003: Ween - The Mollusk (1997)
"The Mollusk is by far and away my favorite. The people who are into it, are really into it. It's a whole bunch of things: a prog, nautical, and even a children's record."
-Dean Ween
Yikes — things are getting a little brown on this episode of Discord & Rhyme. For his first outing as host, Phil Maddox leads his co-hosts through New Hope, PA, alternative rock duo Ween’s highly idiosyncratic and mildly sophomoric 1997 release The Mollusk. Ween initially gained notoriety in the early ’90s, when major labels were snapping up every weird band under the sun in search of the next Nirvana, and it was awesome. The band is best known for its grating MTV hit “Push th’ Lil’ Daisies,” but The Mollusk is more of a loving homage to progressive rock and sea shanties — with a few jarring doses of Ween humor.
Miscellany
Content note: We try to keep it clean, but as you can probably tell from the track list below, Ween is a band that is very difficult to discuss without some coarse language. If you listen to our show with your kids, you may want to wait until they go to bed for this one. It’s not too bad, but some blue language is unavoidable.
Technical note: Will was experiencing problems with his mic for the first stretch of the episode, and is completely absent from tracks 6 and 7. Because we love Will, we have taken steps to ensure that his voice is nothing but silky smooth in the future.
This episode demonstrates that the brothers Ween and Christopher Cross are cut from the same songwriting cloth.
Gryphon (excerpted during the discussion of “Cold Blows The Wind”) is one of Phil’s favorite bands of all time, and he insists on using this space to insist that everyone buy a copy of their 1974 prog rock masterwork “Red Queen To Gryphon Three.”
Discord & Rhyme Roll Call
Phil Maddox (host)
Rich Bunnell (moderator)
Dan Watkins
Chris Willie Williams
The Mollusk track list
I’ll Be Dancing in the Show Tonight
The Mollusk
Polka Dot Tail
I’ll Be Your Jonny on the Spot
Mutilated Lips
The Blarney Stone
It’s Gonna Be (Alright)
The Golden Eel
Cold Blows the Wind
Pink Eye (On My Leg)
Waving My Dick in the Wind
Buckingham Green
Ocean Man
She Wanted to Leave (Reprise)
Other clips used
Ween:
Transitions
Where'd the Cheese Go?
Poop Ship Destroyer
Pandy Fackler
Freedom of ’76
Exactly Where I’m At
Push Th’ Lil’ Daisies
Nan
Stay Forever
The Argus
Never Squeal
Others:
Gayla Peevey - Are My Ears On Straight
Christopher Cross - Ride Like the Wind
Gryphon - The Unquiet Grave
Richard Thompson - 1952 Vincent Black Lightning
Band/album personnel
Ween are:
Aaron Freeman, alias Gene Ween – guitar, lead vocals, engineering
Michael Melchiondo, Jr., alias Dean Ween – guitar, vocals, engineering
Personnel:
Dave Dreiwitz – bass
Glenn McClelland – keyboards
Mean Ween – bass
Kirk Miller – sound effects
Claude Coleman, Jr. – drums, percussion, engineering
Bill Fowler – guitar, bass
Andrew Weiss - producer
Other links
Support the podcast by buying The Mollusk through our Amazon affiliate link!
Credits
“Discord & Rhyme (theme),” composed by the Other Leading Brand, contains elements of:
Amon Düül II - Dehypnotized Toothpaste
The Dukes of Stratosphear - What in the World?? ...
Faith No More - Midlife Crisis
Herbie Hancock - Hornets
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Talking Heads - Seen and Not Seen
Ween - Pink Eye (On My Leg) (this episode only)
You can buy or stream The Mollusk and other albums by Ween at the usual suspects such as Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, and Amazon. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Twitter @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other random stuff. Follow Phil @pamaddox, Rich @zonetrope, and Dan @DanSWatkins. Will used to be on Twitter, but he wanted to leave, so he did. Special thanks to our own Mike DeFabio, the Other Leading Brand, for production and editing. See you next album, and be ever wonderful.