Pure Guava

9.5/10

  Depending on where you're coming from this is either one of the awesomest or most irritating albums ever.  When I first listened to it I probably fell into the latter category.  The only song I remotely liked at first was Sarah, as it's the closest thing to traditional sounding music on here and it's actually kind of pretty.  The rest of it sounded like noise with various annoying voices singing over the top.  There's no doubt these are Frankenstein mutants of songs and it's kind of crazy that this was released on a major label.  It's even crazier when you think some record executive signed them to said major label based on their previous album The Pod.  Apparently this was recorded at the same time as The Pod.  In fact it could almost be looked at as songs that didn't make the cut for The Pod, but now they've been given some sort of major label production polish that makes them sound even weirder.

  The early 90's really was an insane time as far as underground bands scoring major label record contracts.  I guess after Nirvana hit it big and upset the established order of things, record companies had no clue what the kids wanted and thus scrambled to sign every band that was remotely "alternative."  Hence Pure Guava coming out on Elektra records.  They even scored a bit of a hit with Push th' Little Daisies.

  So anyway I can't say I was initially a fan of this.  It was kind of a chore to sit through and it sort of seemed like it was weird simply for the sake of being weird.  But then when I was college and beginning to mess around with drugs and alcohol a little bit I came back to this.  I kind of put it on just for fun after getting really high for one of my first times.  All of a sudden I "got" this album in a major way.  It was almost like hearing music for the first time, or hearing a completely new kind of music.  All of those songs that seemed like pointless noise suddenly revealed themselves to have purpose.  Mourning Glory which had previously appeared to be nothing more than a lengthy mess of irritating feedback with a go nowhere semi-story about some pumpkins became the most amazingly brilliant thing I'd ever heard.  I remember having this distinct image of an electric starfish piercing my head with its arms as I listened to the song.  It was kind of intense and even painful but in an astonishing way.  And that story about the pumpkins became strangely meaningful and hilarious.  Long story short, my mind was blown.

  Now you could easily just dismiss this as being due to drugs and how all music sounds better when you're high, and to an extent you'd be correct.  I think Pure Guava definitely benefits from not being sober.  But it does so in a way that's above and beyond a lot of other music I've heard.  I'm doubtlessly inflating the score of this album due to both nostalgia and because it introduced me to the concept of music sounding different when you're high.  Lots of people have probably had lots of different albums fill that role for them and thus those albums will hold a special place in their hearts.  But Pure Guava really is some freaking deliciously out there brilliant music.  And the best part was once I realized that I could enjoy it without having to be high.  It was like the door had been unlocked and now I understood it.  On some level it changed the way I listened to music from that point on.  So yeah, I'm always going to have some bias towards this album.

  That said, some of this rules harder than other parts of it, but I think every track "works."  I dig opener Little Birdy a lot and The Stallion Pt. 3 is seriously whacked out in the best possible way.  Big Jilm is oddly catchy and hilarious at the same time.  I really do picture some big old hillbilly or something and the weird deep voice they use sells it.  The image kind of cracks me up.

  Oddly enough Push th' Little Daisies, despite being the "hit" off the album might be one of my least favorite tracks on here.  I like it.  It's once again catchy in a strange way, but it doesn't touch the bizarre awesomeness of Touch My Tooter or some of the other songs I've previously mentioned.

  Some of the other tracks here definitely seem like stoned jokes, although sometimes brilliantly so.  Reggaejunkiejew is driven by a memorable synth line and contains some really cool strange noises, even as it consists of lyrics like "Fuck you reggaejunkiejew" over and over.  I suppose it could be deemed offensive, but I've heard it's about a particular annoying person that rubbed Gene Ween, who happens to be Jewish, the wrong way.

  Elsewhere Hey Fat Boy (Asshole) is kind of simplistic and crass, but also kind of funny and catchy.  And at less than two minutes long it doesn't wear out its welcome.  Loving U Through It All kind of sounds like they were making it up as they recorded... like maybe they agreed on a few lyrics they would sing in advance, but then they don't always hit the same lyrics at the same time.  It's still listenable somehow.  That's one of the coolest things about this album.  There are probably a few songs that were being "written" simultaneously as they were being recorded.  Some of the songs have noticeable mistakes or the guys start laughing or something in the middle.  You can even hear one of them say "You fucked it up again!" in the middle of one of the songs.  Yet somehow it all works.  At least within the twisted, warped logic of Pure Guava it does.  Plus the mistakes, laughter, and chatter all just add to the feeling that this was probably a lot of fun for Gene and Dean to make.

  I probably wouldn't recommend this as the first Ween album to listen to, unless you're a stoner who's into weird music.  They definitely have other albums that are more accessible and easier on the ears.  But this is still a really cool album if you can get your head around it and it'll always be one of my favorites.  This is probably the last really weird Ween album.  They would stay plenty strange, but as they recruited a full band and began to write songs that were more conventionally musical and professionally produced they changed quite a bit.  In a lot of ways they probably changed for the better, but they never sounded like Pure Guava again.  So it remains an essential document of the early Ween sound.