Customer Reviews

Pod [Vinyl]

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

There are so many reasons to hate this record. I heard it back in my late teens, even while in the state that one is "supposed" to be in when listening to it, and all of those reasons were apparent. The production quality is awful, there is an omnipresent hiss going on, the drum beats are casio-esque, the solos are generally off key, the lyrics are nearly impossible to make out without looking them up, and the songwriting is totally unfocused and comes off amateurish. Playing this for most people, whether they are casual music listeners or "technical" music listeners (more on that later), will probably make them wonder why they ever associate with you.

The obvious question then: why do people love this album so much??? How can so many reviews contain the word "unlistenable" yet give the record five stars and praise its genius? The answer is complicated, but it is also the key to liking (and probably obsessing over) this record. I guess the best way to explain it is that this album successfully manages to use its limitations to be its strongpoints. By not restricting themselves to conventional song structures and leaving all of the imperfections in the record, you don't get the feeling at all that what you're hearing has been filtered through a studio and record execs. Because of that, it really feels like you were right there with them when they were recording this - it's like the anti-rock star music. Most contrived music these days attempts to make it sound like the singer is singing "from another world" - this stuff sounds like Geaner and Deaner are huffing glue with you in your den.

So the personal nature of the album is all well and good, but I've heard plenty of awful demos without mastering and they certainly weren't worthy of cult status. What sets this apart? The amount and density of the ideas contained in it. Every song is so entrenched in creativity that if one "gets into it" it's almost impossible not to have some of that creativity rub off on you. There are so many subtleties present here that you can uncover - and even though they don't enhance the album MUSICALLY, they are such concentrated outputs of thought that they are awe-inspiring. It's like a portal directly into the Ween boys' brain. If this sounds intriguing to you, then you'll probably grow to love this record. If you tend to approach music from a "melody and songwriting" standpoint, definitely pick up some later Ween, probably Mollusk and White Pepper, which are both solid albums for completely different reasons. As for The Pod, I can't give it five stars because even though I've drawn so much inspiration from it, it's not an album that I always want to listen to.

The best thing to do is listen to the clip of "The Stallion Part 1" on here - if it just sounds like cacaphonic sloppily-played noise to you (which it is), this probably ain't your bag. If it sounds even mildly intriguing and you giggle a couple of times during it, chances are you'll eventually grow to love it and memorize every minor sonic detail.

One more thing - people say that you need to use drugs while listening to appreciate this album. Obviously that's not true - I really "got it" long after I stopped using them. However, as much as I hate to call any album a "drug" album - I will say that if you do have the mentality to appreciate this album, you're much more likely to be the type of person that would have experimented with drugs at some point. So I guess I would say that if at some point in your life you've sampled a psychedelic or two you might be more inclined to appreciate this.

Oh, and I totally agree with the review below me - that A-B-C...Q-S-S-T-A-L-L-I-O-N part of the album is just such a great ten seconds. Maybe the most gratifying ten second portion of any record. I have absolutely no idea how to explain why either - and that's what's so great about it.

Letter to the parents:
¡§Dear Mr. and Mrs. Ween, your ¡¥sons¡¦ have gotten their hands on a budget four track recorder and recorded a series of un-beautiful songs for submission as their final project. The results are not pleasant.

On probation for their previous term project (GodWeenSatan) I warned them to tone it down this time. Well, we seem to have less cussing but no improvement in quality. The cacophony flowing from your two sons¡¦ guitars is by no means sweet nor melodic; a symphony this aint.

Song themes range from a note to a friend who missed school with mononucleosis, a letter to a ne¡¦er do well college dropout, Mexican Food, and repeated assertions of their masculinity. And amps turned up to at least eleven.

We all know how much money and effort was spent on the boys music lessons and now they misuse their gift to make an awful racket and sing tales of useless dissipation.

And darn it, this is kind of catchy. I¡¦ve listened to it a hundred times and it keeps getting better. These boys recycle every music format on the FM dial and I like it. Let me know if I can write them a recommendation letter for college, they¡¦ll need it after all the school they¡¦ve missed.

Sincerely,
Principal Stallion¡¨

The day I bought this CD I hated it, with a passion. I thought it was just 2 college guys who wanted to see what it would sound like if they turned on a recorder & got more and more stoned till they passed out. But I kept listening to it (being the brainless Ween fan that I am), and now it's my favorite Ween album & one of my favorite albums ever. It's really not a listenable record, but these guys do have a ton of talent. If you look beyond all the slow tempos and the lo-fi recording, there are damn good songs here, & the variety is mind-blowing. There isn't a single song on this album that sounds like another song. Moreover, there isn't a single song on this album that sounds like it was sung by the same person. One flaw: every single guitar solo on this record is God awful. But usually it's used to really funny effect (like 'Sorry, Charlie': for a few bars it sounds like someone stoned out of his mind is doing a solo & just trying desperately to stay in the same key, then he screws it up & goes off-key), which brings me to the great sense of humor these 2 guys have. 'Pollo Asado' has to be the funniest song I've ever heard in my life, except for maybe 'Fish Heads.' It became the official song of my high school Spanish class. Some of the tracks here are very catchy ('Sketches of Winkle,' 'Captain Fantasy,' 'Dr. Rock,' 'Pork roll egg and cheese'), some are just weird ('Strap on that jimmy pac,' 'Laura,' 'Mononucleosis'), some even scare me ('Molly,' 'The Stallion pt 1'). Just buy the album.

If you ever listened to their later albums (c & c, mollusk, white pepper, quebec and most recently shinola) and wondered, how do these guys come up with stuff so cool and original while maintaining such high musical quality? Your questions will be answered when venturing a listen to The Pod. God Ween Satan was kind of the first discovery of brown and boognish (two words any ween afficionado should become familiar with immediately) and is a mad cap romp through the new world.

The Pod is the mastering of this world, and the establishment of a musical expression that is unparalleled in its uniqueness. The Pod is the reason why Ween fans are so anal about other alleged Ween fans. It's like an unadulterated look into the eyes of the boognish, and look that none of us could have uncovered on our own. Ween gets inside you if you get this album, and you feel happier and weirder for it. If you don't get The Pod, you do not get Ween. And that's the bottom line.

To get away from all this philosophical bulls***, this is an unparalleled sing a long album. Go ahead, get in the car, or gather your friends around the stereo at home. Scream "Dr. Rock" . Wail "right to the ways and the rules of the world." Feel on top of the world as "The Stallion." Feel the fuzzy glow of "she ... me." Better yet, go see Ween live. They are kings on stage. Kings among men.

fin.

but it shore do help when trying to understand where these two astronauts are coming from. Now, as a fan of weird music, this one went down easy for me. I don't know if it will have the same effect on others(then again, judging by the looks I get when people walk in my room when this is on, I suppose it is challenging listening). Three times the mess that Pure Guava was, in fact, this may have been the original Pangaea of Ween music that Guava was cut from. What we have here is two guys from Pennsylvania getting as high as they possibly can on whatever they can find(the Scotchgard powered bong over Mean Ween's face should give you a clue as to how resourceful they are), turning on a tape recorder, and developing whatever riffs and lyrics they can clutch from their druggy haze. I notice alot theyll take a musical idea from somewhere else, and strip it down and destroy it Ween Style (Captain Fantasy/Mr. Fantasy? Sketches of Winkle/Pictures of Lily?). Other times theyll just be obsessed with a non sequitur and imbue it with some mystical meaning i.e. "Right to the Ways and the Rules of the World", which sounds like it might mean something, but they end up talking about chewing grits(yes, they are that out there)and laughing uncontrollably at the direction that their stoned meanderings are going. Ween knows how to rock punk style, plenty of feedback and cacophony for those that like that, and then there are moments of alt rock awwshucks like "Oh My Dear(Falling in Love)".Theres even themes interwoven into the record-or should I just call them running jokes- paeans to their favorite sandwiches, and proud horses who have mystical powers over the universe. This album is almost too messed up to describe, its really one of those records that you listen to and rock isnt the same again...that may be a bit too laudatory for a couple of drug addled dorks, but thats nothing-Ill end this by saying the Pod is what the Beatles' White Album wished it could've been. You can all hiss through your teeth now.

don't listen to the negative reviews. If you like other wEEn albums you should give this a try. If you enjoy herbz then you should definately buy this album - it's easily the brother's stoniest creation. If you don't like it at first, keep listening - as you gain understanding it will grow on you, and soon you too will fully comprehend the magisty and power of Gene & Dean. Ween can do no wrong. All the other reviewers of this album that didn't give it five stars are likely either brain dead or not brain dead enough, so it's important to have compassion for them. Praises to The bOOgnish, and to his prophets, wEEn !

This is, in fact, my first ween review
I own all of their albums,
excepting for two
the country one, plus the debut.

Where all else i own by the band has a sheen
a sparkle and gloss
though weird it may seem
all these other records are catchy and leen.

The Pod is, you'll find, a strange and vast beast
it's a dirty, muddy mess
a poisoned feast.
and to think that some like it the least..

It's kinda like a blanket held over some jewels
on first glance its all
made with the same tools
a 4-track recorder and some drugs consumed by fools

but upon further listens the blanket comes away
and slowly reveals
the colour through the grey
and the demented genius that makes you want to stay

and discover the most unique album round
that manky little mess
by those stoner clowns
that spooky funny trek through the dark underground.

I cannot deny this is one of the most brilliant rock records in history. It's like the mangiest, smelliest, yet most adorable stray dog you ever met on the street. It is rough, it is raw, and, at the time it came out, was "wrong" in every way compared to everything else at the time. It's one of Ween's funniest records... the more you listen to it the more the jokes sink in, to the point where it becomes part of your life, mang.

Up there with The Mollusk if you ask me!

I bought this CD some time before "Pure Guava" came out. I had no idea they were pulling my leg (although "Pollo Asada" should have clued me in)-- I thought this was some seriously heavy music! "The Pod" is like a little hisory of rock music-- they cover every genre you could think of, but the best tracks are the heavy, disturbing prog-rock ones like "Don't Sweat It" and "Captain Fantasy". Yeah, the production is poor, but this only speaks to their genius; more produced albums like "Chocolate and Cheese," while good and worth owing, cannot top this one. And although in the decade I've owned it, I've had periods when I absolutely cannot listen to it, I'll put it on again, and be reminded this is Ween's magnum opus, and one of the best CDs of all time. I think I'll strap on that ole' jammy pack & put it on right now...

Most people would scoff at even mentioning Pavement's "Slanted and Enchanted" and this album in the same review. I think, though, that the two records largely mine the same territory, and Ween is often at least as successful in their own way. This album like S+E, sounds as if you are listening to a radio station that fades in and out. In the case of the "Pod", that radio station is probably playing some weird rock-opera about greasy food, inhalants, and ... The brilliance here is in the sonic atmosphere--- lo-fi with a *vegenance*, and the way they can shape oddbal lyrics and sensibilities into something meaningful---sort of.