MUSIC REVIEW: Ween - Pure Guava (1992)

Bernhardt: For their third album, Ween somehow managed to score a deal with major recording label Elektra. Does this mean they have *gasp* sold out!?
Nope, not in the slightest.
So, GWS was their juvenile, fun, childish album, The Pod was the dark one, and Pure Guava is... hard to describe. They still record on a 4-track, but this time the guitars are processed in a bizarre way that makes them sound artifical, the vocals are sometimes high-pitched and the drum tracks sound more obviously fake than ever.
Fortunately, the songwriting is as strong as ever. This time around their main concern doesn't seem to be genre parody or generating a certain mood - simply creating songs that are as baffling as they are extremely catchy.
So catchy, in fact, that this is the only Ween album to yield a Top 10 hit. Push th' Little Daisies got them considerable MTV airplay and public attention. Unfortunately, most of the listeners decided to dismiss Ween as nothing more than a joke band and ignore anything the band ever put out. Sighs.
But back to what concerns us. Push th' Little Daisies is hookier than hell, but hardly the best song here.Stronger contenders for that title include The Stallion (Pt. 3), with its circling guitars and pseudo-pretentious lyrics (sung in a bizarre chimpunk voice); Don't Get 2 Close (2 My Fantasy), an epic prog-rock song (featuring an asbolutely gorgeous whistling solo) that is as majestic as it is utterly tongue-in-cheek; Reggaejunkiejew, with its simple yet brilliant beat/bass line and iflammatory lyrics; or I Saw Gener Cryin' in His Sleep, a piece of frantic country rock sung by Deaner to his buggy Gener.
As usual, you will also find less fully realized songs, like Tender Situation, The Goin' Gets Tough from the Getgo and I Play It Off Legit. Most of them don't offer many interesting musical ideas or serve much purpose in the album, but they're certainly not offensive. The only exception may be Mourning Glory, which reaches new levels of unlistenability through its 5 very painful minutes.
Other than that endurance test, Pure Guava is a strangely entertaining listen thanks to the boys' penchant for diversity and musical sensibilites.
Again, it's not easy to grasp at first, what with its cheap sound and fake atmosphere, but its charms are many once they're discovered. B

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