Tag Archives: free

#1141: Ween – Roses Are Free

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Ween’s 1994 album Chocolate and Cheese is considered to be one of the band’s best albums among Ween fans. I’m partial to it, myself. There are a couple others I think are better. That’s neither here nor there. After acquiring a huge bonus via signing to the Elektra Entertainment record label, the band used it to rent out a proper studio and carefully construct the tracks that would become the 16 available on Chocolate…. A huge contrast to the 4-track, pretty-much-demo-releases of The Pod and Pure Guava that came before. It would sound like Gene and Dean Ween were taking things truly seriously this time, but the album contains just as much absurdity and humour, although packaged with tighter songs, slicker production and with some underboob on the front cover.

‘Roses Are Free’ is a song that can be found on that album and is one of the big, big highlights on there. Again, a much-beloved song in the Ween fandom, ‘Roses…’ is a massive tribute to Prince. It would apparently baffle Dean Ween that no one would ever point out the icon’s influence on the track; it seemed so obvious to him. And once you read that and listen to it, you can kind of tell. The subtly provocative way Gene Ween sings the song, the chord progression that occur throughout… that rockin’ guitar solo. All out of the Prince guidebook. The lyrics aren’t meant to mean anything in particular and were written mainly to fill the spaces in the grooves. Even so, they are known to get some of the biggest cheers at a Ween show, particularly the “Get in your car and cruise the land of the brave and free” and “Resist all the urges that make you want to go out and kill” lines. Two very poignant statements that come out of nowhere in this song about nothing.

As much as the version on the album is cool and everything, the song takes on another life when performed live. Although the song benefits from being recorded in a bright and shiny studio, its studio recording is still very much a two-man job with Gene on vocals and guitar and Dean on guitar accompanied by a drum machine and synthesized bass guitar. Could say it somewhat restricted. Though with the five-piece band that Ween eventually developed into, the track morphs into a true monster. The keyboards further fill the soundspace, the drum performance hits harder thanks to Claude Coleman Jr., and the guitar solo handled by both Gene and Dean goes on for another minute or so because they both get so into it. It’s a sight to see. It’s a marvel to hear. I’ll embed a well-known performance of it below.

#1083: R.E.M. – Radio Free Europe

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Well, well, well. You didn’t think this was ever going to come back, did you? I was honestly thinking that way for a while too. Hey, remember back when I started on the P’s and said that I could aim to get whole series done by the time I turned 30? Yeah, very unlikely that will happen. I’ll definitely be in my 30s at the least, though. With the breaks I take, it was definitely going to be a effort to try and force that. And I’ve seen the number of songs I have up beginning with ‘S’ and ‘T’. Just those two letters would fill up two separate years themselves, I tell you.

But I’m back. I’m here. It’s time to get started again. And it’s with R.E.M.’s ‘Radio Free Europe’, the opening track on the band’s debut Murmur album from 1983. This isn’t the first time I’ve written about a song from that record. It’s been some time, but I think I’ve written the summary of how I came to know Murmur and the immediate effect it had on me. Probably not worth repeating. We’re here for the track. It’s a fine one. A great way to kick things into gear. It introduces the musical structure that happens a lot through the album, where the song starts with the verse and goes into the pre-chorus, and when usually you think the chorus will come immediately after, the second verse begins. The band holds out on you, so when that chorus eventually does arrive, the weight from all the building tension’s released. The choruses are the best parts on every Murmur track, that’s just a fact.

The song also introduced the lyricism of Michael Stipe, who before he found he could use his voice to speak about things that were important and actually mean something (I’m sure I read that he said this about himself somewhere), wrote words and melodies that were to mainly compliment the musicianship of Mike Mills, Peter Buck and Bill Berry and not meant to say much of anything at all, leaving it to the listener to come up with their own interpretations. What I would guess the song is about is… the importance of the the radio in modern society and its global reach to whoever’s listening out there? I don’t think about the meaning that much, but that’s fine. I don’t think Stipe wants you to either, which is great. There’s no pressure. If you’re not too into the version in the video above, the band previously recorded the track on another label a couple years earlier in 1981 and released it as a single. It’s a bit faster, some people prefer that sort of thing.

My iPod #390: Nick Drake – Free Ride

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“Pink Moon”, man. One of my favourite albums ever. Eleven songs of one man and an acoustic guitar (and a short piano overdub) producing the most moving, chilling, melodic, bare, but brilliant songs you could ever hear. Sad to know that it was his last before he passed away two years after making it. But honestly, I never knew an album made so simply could be so emotional.

“Free Ride”, to me anyway, seems like one of the most happier songs on the album. Only because of the way it’s played. There’s like a continuous C-note drone that Drake plucks on the lower strings throughout the verses which drives the song forward whilst he plays the more detailed melody on the higher ones. It’s hard to describe; there’s just something a sense of confidence in the song’s tone that I get every time I hear it, and compared to the rest of “Pink Moon” is a lot more perky in its delivery.

I’ve read somewhere say that it’s about having sexual relations with a friend; another place saying it’s Drake trying to reach out to the people that he doesn’t really get on with it, but still wanting their support and attention. I am not that bothered. I think the song itself is too good to really ponder over.

Listen to “Pink Moon”.