Ween
- At The Cat’s Cradle, 1992 - CD &
DVD (mvdaudio.com)
This recording from ‘92 is a full show
from the early days of Ween when they were
a duo, comprised of Dean & Gene, with
drums, bass, and backing tracks on a DAT machine.
Like contemporaries They Might be Giants or
Violent Femmes, they reach for the absurd
in nearly every song (21 on the CD, 17 on
the DVD). Ironic and full of whimsy (they’re
so full of whimsy you can smell it from here
- thank you Groucho) on tunes like “Tick”
or “Pork Roll, Egg and Cheese,”
they dare you not to take them seriously.
Their guitars (both Gene & Dean), along
with some samples and their backing tracks,
rise to the challenge of creating a home for
the vocalists. By the end of both songs I
was feelin’ a little “buggy,”
and I had a hankering for a PE&C sandwich!
The fun and frivolous stage patter between
songs is culled from the same irony and self-mocking
lunacy that's found in their songs. “Captain
Fantasy” is a Tim Curry-worthy, over-the-top
rocker that’s full of campy glam. “Cover
It With Gas and Set it on Fire” sounds
like Ween took a page out of Reel Big Fish’s
songbook. The give and take on the vocals
(shrilly highs v. baritone lows), is reminiscent
of Aaron and Scott’s (RBF) put-you-in-stitches,
give and take singing! The flow of seriously
funny and imaginative lyrics is evident throughout
the CD, as is the alt/punk/ blues rock found
in almost every tune!
The DVD features live footage from Halloween
1991 in Holland, a show from 1992 in Columbus,
Ohio, and from a radio show on WTSR in Trenton,
NJ. The live weirdness you hear on the CD
is magnified a gazillion times on the DVD.
“Marble Tulip Juicy Tree,” “Gladiola
Heartbreaker,” and “You Fucked
Up,” are three of the 17 songs that
smack you dead in the face. Improvisation
at it’s best!! - Phil Rainone
Aaron
Zimmer - Live Wires (myspace.com/aaronzimmer)
All through Live Wires, Aaron Zimmer
uses his vocal prowess (expressive, with a
soft wildness about it) as an intertwining
instrument. What defines a great singer in
the rock ’n’ roll era, I think,
is that some underlying tension exists in
the space between the singer and the song.
A bridge is being built across a void. If
a voice/band isn’t pushing against the
boundaries that have been already created,
at least slightly, it isn’t doing anything
at all, really. You have to push against the
standard whether it be rock, soul, or whatever
genre makes you sit up and take notice. We
judge music by what a singer and a band unearth
from a song that, in its original form could
never had. Aaron finds and redefines all that,
and more. He’s the type of artist that
when you hear the music, you want to tell
all your friends about it, and get them together
to go an see the show. Favorite songs: “The
Middle,” “Sink or Swim,”
“Buried Alive,” “Well Enough,”
“Save Myself,” & “Hard
Lines.” There’s pictorial heat
in Aaron’s composing, and a raw fire
in his voice.- Phil Rainone
http://cdbaby.com/cd/azimmer4
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