Ween
Quebec
On Sale Now
For $13.98

To Ween or not to Ween. That is the question. I've know avid detractors and I've talked to insane fans who proclaim them one of the greatest bands of the past twenty years. I've always been in the middle. Sometimes I think they get too clever and goofy for their own good, and as a result, they manage to alienate their audience allowing themselves to revel in absurdity. But it all depends on the fan. Perhaps a young child could get into the right Ween song (such as "So Many People In The Neighborhood") just as easily as they could the latest disc from They Might Be Giants entitled No . Then again, do you want your young one listening to a song called "Waving My Dick In The Wind?" So it's hard to judge Ween for either being cheeky novelty act or serious rock band that can hold their own as songwriters. They tend to be the best and worst of both worlds; perverted punks who also thrive on solid melody and Beatlesesque chord structuring. You just can't put your finger on these guys.

Which brings us to their latest contribution, Quebec. As with most of their records, it's one giant hodgepodge of strange, twisted, drug-induced hysteria mixed in with pretty ballads and rock operas that wouldn't sound out of place on a Pink Floyd album. They take every genre and style imaginable, throw it in one big blender, and hit the purify switch. What makes them so endearing to music devotees like myself is the fact that they too are in love with everything from funk to punk to metal to disco. They are hard to categorize or classify which is part of their appeal. You never know what to expect, which is why the biggest disappointment of their career is still 12 Golden Country Greats (10 songs that all followed the same pattern and sound basically like country and western).

Quebec is somewhere in the middle. Their two masterpieces remain to be the Zappa-inspired Chocolate And Cheese as well as The Mollusk, oneof the most listenable and yet truly twisted records ever made. Both of those records were bizarre but endearing in how they would bend styles left and right. The unpredictability from one song to the next made it a surprisingly scary listen that would have you moving to the beat, but questioning their intentions. Where would these guys go next? You can always tell that they are having a ball; emitting soundwaves of psychedelic profanity spliced in with twisted singalongs that leave you begging for seconds. And they do it all without blinking. They can be that good, and Quebec is inconsistent in that it never finds a solid ground to lay its foundation.

Their last record (excluding their live double album) was the flawed, but sometimes awe-inspiring White Pepper. That particular album found the duo embracing songwriting conventions that range from peppy ballad to Fountains Of Wayne-style pop. It was a successful endeavor that remained consistent throughout, despite being overproduced and ultimately, underwhelming by the last track because it ends rather unspectacularly. Quebec on the other hand is sometimes a frustrating listen because there are B-side throwaways that could've easily been replaced with their now infamous Pizza Hut-riff "Where Did The Cheese Go?" (Which you can download on their website and I encourage anyone reading this to do so). An instrumental called "The Fucked Jam" is a half-ass waste of space that brings nothing to the table but "Oh, look how stoned and weird we can be." Then again, what would you expect? A Ween album without filler?

They do seem unfocused this time around. If anything they are primarily set on combining weirdness with solid pop tunes like an amalgam of their last record combined with Pure Guava. The result is a bit jarring at times, which doesn't always occur when you pick up a Ween album. You know going in, that they are going to bounce back and forth from sound to sound, with no particular place to go. But they don't seem to be inviting you into Quebec, but rather, making a goofy record for themselves in some sort of subtle return-to-form. Just as it begins to take hold of you, instead, it lets you go by taking itself too seriously or vice versa. Ultimately, you end up going "Make up your mind guys!"

Which is not to say that there are some damn fine compositions here that could be radio staples. Standout tracks include "If You Could Save Yourself (You'd Save Us All)" and the bittersweet "I Don't Want It." But there is very little weirdness to speak of and what little there is, we've all heard on better Ween records. Newcomers are better off trying out Chocolate And Cheese to discover the true essence of this wholly original pair of recording artists. Quebec is an album that the fast-forward or skip button on your CD player was made for. While they have gone far beyond being an explicit novelty act, as they evolve as songwriters, they seem to devolve from being the Ween we have grown to love and question. Just because Quebec comes across as a random version of Ween's greatest hits, doesn't make it a consistently great Ween record that stands on its own, especially up against what they have given us in the past.

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