White Pepper

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Over the course of Ween’s 15-year existence, weirdness has become sort of their stock-in-trade, but on White Pepper, the “brothers” Dean and Gene Ween have gotten so weird they actually sound, well, kind of normal. After filling previous albums with outrageous send-ups of everything from street funk and flamenco to country and noise metal, it’s as if the most shocking thing left to do was to just play it straight. Which is not to say White Pepper isn’t without its brushes with the bizarre (the steel drum–laden, Jimmy Buffett–gone-bad “Bananas and Blow” being a prime example). For most of the album though, Ween tuck their lunacy behind sincere pop songs that display gooey sentimentality along with a very real fondness for the Beatles (“Even If You Don’t”), Pink Floyd (“Back To Basom”), and Big Star (“Stay Together”). To be honest, we can’t really tell if they’re serious or joking, but frankly it doesn’t matter. It works either way.

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