Ween: White Pepper : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

For ten years, the potty-mouthed duo Ween have charmed us with their paisley-eyed parodies, jokey soul, fart rock and gross-out country music. White Pepper, their seventh studio album, could be Ween's most accessible release yet. Dean and Gene Ween's sick sound is augmented with full-bodied melodic arrangements, which help make "Exactly Where I'm At" psychedelic but not obtuse and the country-rock "Stay Forever" a palpable love song. White Pepper doesn't even contain the word fuck -- the equivalent of Barry White making a concept album about celibacy. Still, it's not like Ween have lost their edge. "Bananas and Blow" is a pretty, Jimmy Buffett-ish steel-drum ditty about doing coke and other sordid acts on the beach. Even when sounding sweet, the group that once recorded "Help Me Scrape the Mucus off My Brain" is never far from the surface.