Even if the joke is super dumb and at times problematic, it is strangely comforting to know that the guy responsible hasnвЂ™t changed one iota.THE REBEL KIND-VARIOUS ARTISTS (1983) SOUNDS INTERESTING RECORDS (SILP-011) The Fuzztones' 'Ward 81' is also included-this track is self-penned, and hints at what goes on in the 'Tones grey matter.foul demons, kicking mental patients, psychotic spasms.Fuzzzz! Babbling aural insanity! More Fuzzzzz!! FREAKBEAT 'WARD 81'-Starting with clever use of a found voice preaching the horrors of insane asylums, there's a long (but tasty)guitar break and great use of sreams at the climax.The song equates insanity with love, death, and rock'n'roll. And perhaps that is the small magic of The Deaner Album: it makes you feel like you are in on a longstanding inside joke with an old friend. ItвЂ™s aware that itвЂ™s aggro and is brutally funny. The comedic and lyrical height of this record, however, belongs to вЂњExercise Man,вЂќ which paints a plainspoken portrait of a вЂњfucking douchebag exercise man,вЂќ who works out every day even though he will вЂњdie at 57 of a heart attack.вЂќ It is a really quick, blunt song about the futility of constructive behavior and boasts the description: вЂњHe uses the weight room at the Motel 6,вЂќ which should have been a punchline about DrakeвЂ™s softness three years ago. вЂњTammyвЂќ is a seedy tale whose chorus details using the songвЂ™s namesake as a sexual object and then murdering her with a shotgun: вЂњTammy, bring me my Shammy/So I can clean my shotgun and bury you below.вЂќ Ween occasionally made forays into politically incorrect territory, but DeanerвЂ™s latest entry isnвЂ™t so much funny as it is straightforwardly unnerving. This pays dividends for the bar-rock and instrumental tracks on this record, but a lot of the lyrics and imagery can be ham-fisted (вЂњCharlie BrownвЂќ is a song about being unlucky, for example), and in one case, crudely misogynistic. So even though DeanвЂ™s album features guest appearances from the Meat PuppetsвЂ™ Curt Kirkwood, and punk drummer Chuck Treece, The Deaner Album lacks a fundamental humaneness and veers toward uncouth, guitar face-inducing force.

This had everything to do with the dynamic between Gene and Dean, the former a more philosophically minded, if outlandish, songwriter, the latter the brash, instrumental wonk.

Puerile antics are seemingly foundational to what made Ween so great, but really it was the bandвЂ™s delicate balance of sincerity and irreverent surrealism. Most noticeably, however, The Deaner Album intuitively echoes songs that have populated WeenвЂ™s variegated discography, something that seems inevitable given the bandвЂ™s self-perpetuating mythology-their вЂњ brownness.вЂќ The arena-primed вЂњGarryвЂќ sounds like if Chocolate and CheeseвЂ™s вЂњA Tear for EddieвЂќ was reconfigured as a Lynyrd Skynyrd ballad, while вЂњGum,вЂќ a truly grating listening experience during which Melchiondo lists kinds of gum, is a close cousin to вЂњCandiвЂќ and borrows the disquieting triangle jabs of вЂњSpinal Meningitis.вЂќ And of course, this wouldnвЂ™t be a Ween-peripheral record without a shit reference so вЂњDoo Doo ChasersвЂќ checks that box and ends the record on a particularly brown note, much the way вЂњPoop Ship DestroyerвЂќ concludes Pure Guava. Lead track вЂњDickie Betts,вЂќ an instrumental highlight, is an improvisational southern rock tribute to the former Allman Brothers Band guitarist, and maybe even a self-referential nod to the guitaristвЂ™s leap from second to first in command. вЂњMercedes BenzвЂќ experiments with the funky lurch of Parliament-Funkadelic, while вЂњShwartze PeteвЂќ celebrates Les Paul with the legendвЂ™s nasally, vintage guitar noodling.

Much like WeenвЂ™s early output-think God Ween Satan: The Oneness through Chocolate and Cheese- The Deaner Album is a collagist pursuit that simultaneously honors and apes the various styles it probes.

Ween discography