Ween featuring The Shit Creek Boys - Live in Toronto Canada (2001)

I received an email today informing me that Ween is coming to St. Petersburg, FL in October, two hours from where I live, so I knew it was a sign that I had to post this. It will be the second time I see them live and I am so psyched about it.

This disc was a limited run and of course goes for prices that are more absurd than the music contained here. The recording was made during the now legendary tour with The Shit Creek Boys. This may not be the best place to start for those that are new to the irreverent genius that is Ween, but I can't listen to this album and stay in a bad mood. My absolute favorite track is the album closer "Fluffy". Ween reveal their sentimental side here and turn this silly song into a sprawling dirge of an anthem. It really must be heard, my friends.

I decided to reproduce an excerpt of the liner notes written by Dean Ween:

In November of 1995, we went to Nashville to record our 5th album “12 Golden Country Greats” with an all-star lineup of veteran Nashville session players. With the help of our producer and longtime friend Ben Vaughn, we put together a backing band of the best players from the golden age of country music to record 10 country flavored tunes we had written that year.

This posed a problem upon the release of the record in the summer of the next year. Most of that band had long since retired from touring and we ruled out the possibility of playing shows to support the release of the album. Instead, we planned on playing two shows in one night at Tramp’s on July 17, 1996 in New York City and tried to see if the musicians would make the trip for a long weekend.

The person who seemed the most interested in the project from the beginning was Bobby Ogdin, who played piano on most of the record, and he assured us that he could put together an incredible Nashville band for the shows, so he became our “musical director” so to speak. I sent him CDs of all of our records and he wrote charts for the band. We had only two days to rehearse tor the gig and I was completely terrified... I don’t think I slept a minute the night before.

As it turns out, the shows were a great success, the music was completely over the top and the crowd basically freaked out. Everyone in the band wanted to do more so we decided on a 3 week American tour starting in October that same year. It turned out to be the most rewarding experience of our musical career. I don’t think we played a bad show the whole tour—the 8 piece band sounded like a 747 landing on your house.

Year of Release: 2001
Year of Recording: 1996
Label: Chocodog Records
Catalog #: CDR-1001
Genre: Experimental Rock
Media: CD
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 320 kbps

Track List:
1. Pretty Girl 2:55
2. What Deaner Was Talkin' About 2:13
3. Japanese Cowboy 4:26
4. Pumpin' 4 the Man 2:17
5. Mister Richard Smoker 3:15
6. Spinal Meningitis (Got Me Down) 3:34
7. Help Me Scrape the Mucus off My Brain 2:56
8. Waving My Dick in the Wind 3:06
9. Push th' Little Daisies 2:48
10. Buenas Tardes Amigo 10:37
11. Poop Ship Destroyer 5:58
12. I'm Holding You 6:55
13. Doctor Rock 5:15
14. The HIV Song 3:14
15. Piano Man 2:05
16. Fluffy 14:20

Download: Ween - Live In Toronto Canada (2001)
Download Size: 177 MB