All Request Live

Album Review

It perhaps goes without saying that an album recorded for the online radio show All Request Live is one for the fans — those who know an artist's catalog well enough to pull out obscurities that never get played in concert. Still, Ween fans are both a devoted and perverse lot, so this All Request Live — available via their site on the internet — is filled with the odd choices even for the diehards, such as every segment of their ongoing multi-part epic "The Stallion," or the gnarled, nasty obscurity "Cover It with Gas and Set It on Fire," or their rejected Pizza Hut jingle "Where'd the Cheese Go?" here turned into a lengthy funk jam, reminiscent of nothing less than Prince's The Black Album. This is neither the hits, nor is it the weirdest tunes in their catalog: it's just the stuff the diehards love, performed with professional panache from the boys in Ween, who deliver surprises that are subtle, not shocking, such as re-creating the drive-in dialogue on "Pollo Asado." So, it's precisely the kind of record that diehards will love, but it's not quite as lovable as other limited-edition live Ween albums: despite the odd choices, it's not as monumental as the Live at Stubb's show, nor as maverick as Live with the S**t Creek Boys, it's merely a good, solid show from a band who, at this point, are rarely less than pretty terrific.