15 Brain-Twisting Concept Albums That Are Endlessly Rewarding
9. The Mollusk Ween
The art of parody has never been risen higher than by Dean and Gene Ween. Their 1992 album, Chocolate and Cheese, is so diverse that each of the 16 songs sound like theyre by a different band; on the other hand, the follow-up, 12 Golden Country Greats, contained 10 songs steeped in country. By 1997s The Mollusk, theyd combine the approach: 14 songs with the variety of Chocolate and Cheese, with each of them playing on a quirky, humorous nautical theme. The deep green of the cover sets the mood immediately it features a grotesque, yet oddly attractive Frankenstein beast formed from the parts of various sea creatures, much as the band itself is made up of their disparate influences. Even if the lyrics arent explicitly nautical, as they are on Ocean Man and She Wanted to Leave, the music sways like the bow of a boat, the guitar drips with the tenderness of the sea and noises recall the far-off sounds of the beach. Its impossible to get bored with The Mollusk. In one four-song sequence, you get a surreal, Pink Floyd-inspired ballad; an obscene sailors anthem; one of the saddest and most straight-faced laments in the Ween catalogue; and a symphonic prog-rocker about a mystical golden eel yet theres nowhere else theyd make sense but on this magical, mystical, beautiful, bizarre package of music. And when the jaunty opening theme is reprised in a slowed-down, sad rendition at the very end, until all thats left are the sounds of a creaking ship, it unforgettably closes out the whole experience.
Kyle Schmidlin is a writer and musician living in Austin, TX. He manages the news blog at thirdrailnews.wordpress.com. Follow him at facebook.com/kyleschmidlin or twitter.com/kyleschmidlin1.
