Ween — La Cucaracha

Those seriously silly Ween boys have returned with their uneasy marriage of juvenile humour backed by unassailable musicianship and songwriting talent. Whether Gene and Dean are aware of the tightrope they walk between Bart Simpson and William S. Burroughs is irrelevant unless they stumble too far to one side, as they have on La Cucaracha. The best Ween songs are the ones where you can't tell whether or not the duo are taking the piss. "The Fruit Man" is a good example. It's a space dub tune about multiculturalism sung with a fake Caribbean accent. Sly social commentary or stupid racist humour? Unfortunately there are too many songs on this album that are up-front gags. "Shamemaker," the fish-in-barrel shot at teenage angst and "Friends," the fake ecstasy rave, both invite the one label I've always avoided attaching to Ween: novelty band. There are probably thousands of fans who would tell me I think too much about their favourite drug music. But that's, you know, dumb.

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