Tag Archives: ween

#1125: Ween – Right to the ways and the rules of the world

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Maybe the best way to listen to The Pod is through the way its broken up on its vinyl releases. Split up into four sides, having the time to digest one of those at a time with some breaks in between would probably allow a new listener to at least digest the 15-20 minutes that each side of vinyl provides. I didn’t do this. When I was fully on my Ween exploration in 2015, I dove headfirst into the album on Spotify and listened to it the whole way through. All 76 minutes. That first time was a slog. I don’t know if you know, but the album is known for having extremely shitty production, even though a lot of the songs are classics. At least to us Ween fans, anyway. ‘Right to the ways and the rules of the world’ is only the seventh track on there. On that first listen, it felt like I’d been listening to the album for much longer than when the song arrived. And it also felt like it went on for a lot more than the mere five minutes it lasts for.

Now of course I’m used to it all. The track is a slow, slow one though. Coming after the little non-song of ‘Pollo Asado’ (a very popular one for Ween people), ‘Right…’ is what I believe to be a mimic of those old, melodramatic ’70s progressive rock songs by bands who would write about things like folklore or traditions of the past… myths and legends and the like. Gene and Dean Ween take on this melodramatic route, singing about nothing but a bunch of silliness – brilliant imagery though, gotta be said – all of which is crowned by the aloof harmonies that recite the song’s title phrase. “Monsters that trinkle like cats in the night/The cosmic conceiver continues his plight.” Those are just the first couple of lines.

The screeching organ that blares throughout is the melodic linchpin throughout the song, really hammering home that sort of medieval type of sound that I think the song’s going for. Something of a vocal chameleon, Gene Ween puts in another captivating performance. Increasing in intensity throughout, it culminates in the final verse where he lets out a shriek and then falls into a fit of laughter as the instrumental continues. Some people may argue that the song takes some momentum out of the album’s proceedings. Whatever “momentum” that may be, going through this album can feel like being in a state of purgatory sometimes. It’s just as essential as any other track on there, I feel. The production is so murky, you could almost choke on it. But the song at the core of it stands strong.

#1054: Ween – pork roll egg and cheese

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Ween’s second album The Pod is a notably difficult album to listen through from start to finish. The tracks all suffer from a very low-budget production quality, having all been recorded on a 4-track cassette recorder. Plus, a lot of the songs on there are quite unconventional to say the least. Ween were never ones to hold themselves in any boundaries when it came to making music, and it’s arguable that The Pod is the major exhibit of just how freaky Gene and Dean Ween could get with whatever they had at their disposal. Yet despite all this, this album’s actually really great. Sometimes it feels so wrong to like as many songs as I do on here. They have no right to be as good as they are, as murky and muddy as they all sound. To also help tie this sprawling experience together, specific lyrical themes are brought in and reintroduced during various points. One of them culminating in ‘pork roll egg and cheese’, the album’s penultimate number.

Initially mentioned in the record’s third track ‘Frank’, the ‘pork roll, egg and cheese’ combination is mentioned again in 13th track ‘Awesome sound’ (with additional bacon). It’s sort of referred to in ‘Pollo Asado’. The phrase is repeated from the beginning to end of the track ‘She fucks me’ as some sort of madness mantra. If you hadn’t by this point, you’ll definitely be wondering what this fixation with this damn sandwich is all about. And right after that last repetition of the phrase in ‘She fucks me’ ends comes the track fully dedicated to it. In comparison to the 21 songs that precede it, ‘pork roll egg and cheese’ is almost like a lullaby. It’s a really relaxing, very chilled track. I don’t think it would be wrong to say it’s actually rather cute in a way. It’a pleasant ode to the times, after having completed a hard day’s work, to just sit down, gather your thoughts and eat some good food.

Let’s say there were potential discussions of singles from this album, which there probably weren’t but just go along with me for this, I don’t think it would be wrong to put ‘pork roll egg and cheese’ as a definite contender. Sure, the subject matter’s a little out there. It may have needed to go through a rerecording/remix. But man, this song hits all the right spots even in its original form on the album. Even the little moments like the split-second clearing of the throat at the song’s start or when Gene Ween kinda cracks up during the verse before the last chorus always scratch that inner itch. Reading comments online, I’ve seen people say that this song deserved to close the album out, and it probably should have. It certainly possesses an ending-credits feel to it. Plus it’s where the ‘pork roll egg and cheese’ theme comes to a close having been introduced probably almost an hour earlier. But ‘The Stallion’ has a few last words he’d like to share before truly leaving the listeners to ponder. But really, ‘pork roll’ is one of my highlights from there and most definitely one of my favourite songs by Ween too. I’ll have to try the sandwich one day.

#1050: Ween – Polka Dot Tail

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If you were to go on Spotify and search up Ween’s The Mollusk, you’ll see that ‘Polka Dot Tail’ is the least played track out of the album’s first seven songs. Just about though, only 124 less than the next track and that one is the vaudeville/showtime-esque opening number. Actually, that’s at the time that this post is being written. That may well have changed since then. Even so, I feel like the least-played scenario has been the case for this song for quite a while. Well, I guess one song has to be listened to the least. But if it were up to me, the track would much, much higher. It’s been one of my favourite songs from that album ever since listening to it for that first time in 2014.

The fluttering keyboard from the preceding title track has just about finished fading away into the distant silence before the disorienting synths of ‘Polka’ fill the soundscape once more. The track is something of a slow, psychedelic waltz. Waltzes are usually in 3/4 time, right? On every one count is a huge kick drum whose bass hits with a massive force, while an acoustic guitar lays out the chord progression on the left channel and a synthesizer playing the root notes in the right. A double-tracked Gene Ween harmonises with himself, his voice sounding a little pitched-down due to the process of recording at a faster pace and slowing the tape down, something which was well-known feature in a lot of Ween songs. And what he sings about, whales with polka dot tails, taking flans and squishing them in hands and the rhyme schemes he adopts are very much based on the children’s song ‘Down by the Bay’. In fact, here’s a performance of that particular song by children’s music singer Raffi in which he says that lyric outright.

At points after Gene Ween sings “Tell me it ain’t so”, the synths drone on, building tension, leaving the listener to wonder what turn this track might just take next. At one of these moments Gene says ‘Billy’, which came across as random to me, as it probably would to any listener, when I first heard it. Once I found out that the bending, echoing guitar solo that follows that utterance was played by Bill Fowler, a good friend of the band’s, then it made a lot more sense. And I guess the ‘help me’ that’s said before the final solo is a call to Fowler to bring things home. I really enjoy this track. It’s woozy, pushes you from side to side. Like I said earlier, the bass kicks have an almighty weight behind them and hit real hard each time they arrive. With all the talk about whales and imagery of puppies flying and shrinking like ice cubes in the sink, the musical/lyrical combination establishes a psychedelic energy to the proceedings while also reinforcing the nautical theme that runs throughout the album. If ‘The Mollusk was the warm inviting moment, ‘Polka Dot Tail’ is the moment where the doors open and you begin to realise the party might just be a bit weirder than you thought it would be.

#1009: Ween – Pandy Fackler

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Ween’s White Pepper, released in 2000, is a bit of an odd one in the band’s discography, in that it’s the least odd-sounding out of all the albums Ween laid out on tape. Really, it’s the most streamlined, glossed-out, bordering on stadium-rock record, with hooks abound and a huge accessibility. What brought about that change in direction for that particular time is anyone’s guess. Mine is that there are a few reasons. Firstly being that it was the first where the band truly performed as the five-piece that had been on the road for years at that point. Gene Ween had had his first child a couple years prior and may have been understandably happy as a result during the times of recording. And as he and Dean Ween were approaching 30, maybe they really wanted to make that classic rock record for the masses. Just a few takes on my part, though.

‘Pandy Fackler’ is the ninth track on the album. Not a massive favourite among the general public. It’s got the last second-last amount of listens on Spotify, after instrumental ‘Ice Castles‘, and I’m sure I saw a video where Gener pretty much left the stage so keyboardist Glenn McClelland could carry out an extended solo during the instrumental break. So I think there’s a bit of a ‘toilet/bathroom break’ status about it at live shows. But I think it’s smooth as butter. Fans will know how great it is too. The band introduced it as their ‘Steely Dan song’ in one of its first live performances. Though it does have a ‘Reelin’ in the Years‘ rhythm about it, I think it’s more a reference to the precision, tightness and execution of the band’s performance on it. Steely Dan are known for that type of stuff.

Everything you need to know in order to understand what the track’s about is in its lyrics. Pandy Fackler’s a bit of a strange girl from an ‘ideal’ middle-American family who likes to have a good time in her own way. Here, the narrator sings of their admiration for here, reminiscing on the night they got together in a moment of passion. And after that comes the lengthy keyboard solo carried out by McClelland. It’s a nice jam. Dean Ween’s guitar runs are top-notch. McClelland knows his way around the keys. Rhythm section of Claude Coleman on drums and Dave Dreiwitz on bass hold everything together. And contrary to what I thought all these years, I think it’s a rare occasion on which Deaner does the lead vocals, which is always welcome.

#964: Ween – Ocean Man

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Set up in a rented beach house on the shore of New Jersey, Gene and Dean Ween were overcome with inspiration. Their surroundings were an influence on many of the songs that would end up on The Mollusk and many others that were left on the cutting room floor. ‘Ocean Man’ provides a clear example. That song is from the point of view of a person who wants to know more about the titular character, hoping to become their friend and be taken to the strange places this character goes. It’s basically Ween’s ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’. Gene Ween had a mandolin and was always playing around with it, the chords came about, the lyrics were written quickly and everything seemed to fall into place. That’s according to Dean Ween himself in a 20th anniversary retrospective of the album. A great read, would recommend. Once finished, it was put in the penultimate slot on the record. The place that, from what I’ve gathered, is usually where artists put the songs that are good, but don’t really amount to much when it comes to album flow. Am I wrong in saying that? I feel like there’s some unspoken truth about it.

Anyway, I don’t think the duo could have imagined how much of an impact the song would have on generations to come upon its inclusion in the very last scene of the SpongeBob SquarePants Movie in 2004. SpongeBob becomes the manager of the Krusty Krab, spoilers, and as the ‘camera’ freezes while he delivers the last line of the film, the opening drum roll to ‘Ocean Man’ cuts in and the credits start to roll. Now, Ween were no strangers to SpongeBob. They had provided the song ‘Loop de Loop’ for the cartoon for an episode where SpongeBob doesn’t want to tell anyone that he doesn’t know how to tie his shoes. But as a track from the album that actually influenced the creation of that series, ‘Ocean Man’ acts as the perfect way to bring it all full circle in what was originally meant to be the cartoon’s grand finale.

It’s where I heard the track for the first time, albeit a few good years later when the film was showing on TV because I never saw it at the cinema when it initially came out. What drew me to the track immediately were the exaggerated vocals. Knowing Ween now, it’s not that much of a surprise. It’s just standard practice that they change the pitch or speed of their songs when mixing in order get those effects on their vocals. But being 13/14 or however old I was when I saw that film the first time, it was definitely odd yet strangely appealing. I downloaded that track, and for years it was the only Ween song I had in my library. Took a while, but now I have practically all their albums in there. It takes a seed to make a tree.