Three 65, Day 12
Ween, Pure Guava

Ween is regarded in certain circles as a joke, a comedy band, but there's a lot more to them than that. The joke itself wouldn't work so well if Gene and Dean Ween weren't consummate professionals; their musicianship is always spot on, they can ape any style, and in doing so, they often make that style their own. Their best regarded album is Chocolate & Cheese, but I find the one that came before it, Pure Guava, to be my favorite.

Maybe it's because Ween was still in a state of transition while recording this album. They hadn't blown up yet, they were still relatively underground, and they were still recording to four-track in empty barns throughout the Northeastern Corridor. But there is a definite change on this album from their previous work, which had a very "demo" feel to it. Here, the band takes hold of their destiny, and applies all of their know-how to make something that successfully straddles the line between homegrown and professional.

There's a lot of gags here, to be sure, and that's necessary for a Ween album; when they forget the ha-ha, the music suffers (just listen to Quebec for an example). "Little Birdy" is a drugged out slow-mo poem about, well, a little birdy, set to drunken, fucked up music. "The Stallion Pt. 3" and "Don't Get 2 Close (2 My Fantasy)" are perfect imitations of prog-rock in all its bombast and glory. "Push Th' Little Daisies," a helium-soaked song about death that blew Ween all over the map after it was featured on an episode of Beavis & Butt-head, remains one of the band's finest moments. "Pumpin' 4 The Man" is a straight-up rocker, and "Sarah" is a beautiful ballad. A Ween album wouldn't be complete without a fully offensive moments, and "Reggaejunkiejew" fits the bill perfectly. And of course, there's the classic "Poop Ship Destroyer," 2:16 of sound effects that live usually lasts over half an hour.

Ween would go on to greatness and glory with albums like The Mollusk and the underrated White Pepper (a hilarious send-up of Steely Dan), but in '92, when they were still struggling, they recorded their definitive statement in Pure Guava. To sum it up perfectly, the album liner notes read: "When Ween comes to your town, bring us hot meals. No more junk food, thanks." I'm not sure how that ties in here, but that's the scattershot beauty of Ween.