Quebec

As a late entrant to the Ween fanclub, this is an album I found has something for everyone. From WTF is going on to quality rock/pop. But somehow it all works as one. Stay with it and it rewards you in spades, so is highly recommended. Should add that the vinyl has no pressing etc issues. Now to find the other albums...

I was going to add this review to the others where Quebec gets four and half stars, but it would be criminal to let this one stay at only two, so I decided to up the average. I have every Ween album now and wonderful though they all are, I think this one is by far the best - others may have equally good songs, but Quebec just has the best strike rate. I also love the albums diversity. The opener is the best song Motorhead never wrote, then comes a complete contrast with the totally gorgeous Zoloft - the vocals in the second half of the song are just beautiful- which is then followed by the catchy hum along pop of Transdermal Celebration - a pretty excellent start and that standard is maintained throughout. Other favoutites are the gentle country of Chocolate Town and the reflective If You Could Save Yourself. Oh - and Captain is fantastic as well, although I don't see the Grateful Dead connection which one review mentions - and I love the Dead. If I have a disappointment it is the lack of a really vulgar song. Most of the other albums have at least one and it is a pity this album doesn't. Basically, Quebec is one of those records that rewards repeated listening - it just gets better and better. I don't really know what it is all about and I don't think there is any great underlying concept - it is just a collection of really good songs, which make me feel good whenever I listen to them - a nice way way to spend fifty minutes. Buy it for yourself and then all your friends - can't wait for the new album.

Ween are doing it again...another must have album for all Ween fans and those who don't want to be left out! Quebec is a prime example of what Gene and Dean Ween are capable of musically. The album takes you through a journey of wonderful sounds that never stop to amaze the listener.

A Fantastic effort. People seem to want to deny Ween their incredibly strong forays into the depths of wholemeal songwriting, prefering them instead to writhe around in a bath full of poop and whistles. Ween are fantastic, their stupidity is vital, but people seem to get irritated each time they improve. Songs like 'The Argus' display a songwriting talent that grins with a Beatle-like confidence. This album, along with 1997's 'The Mollusk' illustrates the perfect balance between songwriting perfection and absolute idiocy.

This new release on Sanctuary records sees Ween having a little more freedom to be Ween-like. The record still has the produced sound of recent offerings, but with the raucous edge of earlier material. It's possibly best described as a cross between "White Pepper" and "God, Ween, Satan", and it's a good mix. There are some good hard rockers "It's Gonna Be A Long Night", plenty of distorted goodness "So Many People in the Neigbourhood", and upbeat silliness "Hey There Fancypants". Another quality offering, mang.

This is a great Ween album, but it doesn't work at all well if you come to it directly from (love of) Pure Guava, say, or even Chocolate and Cheese: It is often so much more polished. Taking the album in isolation is difficult because most people would come to it via these other Ween greats. The best way to approach Quebec is in fact via Aaron Freeman's solo album "Free man" from 2014. The latter has the same production values, is also excellent but is a lot less varied, with nothing like the variation of So Many People in the Neighborhood to F**ked Jam, and treated voices taking a backseat too. Golden Monkey is the best song on Freeman's new one, and it is every bit up to the Quebec standard as it is as strong lyric-wise as it is tuneful: Golden Monkey (referencing a golden monkey religious idol) is about today's non-Christian Western religion: hippy-dippy, "sexy" so-called spiritualism (all those who say they don't believe in a god that doles out passes to heaven and yet believe in karma that rewards "doing good" - so, exactly the same nonsense - and a "force that runs through all things"). I like to think the lines "See my finger? It's like a tower. Sending messages to other people" refers to the middle finger. Love the wrongly spelled words as Freeman gets into the head of someone who would actually believe such hippy-dippy nonsense, the dopes singing who think of themselves as deep thinkers but reveal themselves as pretentious dummies: "hieroglyphi". And that despite the "high" ideals, getting into someone's pants is intended sideline: "sex attraction, spiritualision". In other words, brilliant classic Ween on this track. I'm a time out, I'm a wave man, Scooby-Doo man, waxy serum. See my finger? It's like a tower Sending signals to other people Mathematic, intuition, Lucid dreaming, dancing with em, Enthusiasm, meditation, Sex attraction, spiritualision I'm a make you high, high, high, Like a golden monkey! I'm a make you fly, fly, fly, Like a rubber ball And we'll sigh Tutankhamun, hieroglyphi Saula Ali (??) Euro motor (??) Motor biking. Fortune cooki Crack it open. See the future I'm a make you high, high, high, Like a golden monkey! I'm a make you fly, fly, fly, Like a rubber ball And we'll sigh I'm a malter and a maker Mama Hannah bagagine (??) See the monkey - snap! See the monkey -snap! In a trance I'm a make you high, high, high, Like a golden monkey! I'm a make you fly, fly, fly, Like a rubber ball And we'll sigh

Overall, the best way I would describe the sound is that it sounds like the audio is "under-water". It does not have that crisp, clear sound one comes to expect with vinyl pressings. Because of this, the dynamics seem non-existent and it is an overall disappointing listening experience. If you're looking for audiophile quality sound, this pressing does not deliver. This pressing is best for somebody who is just looking to have the album on vinyl for the sake of having it on vinyl, nothing more unfortunately.

From the opening thrash rock of the first track "Its gonna to be a long night" to the slower melodic closing of "If you could save yourself you'd save us all" Ween take us on quite a musical journey in the album Quebec. I bought this album shortly after it's release a few years ago and recently listened to it again. It has lost none of it's charm. Ween explore a variety of genres on the album mixing rock, psychedelic, electronic and country. They also show that if they chose they can deliver commercial "pop" music. (eg "Transdermal Celebration" would not be out of place on a Foo Fighters album (with a change of lyrics). "Tried and True", "I Don't Want It", "The Argus" and "If You Could Save Yourself" also show their commercial nous.) Other highlights are undoubtedly the fun and darker "So many people in the neighborhood" and "Happy colored marbles"