Paintin' the Town Brown [Parental Advisory]

Rating

Album: Paintin' the Town Brown: Ween Live '90-'98
#	Song Title		Time
	Disc 1
1)	Mushroom Festival in Hell	More Info...
2)	Japanese Cowboy	More Info...
3)	Mountain Dew	More Info...
4)	Bumblebee	More Info...
5)	Voodoo Lady	More Info...
6)	Ode to Rene	More Info...
7)	Mister Richard Smoker	More Info...
8)	Doctor Rock	More Info...
9)	I Can't Put My Finger on It	More Info...
10)	Cover It with Gas and Set It on Fire	More Info...
11)	Awesome Sound	More Info...
12)	Tender Situation	More Info...
13)	Mister Would You Please Help My Pony?	More Info...
14)	I Saw Gener Cryin' in His Sleep	More Info...
15)	Marble Tulip Juicy Tree	More Info...
16)	She Fucks Me	More Info...
	Disc 2
1)	Poop Ship Destroyer	More Info...
2)	Vallejo	More Info...
3)	Puffycloud	More Info...

Album: Paintin' the Town Brown: Ween Live '90-'98
#	Song Title		Time
	Disc 1
1)	Mushroom Festival in Hell	More Info...
2)	Japanese Cowboy	More Info...
3)	Mountain Dew	More Info...
4)	Bumblebee	More Info...
5)	Voodoo Lady	More Info...
6)	Ode to Rene	More Info...
7)	Mister Richard Smoker	More Info...
8)	Doctor Rock	More Info...
9)	I Can't Put My Finger on It	More Info...
10)	Cover It with Gas and Set It on Fire	More Info...
11)	Awesome Sound	More Info...
12)	Tender Situation	More Info...
13)	Mister Would You Please Help My Pony?	More Info...
14)	I Saw Gener Cryin' in His Sleep	More Info...
15)	Marble Tulip Juicy Tree	More Info...
16)	She Fucks Me	More Info...
	Disc 2
1)	Poop Ship Destroyer	More Info...
2)	Vallejo	More Info...
3)	Puffycloud	More Info...

Performer Notes

This is an Enhanced audio CD which contains regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.
Ween: Gene Ween, Dean Ween (vocals, guitar); Danny Parks (guitar); Stu Basore (pedal steel guitar); Hank Singer (fiddle, percussion); Bobby Ogdin (piano, keyboards, percussion); Glenn McClelland (keyboards); Dave Dreiwitz, Andrew Weiss, Matt Kohut (bass); Claude Coleman (drums).
Compilation producers: Ween, Greg Frey, Kirk Miller.
Recorded live between December 1990 and December 1997. Includes liner notes by Dean Ween.
Audio Mixer: Kirk Miller .
Liner Note Author: Dean Ween.
Editor: Greg Frey.
There is very little middle ground with Ween: either you like what they do, or you don't. On the one hand the band's incessant jokes are clearly constructed to create a certain effect and are often quite funny. On the other hand, listening to them occasionally makes the listener feel like the only one at the party who is not chemically altered.
On this double live CD, most of Ween's songs fall into one of two camps: they are either elaborately stylized jokes ("Ode to Rene" or "Mister Richard Smoker") or drug-induced noise fests ("Mushroom Festival in Hell," "Bumblebee," or "Awesome Sound"). This collection's standouts are "Japanese Cowboy," a pretty obvious, "nudge-nudge-aren't-we-clever" neo-country song that they acknowledge lifts the melody of "Chariots of Fire" (so much so that they even tack on a coda covering the Vangelis original) and the Kiss-influenced "Doctor Rock," an archly delivered rock pastiche that continually threatens to derail. The 30-minute, hyper-kinetic version of the south-of-the-border, percussion-driven theme song, "Vallejo," full of burnt-out guitar effects and feedback, is noteworthy too. Also included, for those inclined, is a 26-minute rendition of the ambient/metal "Poopship Destroyer."

Professional Reviews

Rolling Stone (8/19/99, p.117) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...as this live compilation amply demonstrates...[Ween] have been adventurous and unpredictable musical chameleons whose most tawdry secret is that crafty songwriting lurks underneath all their filth..."

Alternative Press (9/99, p.119) - 3 out of 5 - "...a historical document of an over-talented pair with the panache to offhandedly throw their eclectic charms into the packs of laugh-a-paloozers they surely attracted..."

Magnet (8-9/99, p.95) - "...This career slog contains all the fan faves....The blitzed-out introductions to these selections make it perfectly clear that...Ween doesn't take itself very seriously..."

Mojo (Publisher) (11/99, p.121) - "...worth the price for the delight of encountering what sounds like several different but excellent bands....Here, live and in-person, is Ween's evolution....Glorious."