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White Pepper [Vinyl] by Ween

or Rating: White Pepper is Ween's most accessible album to date, lacking their trademark flights of fancy and exuberant bizarreness. By any other standard, White Pepper is a weird, wild ride. Let's face it -- no other band would even think of recording tracks as diverse as the Brit-pop-styled "Even If You Don't," the Jimmy Buffett parody "Bananas and Blow," a slamming hardcore punk song named after a Burt Reynolds flick ("Stroker Ace"), a tape-warped baroque instrumental called "Ice Castles," and the psych-prog-tinged soft-rock epic "Back to Basom," let alone sequencing all of them in a row. To neophytes, such whiplash shifts in mood may seem alienating (or intriguing, depending on their taste), but to any hardcore fan, it's not surprising and it might not even seem as funny as before. But, if you're listening to Ween just to chuckle, you're missing the point anyway, since they're not just consummate satirists -- check out the wonderful "Pandy Fackler," which mimics Steely Dan's lush jazz-pop, down to Gene's deadly Donald Fagen imitation -- they're consummate songwriters and musicians. Ween's music rewards multiple plays and White Pepper is ample proof. It may not be bracing, nor is it gonzo, yet it's a tight album filled with more pop gems than most bands can hope to achieve in their career. If that seems like hyperbole, especially for a duo that still indulges in silly dirty jokes, it's not. Yes, they may push the boundaries of good taste, but the music is always convincing, from the trippy "Exactly Where I'm At" and "Flutes of Chi" to the minor-key country stomper "Falling Out" and reflective ballad "She's Your Baby." If White Pepper isn't as crazy, funny, or sprawling as their previous albums, so be it -- it's more satisfying than most records. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide



Tracks:
1 Exactly Where I'm At - 4:31
2 Flutes of Chi - 3:30
3 Even If You Don't - 3:25
4 Bananas and Blow - 3:34
5 Stroker Ace - 2:08
6 Ice Castles - 2:05
7 Back to Basom - 3:46
8 The Grobe - 3:32
9 Pandy Fackler - 3:57
10 Stay Forever - 3:32
11 Falling Out - 2:28
12 She's Your Baby - 3:00 Performer Notes: Ween: Gene Ween, Dean Ween, Claude Coleman, Dave Dreiwitz, Glenn McClelland.

• Additional personnel: Stu Basore, Jane Scarpantoni, Chris Shaw, Russel Simins, Vaneese Thomas, Angela Clemons, Mark McDonald, Greg Frey, Pat Frey, Danny Madorsky.
  
• Recorded at Bearsville Studio & Turtle Creek Barn, Woodstock, New York.
  
• There are signs of increasing maturity on WHITE PEPPER, Ween's eighth studio album, though not enough to back the claim that Gene and Dean are actually going straight. More like they've achieved a sensible grasp on when to court the masses, and when to drop the Boognish gospel upon the faithful.
  
• A handful of tunes signify Ween's most explicit attempts yet to create genuine silly love songs that become radio hits, and get canonized by the straight world. "Even If You Don't" is a Bay City Rollers-type upfront pop-rock ditty, "Stay Forever" is a gorgeous soft-rock charmer full of the melodic and harmonic magic of ELO, while "Falling Out" is prime faux-Merseybeat fashioned from the Beatles' "Little Girl." That the sentiments in each of these songs are direct and decidedly non-toxic intimates that Gene and Dean have been spending more time in love, and less on the Scotchguard bongs. Then again, the metallic bluster of Dean's "Stroker Ace," the quasi-Caribbean shipwreck drug story "Bananas and Blow," and the Steely Dan-like tale of a floozy named "Pandy Fackler," show that they're still comfortable hanging out in the more mucus-infested corners of their imaginations.

Professional Reviews: Rolling Stone (5/11/00, p.136) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Ween's most accessible release yet....[Their] sick sound is augmented with full-bodied melodic arrangements....Ween have [not] lost their edge..."

Entertainment Weekly (6/2/00, p.79) - "...[They] roll up an album for non-stoners. Still fighting for their right to parody....proving their newfound melodic skills and long-standing arrangement smarts can blossom without weedy drug buffoonery." - Rating: B

Q (7/00, p.125) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...A wildly inventive, often sprawling opus, comprising a multitude of styles from boisterous guitar rock to psychedelic nonsense..."

Uncut (8/00, p.86) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...The Pennsylvania dudes have ransacked all their usual obsessions--from absurd Celtic tomfoolery to prog rock pomposity--but have now added strings, horns and female backing singers..."

Magnet (1-2/01, p.45) - Included in Magnet's "20 Best Albums of 2000" - "...A chugging contest in the musty wine cellar of popular song...guzzling these fine vinatges until they vomit..."

CMJ (4/3/00, p.3) - "...runs the gamut from grandiose '70s prog rock to British folk to Motorhead-style assaults....prepare to laugh your ass off while simultaneously reveling in the sheer madness of [their] brilliance."

Melody Maker (5/9/00, p.52) - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "...Ween's unexpected pop album....their acerbic lyrical bite still shows through....the pop field is a fairly wide one and, as ever, Ween don't get stuck in one furrow..."

Mojo (Publisher) (6/00, p.97) - "...Top-notch whiteboy radio rock with an eerie inner glow of Manson family sunshine. It's the in-car stereo soundtrack for that summer trip on Route 666." Format: Vinyl (1 Disc) Country: USA Studio/Live: Studio Release Date: 16 February, 2010 Label: Plain recordings

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