Track Listing

1. Fiesta
2. Blue Balloon
3. Friends
4. Object
5. Learnin' to Love
6. With My Own Bare Hands
7. The Fruit Man
8. Spirit Walker
9. Shamemaker
10. Sweetheart
11. Lullaby
12. Woman and Man
13. Your Party

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #30839 in Music
• Released on: 2007-10-23
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Explicit Lyrics

Album Description
For the past 20 years, Ween has established itself as a major artistic force, combining off-the-wall musical antics with brilliantly creative songwriting. La Cucaracha, Ween's new studio record, is an eclectic, dark, humorous, and bizarre assortment of songs. In other words, it's a typical Ween record. These thirteen tracks, though strongly diverse, share a common theme: relationships. It's a theme that can be at once joyful, morbid, humorous, and often frightening. From the tenderly introspective "Lullaby" to the disturbingly offensive "My Own Bare Hands," Ween pulls no punches in its latest endeavor, which acheives its power through sharp wit, clever songwriting, and brutal honesty.

Amazon.com
For a band entering their third decade of creative collaboration (counting from their late '80s self-released cassettes), you might think Ween would have started to mellow, maybe release the occasional children's album, a la They Might Be Giants. However, it's clear from their first studio album in four years that Dean and Gene Ween have lost none of their wonderful weirdness. Don't let the title mislead you into thinking La Cucaracha is a single-genre exercise on the order of 1996's Nashville-nailing 12 Golden Country Greats. Sure, it kicks off with mariachi-esque "Fiesta", but the subsequent 12 tracks contain explorations of demented reggae, faux English accents, lo-fi techno, boot-stompin' bluegrass, a bongo-driven epic jam about the origins of the universe, songs about balloons and killing your girlfriend ("Object" is as creepy a tale as anything they've ever produced), and a soothing-as-Kaopectate sax solo from smooth jazz legend David Sanborn. If you're a follower of the church of Ween, it's as comforting as a heap of mashed potatoes and meatloaf, covered (of course) with a ladle of brown gravy. --Ben Heege

Customer Reviews

spotty
I'm a huge Ween fan and love most everything they do. It was apparent from the outset with "La Cucaracha" that this album was going to be a grower. Unfortunately, it really hasn't grown on me the way I thought it would, and as a result, I now think it really isn't a very strong release.

The album starts fine with "Fiesta", a wacky Mexican-themed instrumental. But then comes the biggest flaw with the album in my eyes. Songs 2 and 3 on a record should definitely establish the tone. For me, "Blue Balloon" and "Friends" could be the flimsiest 2 and 3 songs ever on a record, and that is saying a lot. A lot of folks like "Blue Balloon" but I just don't get it. I find it to be a very boring song. "Friends" is a techno rave up unlike anything Ween has done before, and it is fine, but really not packing much punch. I don't think that it is any coincidence that the band only played each of these songs live a handful of times before dropping them out of the rotation all together. If a band that thrives on its live show doesn't think enough to include the 2nd and 3rd song of its new record in the set list, what does that say about the strength of these songs? The first 3 on this album just leave me puzzled.

"Object" is the 4th song and it has grown on me...I like the lyrics, but even it is a fairly terse song. "Learnin' to Love" is a nice Tom Petty styled tune that has become a staple in the live show and is decent, although I've grown sick of it on repeated listens. "With My Own Bare Hands" is the type of Ween tune that I usually love, muscular and vulgar, but even this one feels forced to me...the lyrics are so over the top and lose their shock value as a result. The next 3 songs, "The Fruit Man", "Spirit Walker" and "Shamemaker" are all decent, but nothing too killer. The first 2 also receive almost no live play.

The album definitely closes stronger than it begins. "Sweetheart" is a great little 70's styled tune sung by Deaner, and they hit the mark on this one. "Lullaby" is nice. The final 2 songs, "Woman and Man" and "Your Party" are the strongest on the record. "Woman and Man" is a 9 minute psychadelic blow out with a sinister riff. "Your Party" is a piece of excellent songwriting that holds up with any of Ween's best work. But it is there that this album pales...the songs just aren't very memorable as a whole. The lack of momemtum generated by the first few songs on this record make it a tough listen, and it never recovers. Ween has better records in them.

a symphony of brownness
the first thing i thought while listening to the first track was 'what the hell' but very soon started to laugh. An excellent album in entirity. Lullaby is sung by an angel. my own bare hands is great, its good to hear dean sing. very very good and very brown.

something new to dislike.
reveiwers, other people want kooky ween of the past. i'm sure fans begged for more white pepper. personally i would have asked ween for another mollusk album or something more along the lines of chocolate and cheese.

but once again ween has given their fans the finger in creating something new to hate, la cucaracha. a song called "friends"? can it get any worse? yepp, a song about a yuppy dinner party. the "cher-esque" spirit walker. wow, all these new tracks makes me want to puke, nothing like the pod version 2 which i really wanted from ween. or maybe another country album. what the hell was ween thinking, this stuff is downright atrocious.

a few hours later, in a meeting and singing spirit walker to the fat lady next to me. huh. ween has done it again. accept it. this album is awesome and just as brown as anything else.

i think it's got more subtlety than previous releases.