Pure Guava
2:31 AM
“Little Birdy”
Approaching borderline jam band territory and stoner catnip qualities.
Oh another weird fucking vocal modulation stoner jam hooray, I guess. Apparently Pure Guava is the last album Ween did on a four-track until their latest album. GOOD. Just kidding, I love the four track recording method. Just not with Ween. KIDDING. I see the appeal. It works. Etc. I’m just fascinated by this fucking band and how they have such a talent with songs that you know, have melodies yet lace their albums the way Denzel laced Ethan Hawke’s blunt with PCP in Training Day. There’s some joyful bliss and then there’s some fucking weird freakout bizarro shit that makes you want to climb into a cave and stay there for a thousand years. But this is just the first part. It’s not even as weird as the other stuff before this. It’s actually conventional weirdo bullshit. GO FIGURE!
“Tender Situation”
Fuckin' obsessed with this track. Kept telling Jenny to "taste the waste" last night and then laughing. So awful. I will be an awful husband. I don't even know what "taste the waste" MEANS. WHAT WASTE? Like poop waste? Anyway, no matter still a lovely song even lovelier when the vocals come through.
“Taste the waste man, taste the waste.” Christ there’s something brilliant here that is just covered in fucking shit. Beautiful glorious shit. The problem is I just watched a live version of this shot in Lawrence and it’s fucking gorgeous. And that’s kind of what keeps Ween interesting. It’s hard to appreciate “Tender Situation” in its album form for a minute until you know how goddamn good it is. It’s easy to overlook, etc. What with all those hushed vocals and all. But there’s something really sad there, in all that hushedness after the grossness of tasting waste.
“Push th’ Little Daisies”
Fuck, the video makes the song better. Bizarre 90s alt-rock genius at work. Also, editing the song with a Prince squeal? Inspired. Truly inspired.
Oh shit this song! This is the hit, isn’t it? It’s like a perfect blend of the pop sensibility Ween has displayed before but with shit all over it. And maybe that’s exactly how Ween works. Great songs covered in shit. Oh, and the next song mentions getting shit on. GO FIGURE. Listened to this song like three times and I don’t see what all the fuss is about and it’s practically designed to grate. Gene’s helium vox are a little overboard but I suppose it’s got a decent hook buried in there. Oh well, I guess if you stand under the umbrella of deconstructionism it’s impossible for anyone’s shit to get on you. Shit or God’s tears.
Day 5: August 12th, 2011
11:03 PM
“Sarah”
Christ, this one brings the motherfucking house down. Just so fucking great.
Fucking FINALLY, a normal sounding song. A lovely little sad song that sounds like it’s actually being sung by a human being and not the devil. A short little lovely ditty with the trusty flanger and dreamy delay and yeah, appealing to the GBV sensors that are helping me soldier through this discography. Just simple great little songs that hit the gut is all I require. After “Pumpin 4 the Man” and “I Play it Off Legit,” that was nice.
“Loving U Thru It All”
Holy fuck, “Mourning Glory” was a weird five minutes of fucking noise. I’m amazed that that any major label would ever put this out. But I suppose it was the 90s. Still, this is a fucking weird, difficult record and even keeping the openest of minds I can’t imagine listening to this in one go and truly enjoying it on any sort of level that you really expect when you listen to a record put out by a major label. Still trying to decide if it’s artistically rich or just pulled-out-of-ass bullshit (pry a bit of both) but goddamn. This was a nice little palate cleanser.
“Don’t Get 2 Close (2 My Fantasy)”
Fuck, another goddamned monster jam that I only realized was a monster jam after letting it sink in. It'll be fun to revisit this discography after burning through it.
See, in my head this is what the Ween songs I like sound like. No garbage distortion or effects to bog down the often inspired songwriting. They seem to have prog rock mimicry down to a fucking T. It’s solid stuff, probably the solidest song on this whole record…and then they follow up this jam with a song called…
Overlooked So Far:
“The Stallion pts. 1-3”
“The Stallion pt. 2” got stuck in my head today at work. I couldn’t get it to leave, so there it sat right next to “Tender Situation.” When I got home, listened to the jam and noticed how hilarious the lyrics are. In a legitimately hilarious way, not in a poop joke way or anything like that. The part that goes “1: I can drink/ 2: I get groomed/ 3: I go for a walk/ I am the stallion mang/ You know that I am the stallion” cracks my shit up. Can’t explain why. The Stallion Suite (at least 1-3, the only I’ve got to so far) is fascinating, and part 3 gets even fucking weirder, boasting bizarre advice like “don’t caress the weasel” and “don’t seek the blood from the panther” before making more boastful declarations that are part surreal and part gaga goo goo batshit. “I am screaming backward in the sand (hey, dude, he’s the stallion).”
AND:
This looks like it was the best fucking wedding EVER. A 9 year old singing "The Stallion Pt. 3" curses and all?! What a wonderful world.
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