Killer Ween

To finish up my brief foray into the wonderful world of Ween, I've saved the best till last.

In 2008 Ween released a live album capturing a concert from 1992, entitled At The Cat's Cradle.
They did this in response to the previous live release Paintin' The Town Brown, put out by Elektra Records during Ween's association with the label.
An album apparently Ween were never happy with; not truly capturing the essence of their live shows during their early days - Elektra deciding to release songs mainly performed with a band touched up with a large dose of production, rather than raw recordings made by Ween as a duo, which is how the majority of their early shows were played; right up to Chocolate & Cheese in fact.

At The Cat's Cradle is still available, and I do recommend you go out and buy it, as it's a great recording of a classic Ween 1992 set.

What is harder to find now is a copy including the free limited edition DVD that came with the initial release - although it can still be tracked down with a well aimed search; something I highly recommend - I mean, it's not of the greatest visual quality, and some of the camera work is a little baffling, but it's great to see Ween perform early songs as a duo, often to very small audiences, and often in venues that have the look about them of a caravan site social club.
But that doesn't seem to deter or limit their performance at all; they give it all they've got; go completely nuts, playing as if their very lives depend upon it.

In the sleeve notes, guitarist Dean describes this period in Ween's career as really running out of steam.
The duo format determined and regulated by the tight frame and structure of the Dat player became boring to them, and they moved into the more conventional band format allowing for improvisation and more spontaneity.
Totally understandable of course, especially from a guitar player of Dean's ability, but then again, some of their early songs are just so perfect: 'Marble Tulip Juicy Tree' is a quite wonderful and brilliant song.
I haven't got a fucking clue what it's about, but it's simply amazing.

All the tracks on the DVD are different, or at least different versions of those on the CD, and the quality of sound is very good.
My recording level is a little high - I had to rip this from my Playstation: it's a long story... - but there's no distortion; just mind your lugs if you're using cans.


Ween - Live 1991 - 1992 (various locations), (2008)

Captain Fantasy
You Fucked Up
Tick
Boing
Listen to the Music (studio out-take)
Don't Get 2 Close 2 My Fantasy
Cover It With Gas and Set It On Fire
Seconds
Marble Tulip Juicy Tree
Gladiola Heartbreaker
Common Bitch
The Goin' Gets Tough From the Getgo
Reggaejunkiejew
Old Queen Cole
Shalom Absalom (studio out-take)
Don't Laugh I Love You
Mountain Dew

Excellent DVD audio rip to mp3s @320kbs
Go back to the future with Ween here