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Ween stomps back with spacey new album
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(U-WIRE) MANHATTAN, Kan. – The Boognish is back.
The Boognish, a deity created by the band Ween, appears on all
of the album cases and often is mentioned in song lyrics. On Aug.
5, The band released Quebec, its first album since 2000’s
White Pepper.
Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo, better known as Gene and
Dean Ween founded the band in the early ‘90s. Dean and Gene
have created such humorous songs as “Bananas and Blow,”
“Japanese Cowboy,” and “Mister Would You Please
Help My Pony.”
I had been looking forward to the release of Quebec all summer.
The band’s Web site had promised an album that would be a
return to the “browner side of Ween.”
To me, this means the raw, ear-blistering guitar solos and
distortion that can be found on most of the tracks on Ween’s
live compilation album Paint the Town Brown. The kind of tunes only
an ardent Ween fan such as myself would enjoy.
Unlike Paint the Town Brown, this is a fairly accessible album
for the casual listener, but it’s awfully tame for Ween.
However, the album is heavy on the other style of music that
Ween does well, which is to say the cold, spacey-psychedelic
variety.
Nearly all the songs sound like the Beatles’ “Long,
Long, Long,” from the White Album. It’s no surprise
that song was written by George Harrison, who is an influence for
Gene and Dean.
My favorite song on the album is the second to last, “The
Argus,” which is right up there with “Baby Bitch”
from the album “Chocolate and Cheese” as Ween’s
best psychedelic song.
It is true that most Ween fans (at least the ones I know) are no
strangers to the doors of perception.
Quebec is not monopolized by these spacey tracks, though. It
opens with the rockabilly tune “It’s Gonna Be A Long
Night,” the most rockin’ song on the album, and with
lyrics like, “you bring the razor blade / I’ll bring
the speed.” It’s definitely the most brown, which is to
say the most raw. “
The tenth song – “Chocolate Town” – an
alt-country song complete with steel guitar and a similar sound to
Gram Parsons — is evidence that Ween once released a country
album.
Track eight, the cheery “Hey There Fancy Pants,” is
evidence that Ween once cut a track called “Loop de
Loop” about shoe tying for the Nickelodeon cartoon
“SpongeBob SquarePants.”
This is possibly the first Ween album that doesn’t come
with a parental advisory warning.
So if you take Quebec home and play it on the family stereo,
parents will be less likely to complain, although they – like
most of the world – probably won’t understand the
lyrics.
Tony Herrman
Kansas State Collegian (Kansas State U.)
