Tag Archives: ween

#849: Ween – The Mollusk

2 Replies

Beautiful, beautiful stuff right here. ‘The Mollusk’ is the title track from the 1997 album by Ween, and after intro track ‘I’m Dancing in the Show Tonight’ is where the records themes of the sea and other things related to it truly begins. Mollusks aren’t the nicest creatures to look at. Mollusks are things like, snails, squids, octopuses. Things you usually go ‘ew’ or ‘whoa, cool’ at. Quite polarizing emotions. But Ween’s dedication to these animals make them sound like some of the most out there, mystical creatures to exist.

It starts straight away with the hypnotizing acoustic riff that is backed by that bubbling, whistling keyboard note that fritters and echoes into the distance. I don’t know where else in you could be placed in your mind other than a beach next to a calming wave within those opening seconds. The instrumental properly sets this calming momentum that lulls you into the track’s opening line, one where Gene Ween asks a little boy what he has and in response the backing vocals as the boy answer “Kind sir, it’s a mollusk I’ve found”. The whole song follows this sort of call and response tactic in the verses, they work well. And then they come together during the chorus to I guess symbolize this new interest in this mollusk that this man and the boy share. Describing it, it does sound quite strange. But listening to it really takes you to another place.

One question that’s usually asked about this song arises from its closing lyrics. Gene Ween proclaims to the listener that ‘there are three things that spur the mollusk from the sand’. Yet people are confused as he seems to list only one of those. I do think he lists them in plain sight. The waking of all creatures etc etc., one faint glance back into the sea, and its wandering eye. It’s obvious, isn’t it? It did take me a while to figure out too, gotta say. Oh, yeah, there’s also an episode of SpongeBob where he literally says “Mind your wandering eye, you little mollusk”. Reference to this song. It’s not breaking news.

#810: Ween – Marble Tulip Juicy Tree

Leave a reply

I could never have predicted what I would be in for when I chose to listen to GodWeenSatan: The Oneness for the first time back in 2015. Before then, The Mollusk was the only Ween album I’d heard. And I thought that album was fantastic. Still do, today. So I went on Spotify, searched up Ween and thought, “Why not?” and pushed play. ‘You Fucked Up’ started and finished, and I was into it from then on. The madness started there and for another 70+ minutes just kept coming. I would describe ‘Marble Tulip Juicy Tree’ as the grand finale of the entire album. It’s what the previous 24 songs (or 27 if you have the ‘Anniversary’ edition) have been leading up to. Even though ‘Puffy Cloud’ is the album’s actual closer, I think of it as more of a credits song. Or at least something that comes in the stinger.

So what’s ‘Marble Tulip Juicy Tree’ about? If you were to guess that it would be about nothing just from looking at the title, you would be right. You’d also be a bit wrong too. It’s about everything, and nothing at the same time. It’s no secret that members Gene Ween and Dean Ween dabbled in a lot of drugs in their younger age. The lyrical content would probably have been inspired by some mushroom-LSD-hallucinogenic trip. That doesn’t stop it from being one of the most uplifting and glorious punk rock songs that I know. I think this song is made up of only five chords, but the way everything’s just executed is brilliant. Backwards guitars, guitar solos that pan from one ear to the other. There’s this booming speech by one of the band members friends that comes in as the song nears its end, and when that finishes the track climaxes with these strident guitar strums and what sounds like some sampled strings. It’s a massive song, honestly.

Listening to GodWeenSatan that one time sent me on a journey. 2015/2016 was my Ween year. I started a song discussion thread thing on the Ween reddit, I was so hyped about them. And coincidentally, the band reunited while I was gradually making my way through their discography. It was a good time to be a Ween fan. Glad I did become one sooner rather than later.

#751: Ween – Little Birdy

Leave a reply

I am a massive fan of Ween. After listening to GodWeenSatan for the first time in 2015 and being amazed at the thing, I eventually went down a rabbit hole that had me watching every live performance, album, B-side, and rarity made by Gene and Dean Ween (real names – Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo). Pure Guava, their surprising major-label debut, is a favourite of many a fan of Ween. It is probably one of my least favourite out of all their records. Just seems like a sequel to The Pod. I believe both albums were recorded in the same place, possibly in the same sessions too. There’s a huge emphasis on the rhythm and low-end frequencies on Guava though – and this is made clear our of the gate when its first song ‘Little Birdy’ begins.

This track sounds high. Carrying on the lo-fi style that was established on its predecessor, everything sounds like it was recorded on some very cheap equipment. And for the most part, they were. The strung-out bass kinda pulsates as it slides from one note to the other, the drums are somewhat tinny and light to the ear, and I can’t think of a way to describe the guitar. Sounds like a slide guitar but it’s filtered in a way that makes it sound like a completely different instrument. Dean Ween, who ‘sings’ for the first half of the track, sounds totally out of it – like he just got out of bed or probably smoked a bowl two. And Chris Williams, Mean Ween to those who know, is the high-pitched vocal who ‘sings’ the rest and closes the song out. Both lose their timing during in the song, Williams corpses in the middle of one lyric….. this is basically a song that should have no right to exist. And if it did today, people would probably slay and move onto the next thing.

It’s all strangely hypnotizing though. It stuck out to me as a really good song when I first heard it. It certainly sets the tone for what’s to follow in the album. As to what it’s about, I’m not sure. Though I wouldn’t be surprised if the song is actually about a bird that one of the band members saw one day while strung out and became a source of inspiration. They can always make great songs about the littlest of things.

#651: Ween – It’s Gonna Be (Alright)

Leave a reply

Though Ween have mostly considered to be this joke band who don’t take their music seriously because of the humour they incorporate into their material (which they’re not and they do), there has always been a song on each of their albums (except La Cucaracha probably) that can unexpectedly surprise you with its sincerity. There are a couple I can think of when it comes to The Mollusk; ‘It’s Gonna Be (Alright)’ is one of them.

This track has always been one of my favourites from the album since I heard it back in 2013. Following ‘The Blarney Stone’, an explicit number in the form of a sea shanty, ‘Alright’ slows things right down to darken the mood with its wavey guitar arpeggios and echoing percussion. It’s another devastating track in Ween’s discography concerning the end of a relationship. For anyone who doesn’t know, Gene Ween – lead singer and co-songwriter in the band – has a big heart; when it gets broken he can get really sad. He wrote songs like ‘Birthday Boy’, ‘Baby Bitch’, and ‘I Don’t Want It’ detailing some of the misery he’s been through. However, ‘Alright’ is one of those tracks where although the relationship is no more, there’s still hope that things can still be good between the two of them.

Things get weird again as they follow this with ‘The Golden Eel’ on the album, pretty much about what it says in the title, so it’s almost like the band just drops this serious track to just say ‘everything’s not as well as it seems here but forget about it here’s the silly stuff again’. But that’s all what adds to the charm… of Ween.

#593: Ween – I’m Dancing in the Show Tonight

3 Replies

Ween members Gene Ween and Dean Ween both agree that their 1997 album The Mollusk is the best project the band put to tape. I agree with them on most days; for me it is always a close race between it and Quebec. I do hold the The Mollusk in high regard for sentimental reasons too; it was the first full album by Ween that I ever listened to about five years ago.  At the time I felt that I was in a bit of a lull, listening to the same artists over and over, so I decided to look for an album that I hadn’t heard before. ‘Ocean Man’ had been in my iTunes library for some time too, I downloaded it after hearing it in the ending credits of the OG SpongeBob movie, so it only made sense to hear all the other songs around it.

‘I’m Dancing in the Show Tonight’ is the first track on The Mollusk. For a lot of reasons, it shouldn’t work. No band should get away with opening any album with a kitschy, vaudeville show tune. That’s what ‘I’m Dancing in the Show Tonight’ is. But it’s executed so well that it never gets annoying. For the sub-2 minutes it lasts for it builds and builds. Starting off with a piano and the vocals, it steadily progresses as percussion and horns are thrown in and by the end it’s a huge singalong with a fake but emphatic string section. It may confuse some first time listeners, but there’s no time to really think because then the title track suddenly starts like nothing never happened. It’s a brave move. I really enjoy it, I think it’s great.

The track is basically a rip of the Christmas song ‘Are My Ears on Straight?’, sung by Gayla Peevey in 1953, with a few lyrical differences. The band full out admit this on the album’s liner notes though they have yet to be punished for it. Not that I want them to, don’t be silly.