Ween - La Cucaracha Review

For a band famous for not taking itself too seriously, Ween can be pretty serious sometimes. Aaron "Gene Ween" Freeman and Mickey "Dean Ween" Melchiondo often explore deeply disturbing subject matter from the inside out—with no ironic distance—so the laughs on Ween albums are just as likely to be uncomfortable as they are goofy. Ween has described La Cucaracha as "a party record," but most parties will be stopped cold four songs in by the stunning "Object," a languid prog-pop/blues number that takes the protagonist of R.E.M.'s "The One I Love" and makes him a full-blown sociopath. Like a lot of great Ween songs, "Object" sounds like it's actually being sung by its batshit narrator, a kind of method music making that's still intriguing nearly two decades after Ween's debut....full text In the initial round of promotion for 2007's La Cucaracha, Ween's first album for Rounder and first in four years, Dean Ween called it a "party record, unlike our last record (Quebec) which was more of a Jonestown type party vibe," which is about as accurate a self-criticism as an artist has ever given. Quebec left a hazy, narcotic aftertaste that the giddy La Cucaracha blows away as the band reverts back to all their signatures: they never stay in one place too long, they spike most songs with their impish humor, and every track shows their knack for savvy, sly, odd arrangements....full text Ween fans have come to expect the unexpected from this act, but even diehards will be thrilled by the sheer musical schizophrenia of "La Cucaracha," the band's debut for Rounder and first album in four years. Only in Ween's world can the good-ole-boy bluegrass of "Learnin' to Love" comfortably sit next to the lewd garage rock of "My Own Bare Hands" and the cheap, stoned reggae of "The Fruit Man." Elsewhere, the band continues mastering the expression of its softer side, from the '70s AM radio love song "Sweetheart" to the alternate-universe smooth jazz of closer "Your Party" (with David Sanborn on sexy sax). ...full text