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EMA | Past Life Martyred Saints
CD Reviews
Ween
La Cucaracha | Rounder
By
PATRICK CATES
|
October 22, 2007
WEEN, LA CUCARACHA
" alt="photo of 'WEEN, LA CUCARACHA'">
3.0
Stars
Ween come out flapping and squawking on
La Cucaracha
, the skewed duo’s first studio album in four years — they’re still the same predictably unpredictable genre magpies of old. They fly around with beady eyes, they dive down onto anything shiny, and they take it back to their nest for no particular reason. The shiny objects? Smooth-jazz ear syrup courtesy of David Sanborn’s saxophone (“Your Party”). Nasal, quasi-British enunciations that evoke Syd Barrett (“Blue Balloon”). Double-digit minutes of Zappa jams (“Woman and Man”). Wisps of King Crimson prog fused with vocoder vocals (“Spirit Walker”). And on and on. The finished product is a cobbled-together dazzle that contorts your mouth into a 50-minute succession of grins and wows. Gene and Dean, those kings of flighty kleptomania, should be chirping proudly.
Ween | Orpheum Theatre, 1 Hamilton Place, Boston | November 28 | 617.931.2000
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WEEN
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