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The Mollusk

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Untitled
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[2]
Rolling Stone[3]
Pitchfork Media(9.7/10)[4]

The Mollusk is the sixth studio album by American rock band Ween, released by Elektra Records on June 24, 1997. It is a multigenre concept album with a dark nautical theme, with most songs incorporating psychedelic elements while also featuring a heavy progressive rock influence. According to Dean Ween, "I will say that the only record that I ever felt really confident about was The Mollusk. That's my favorite record we've ever done."[5]

Background

Starting with the release of their 1994 album Chocolate and Cheese, Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo—known by their stage names Gene and Dean Ween, respectively—began to significantly enhance their approach to studio recording. While their earlier albums were almost entirely recorded by Freeman and Melchiondo themselves at their home using a 4-track recorder, Chocolate and Cheese marked the first time the band produced an album in a professional recording studio. It also notably began their transition from a duo to a more traditional band with the addition of drummer Claude Coleman, allowing Freeman and Melchiondo to experiment with a wider range of musical styles than they could with the drum machine used on previous releases.[6]

Though Ween's 1996 album 12 Golden Country Greats was their first record to feature a full-fledged band on each track, these songs were recorded with various Nashville session musicians and was viewed by the band as more of a spin-off album in the vein of The Beach Boys' Christmas Album than a true follow-up to Chocolate and Cheese.[7] The Mollusk was the debut album for keyboardist Glenn McClelland, and with bassist Dave Dreiwitz joining shortly before the album’s release, the band finally evolved into the final five-man incarnation that would remain unchanged until Ween’s break-up in 2012.[8]

Recording

After recording 1994's Chocolate and Cheese, Gene and Dean Ween decided they wanted to return to their early method recording albums at home.[9] In 1995, the band relocated their recording equipment to a rented beach house on the shore of Holgate, New Jersey.[10] The band's recording equipment and some of the material were nearly lost when a water pipe burst in the house while the house was unoccupied. At this point, the band put the album on hold and made plans to record 1996's 12 Golden Country Greats in Nashville. After recording 12 Golden Country Greats in 1995 and releasing and touring behind the album, the band completed the remaining tracking of The Mollusk at various inland locations. The album was finished in 1996 and released on June 24, 1997.[9]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."I'm Dancing in the Show Tonight"1:56
2."The Mollusk"2:37
3."Polka Dot Tail"3:20
4."I'll Be Your Jonny on the Spot"2:01
5."Mutilated Lips"3:49
6."The Blarney Stone"3:14
7."It's Gonna Be (Alright)"3:19
8."The Golden Eel"4:04
9."Cold Blows the Wind"4:28
10."Pink Eye (On My Leg)"3:13
11."Waving My Dick in the Wind"2:12
12."Buckingham Green"3:19
13."Ocean Man"2:07
14."She Wanted to Leave (Reprise)"4:26
Total length:43:54
Notes
  • "I'm Dancing in the Show Tonight" is a re-working of a 1953 Christmas song, "Are My Ears on Straight?" recorded by then 10-year-old Gayla Peevey.
  • "She Wanted to Leave / (Reprise)" contains the main song, "She Wanted to Leave", as well as an instrumental reprise of "I'm Dancing in the Show Tonight".

Personnel

  • Dean Ween - Guitar, Vocals, Engineer
  • Gene Ween - Vocals, Engineer
  • Dave Dreiwitz - Bass
  • Glenn McClelland - Keyboard
  • Mean Ween - Bass
  • Kirk Miller - Sound Effects
  • Claude Coleman, Jr. - Drums, Engineer
  • Juan Garcia - Assistant Engineer
  • Bill McNamera - Assistant Engineer
  • Steve Nebesney - Assistant Engineer
  • Mick Preston - Assistant Engineer
  • Ralph Smith - Assistant Engineer
  • Jim Woolsey - Assistant Engineer
  • Andrew Weiss - Producer, Engineer, Mixing
  • Peter Curzon - Artwork
  • Tom Nichols - Photography
  • Rupert Truman - Photography
  • Sam Brooks - Cover Design
  • Finlay Cowan - Cover Design
  • Storm Thorgerson - Cover Design
  • Matt Kohut
  • Jason Reddy
  • Bill Fowler - Guitar

"Ocean Man", the thirteenth track in the album, appears during the end credits of 2004's The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.[11] Melchiondo later recalls that the creator of SpongeBob SquarePants, Steven Hillenburg, had contacted Ween, and told them that The Mollusk was a huge inspiration creatively.[12] This would be Ween's second time working with SpongeBob.[13]

Electric Six covered the song "Buckingham Green" on their cover-album Mimicry and Memories (2015).[14]

Charts

  • 1997 The Mollusk Billboard 200 No. 159
  • 1997 The Mollusk Heatseekers No. 5

References

  1. ^ "Six Appeal Music » 2011 » July". sixappealmusic.com. Retrieved 2015-01-03.
  2. ^ Stephen Thomas Erlewine (1997-06-24). "The Mollusk - Ween | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2015-08-19.
  3. ^ "Ween: The Mollusk : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone". Web.archive.org. 1997-06-23. Archived from the original on July 25, 2009. Retrieved 2015-08-19. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ "Ween: The Mollusk: Pitchfork Review". Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on April 21, 2003. Retrieved 2015-08-19. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ "Dean Ween picks his favourite Ween disc, gives the back story on La Cucaracha". Straight.com. Retrieved 2008-03-27.
  6. ^ Shteamer, Hank (31 March 2011). Ween's Chocolate and Cheese (33 1/3). Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 0826431178.
  7. ^ Aaron, Freeman; Melchiondo, Mickey (1996). "Interview with Ween". 101X (Interview). Interviewed by Brad Hastings. Austin, Texas: KROX Radio. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  8. ^ Melchiondo, Mickey. "Ask Deaner". askdeaner.com. Archived from the original on 2012-11-07. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  9. ^ a b "Dean Ween Mollusk Interview With Earshot Magazine". Philadelphia City Paper. Retrieved 2008-03-27.
  10. ^ "Shore Chat with Captain Mickey aka Dean Ween". Goingtotheshore.com. Retrieved 2012-03-02.
  11. ^ "The Spongebob Squarepants Movie OST: Ween - Ocean Man". YouTube. 2012-12-15. Retrieved 2015-08-19.
  12. ^ "One of our proudest achievements | ASK DEANER.COM". Web.archive.org. 2012-10-18. Archived from the original on November 1, 2013. Retrieved 2015-08-19. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  13. ^ "The Billboard Albums: Includes Every Album That Made the Billboard 200 Chart - Google Books". Books.google.com. Retrieved 2015-08-19.
  14. ^ "Final track listing for Mimicry and Memories". Kickstarter.com. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
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