Surprising and silly, Oysterhead October 19, 2001 - The Seattle Times By Patrick MacDonald Oysterhead and North Mississippi Allstars, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Paramount Theatre, Seattle; sold out. In this era of bland corporate rock and formula Top 40 pop, experimentation and originality are hard to find. That's why Oysterhead is such a welcome relief. While not exactly a breakthrough -- in fact, it owes a lot to The Beatles -- the music of Oysterhead is nevertheless challenging, surprising, varied and often silly, goofy fun. Given the makeup of the group, that's not surprising. The kingpin is Les Claypool, the gifted, wacky bassist from Primus who is known for assembling short-term, jam-oriented bands made up of disparate musicians. That's exactly what he was doing for the 2000 edition of New Orleans' prestigious Jazz Fest, for which he rounded up the great guitarist Trey Anastasio of Phish, with whom he had jammed a few times, and drummer Stewart Copeland, formerly of The Police. Copeland, now a sought-after composer of film scores, produced a song on Primus' 1999 album, "Antipop." The three came together as Oysterhead for a one-off concert of original songs, some covers and lots of free-form jamming. Not only did the three find that they had a certain chemistry, but pirated tapes from that show were soon available on the Web, causing fans of Phish and Primus to howl for more. Since both those bands are on hiatus, it seemed natural for Oysterhead to continue. Gathering at Anastasio's studio in Vermont, they recorded an album, "The Grand Pecking Order," and assembled a tour that was to begin in mid-September with club shows in New York. But those shows, and some others, were postponed or canceled after the terrorist attacks, so the actual start of the tour is here Sunday at the Paramount. The 13-cut album is reminiscent of The Beatles' forays into experimentation, especially on what's known as "The White Album." Like "The Grand Pecking Order," that 1968 disc featured weird singing styles, spacey music and lyrics, odd characters, some social and political commentary and lots of silliness. The title cut from the Oysterhead album is a goofy marching song. Equally wacky is "Army's On Ecstasy," which is partially in Japanese. "Pseudo Suicide" is a busy rocker; "Rubberneck Lions" a pop song with a bracing guitar solo. "Shadow of a Man" is a sobering portrait of a troubled Vietnam veteran; "Birthday Boys" a sweet, folk-influenced song; and "Oz Is Ever Floating" is about Dr. John C. Lilly, a psychoanalyst known for his work on the brains of dolphins. (He died Oct. 7, five days after the album was released.) Opening is North Mississippi Allstars, a band that plays unadorned, primitive Southern rock.