Rhinoplasty

Rhinoplasty? Call it Miscellaneous Debris, Pt. 2. An EP of covers and live cuts designed to buy time between albums, Rhinoplasty is another small treasure for fans. When Primus covers songs, it rarely sticks to the original recorded versions, preferring to turn in new, sometimes startling arrangements that are often unpredictable. If the band hasn’t chosen any surprising covers — there are more Peter Gabriel and XTC tunes, as well as Police, Stanley Clarke, Metallica, and Jerry Reed songs, plus a new version of their own “Too Many Puppies” — it makes up for it with great performances. Rhinoplasty is certainly an EP intended for the dedicated, but it does the most important thing any specialist release can do — it doesn’t disappoint. – Stephen Thomas Erlewine