Word: ween
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Making a successful experimental rock concept album is not an easy undertaking. Ween's newest creation, The Mollusk-- which lurks through humored rants and muddied chants, a limited spectrum of folk drones and a flirtation with quirky electronica--tries so hard to unite its songs in a coherent, enjoyable progression that it never finds a central logic...
...worry about spending too much time searching for the particular concept Ween is striving for. Marine analogy and self-critical reflection never really turn up any common thread through topics ranging from carnal zeal to regret for lost love...
Relationships come the closest to a uniting subject, but what concept album doesn't concern them? In the undulating "She Wanted To Leave," Ween summarizes The Mollusk's typical lyrical plight: "Three men came aboard my ship/And took my true love from me/I couldn't believe/She wanted to leave." Forty-four minutes of the sea as a vehicle for reflection on social interaction may not have been the right choice for Ween's ultimate purpose...
...what exactly is the connection between aquatic animals and love? Any reasonable answer is definitely a reach for any imagination, yet Ween makes a viable attempt. The conversational title track speaks of the mollusk "emulating the ocean's sound," an underwater prophet of the trinity "casting light at the sun with its wandering eye." Although absurdly heavy, the lyrics appear to have direction...
...Resembling The Beatles' "Octopus' Garden" a little too closely, "Polka Dot Tail" couples the eternal question "Have you ever seen a whale/With a polka dot tail" with "Have you ever tried to shrink/Like an ice cube in the sink." Apparently these are pertinent questions to the waterlogged minds of Ween's 11 band members. Exploring nothing musically or lyrically novel, "The Golden Eel" trudges through an unrevealing revelation: "Watching the eel/Help me find the way home...Daylight has come/I can not repeal/The words of the golden eel." The biggest problem for these two songs is not simply the uninventive prose...