makes his presence so instantly recognizable his name need not be included in the ensemble's. Lennon is here, but it's all so very, very Claypool. Perfect for those among us who at the end of his shows are known to chant, "We want Les! We want Les!"
 

The Claypool Lennon Delirium- South of Reality