Ween - "The Friends" EP
A friend's a friend who knows what being a friend is
My Copy of Ween's The Friends EP just arrived yesterday, an appetizer to their soon to be released full length album. At only 5 tracks long and 19 minutes in length there isn't much to be said about it, yet so much to say. It's hard to pick which direction Ween is set to take with their new album, this could be a sign of things to come or could be a complete curve ball and the album is something else entirely.
The Friends EP, simply put, is a bit of feel good fun with some funky beats. Each track is very different whilst all leaning towards a more electronic/funk backbone. The title track Friends sounds like something you would hear in a dance club back in 1995. To put it bluntly this song is gay, really gay, but Ween still pull it off in true brown form. I mean the chorus is simply "A friend's a friend who knows what being a friend is, as friends we were so close, friend's in life are special, do you want me as your special friend, because you're the friend I've been searching for".
The second track, I Got To Put The Hammer Down is the only one to be played so far on their 2007 American tour, it's similar to the first with it's dance beats, think Monique the Freak from the Shinola CD.
King Billy is Ween's venture into Reggae, actually the first 30 seconds of the song leads you to believe it'll be anything but Reggae but then it heads on down to another King of the Tubby variety territory. This is the long track on the album you see, clocking in at just under six mins. The music almost has a Ska like ring to it as well, still electronic in sound, but it's almost what would happen if Madness and King Tubby formed a band. There is also a throwback to the Ween of old, reminiscent of tracks like Big Jilm where there is just utterly annoying yet awesome sounds tacked into the song, the outro sounds like utter distortion but could also be described as Cookie Monster running out of batteries whilst playing the kazoo.
Ween invites you to Tango with them in "Light Me Up". This is definitely Bananas and Blow meets Buenas Tardes Amigo with Gener once again making you believe he is from Spanish or Mexican descent instead of a pasty-arsed fishboy from PA. This is a really cool sounding track though. The guitar really is playing the part of the trumpet on this one, but the drum beats are definitely Bananas and Blow-ish.
Rounding out the EP is the touching Slow Down Boy which is a throw back to something you'd hear on Quebec. This breaks the mode from the rest of the CD, it's not electronic sounding, it's soft and sounds like it's an extremely cheesy 80s ballad, lyrics such as "Slow down boy, he's breaking your heart, his innocence will tear you apart, his love is yours, you don't have to hurry, you have all the time in the world" are really just cheese, but Ween can once again get away with this in style.
Overall, it's nothing compared to some classic Ween releases, but then again I don't think it's meant to be, it achieves it's goal of being 19 incredibly short but entertaining and fun minutes of music. As the boys themselves say:
"It is the ultimate party record, filled with good beats and good times. Perfect for your barbecue or doing bong hits or whatever it is that you guys do."
They also add this word of warning about downloading the EP:
"If you download it or burn a copy from a friend your karma will be so fucked that you will be reincarnated as a tumor on a rat's ass. We put a lot of time into this, like 4 years. What is that 9.5 months a song or something? You're gonna buy it on iTunes? No way. Seriously though, you're gonna love it."
My own two cents though about Ween and their views on download, they fucking rock. They set up this website http://www.browntracker.net/ which pretty much encourages people to record their live shows and put them on this site to share with everyone.
The Friends EP is out now and available for order on Ween's website - http://www.ween.com/chocodog/ween/
Welcome back home monarch, and thanx for the review. The thing is, would you really recommend a punter buy it over anything in their back catalogue? It's way too early to say, huh.
I was so dying for the the new QOTSA, like even counting the days, and on the day it came out there was the totally humiliating sight of me pushing a pram into the 12th floor of a Shinsabashi apartment store, surrounded by swarms of the most headsmashingly beautiful people, and there's me asking the clerk if he had the new QOTSA record. This exchange took about 3 minutes, finally we understood each other and he made a hand gesture and there it was, right behind me, about 60cm in fact, mine to purchase.
So I bought it, and the only time I have had to crank the new QOTSA record has been late at night in the care returning videos to the video store.
I haven't got a feel for the record yet, but I think there are three good songs.
The first song is my favourite. My rec, as a long-term fan: wait a few months and get it at half the $ at JB.
As Queens have got older, their music has got younger, and I feel old.
Broken heart.
But waht of ween, Monarch?
Ah Ween, well are you asking as someone who knows OF Ween but not heard much of their stuff? If so I'd say this isn't the best place to start, it's catchy as hell and the more I listen to it the more I like it but none of these songs would rank up in the Ween classics .. I'd honestly say the best place to start is their "Live in Chicago" album/dvd as it spans their whole career, has fantastic sound and is a great concert. I'd go so far as to put it in my top 10 albums of all time.
This one I'd say is for devoted Ween fans simpley because you'll have to order it in from America (but you do get a snazzy T-shirt with the order) unless you download it from somewhere, I assume demonoid.com would have it already .. but remember to heed the warning from the Ween boys on download, theres plenty of good Ween in JB that can get someone started.
I haven't heard much QOTSA to be honest, Mr Vee. Blackshadow got me their first album for a Birthday or Christmas present a few years ago which I still enjoy when I give it a spin, but haven't ventured further than that other than hearing the odd song on the radio.
Vine also got me into Ween. I am not an expert though, I only own Pure Guava, the album with the song Transdermal Celebration, forget name now, its in storage in Australia, and the Mollusk, which is by far my fave. I have heard bits and pieces of Chocolate & Cheese at Power St, and that Cunt Kinko P Douglas stole my live DVD which I got for my birthday.
So I guess a bit of newcomer, but I dig the weirdness.
What do you reckon the new album will be like?
To be honest I have no idea .. like I say all this electronic good vibes stuff could be a sign of whats to come or it'll be absolutely nothing like it. I imagine it won't be much like The Friends EP because none of these songs will appear on the album, and they definetly seem to be grouped together with the fun theme, but I can't see it being as depressing (in a good way) as Quebec (the album with Transdermal Celebration!). My personal guess is it'll be a real mix and a bit of a throw back to the weirdness of the Ween circa early 90s.
So yeah the last 2 Ween albums have had a slightly more serious spin on things (as serious as Ween is gonna get) but I don't think that's going to continue. Mixed feelings about that because White Pepper is probably my favorite Ween album discounting the live album.
As far as I can tell, no release date yet but it's definetly my most anticipated album of 2007 so far, which has some tough contenders with the Tomahawk, Powderfinger and Modest Mouse releases.
Live in concert last year:
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