The Pod

{{#invoke:other uses|otheruses}} {{safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst-infobox||$params=italic_title,name,type,longtype,artist,cover,border,alt,caption,released,recorded,venue,studio,genre,length,language,label,director,producer,compiler,chronology,prev_title,prev_year,year,next_title,next_year,misc|$extra=italic_title,longtype,border,caption,language,director,compiler,chronology,year,misc|$aliases=italic title>italic_title,Italic title>italic_title,Name>name,Type>type,image>cover,Cover>cover,Border>border,Alt>alt,Caption>caption,Longtype>longtype,Artist>artist,Released>released,Recorded>recorded,Venue>venue,Studio>studio,Genre>genre,Length>length,Language>language,Label>label,Director>director,Producer>producer,Compiler>compiler,Chronology>chronology,Misc>misc|$flags=override|$B={{#ifeq:{{#invoke:Is infobox in lead|main|[Ii]nfobox [Aa]lbum}}|true|{{#if:Template:Has short description | |Template:Short description|noreplace}}}}{{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template otherTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Main other{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Infobox album with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y|italic_title |type |name |image |cover |border |alt |caption |longtype |artist |released |recorded |venue |studio |genre |length |language |label |director |producer |compiler |prev_title|prev_year|next_title|next_year|chronology|year|misc}}{{#if:{{#invoke:String|match|error_category=Music infoboxes with Module:String errors|A|1=GodWeenSatan: The Oneness1990Pure Guava1992studioThe PodWeen-ThePod.jpgWeenSeptember 20, 1991January – October 1990The Pod (Solebury Township, Pennsylvania)*Alternative rock

• lo-fi
• noise rock
• outsider music
• acid rock<ref name= "RS 2004">Template:Cite book</ref>76:40Shimmy-DiscAndrew Weissx|2=</?t[drh][ >]|nomatch=}}|Template:Main other}}Template:Main other}}

The Pod is the second studio album by American rock band Ween. It was released on September 20, 1991, by Shimmy-Disc.<ref name="auto">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Production

The album was recorded from January to October 1990, at the Pod on Van Sant Road in Solebury Township, Pennsylvania.<ref name="liner notes">Template:Cite AV media notes</ref> Recording concluded one month prior to the release of their debut on November 16.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The album was derived from two tapes titled the Bilboa tape and the Big Timmy Wasserman tape. Both tapes contain not only demo versions of songs on the album, but many outtakes not used on any album or tracks used on future albums.Template:Citation needed All of the songs have a muddy quality to them, due to being recorded on a Tascam four-track cassette recorder, and many of the vocals are manipulated in strange ways.<ref name="auto"/>

Composition

The album contains bizarre lyrical content, often attributed to the fact that Dean and Gene both came down with cases of mononucleosis during the recording of the album, as well as their alleged relationship with huffing Scotchgard. However, when their fans began huffing Scotchgard, it was refuted by Gene Ween and Dean Ween themselves as being "the most slime-bag thing we could think of."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Robyn Hitchcock is credited with "musical inspiration" for the track "Alone",<ref name="liner notes 2">Template:Cite AV media notes</ref> which borrows elements from his song "Bones in the Ground".Template:Citation needed

The track "Pollo Asado" is a comedic skit with a man ordering Mexican food over music.<ref>https://swimintothesound.com/blog/it-gets-brown-swim-into-the-sounds-guide-to-ween</ref> The song was inspired by Gene Ween's time briefly working at a Mexican restaurant in New Hope, Pennsylvania.<ref>https://www.pastemagazine.com/food/ween-cuisine-classic-food-moments-in-ween-songs</ref> In 1995, Sugar Ray released a similar skit on their debut Lemonade and Brownies, titled "Drive By". It featured the band ordering a taco at a drive through, with music playing in the background. Some of the members in the band have mentioned being fans of Ween,<ref name="mk"> Karges, Murphy (2013).[web.archive.org/web/20240909222940/https://mkarges.wordpress.com/category/on-music/page/4/]</ref> although they have never clarified whether this track was inspired by "Pollo Asado", or whether the similarities were a coincidence.

Title and album cover

The album takes its name from the band's apartment where the album was recorded, which the band nicknamed "The Pod".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The album's cover art is a takeoff of the 1975 The Best of Leonard Cohen cover; Ween simply positioned a photo of part-time bassist Mean Ween's head (wearing a "Scotchgard powered bong") over Cohen's cover art, and altered the title text and other graphics.<ref name="auto"/> The copy of the Leonard Cohen record that Ween used had purportedly belonged to Deaner's mother.Template:Citation needed

Liner notes

From the Shimmy-Disc CD:

"Recorded by Dean and Gene Ween on a Tascam four-track cassette recorder between January and October 1990. All songs recorded at the Pod, where we lived for a year and 10 months (with our cat Mandee). The Pod was scenically located on Van Sant Road in Solebury Township, Pennsylvania. Our apartment was a haven for flies because it sits in the middle of a horse farm. In the time this album was completed, we filled up 3,600 hours of tape, and inhaled 5 cans of Scotchgard. This album was then produced and mixed by Andrew Weiss (our pal) at the Zion House of Flesh, Hopewell, New Jersey. Straight to DAT Mang. Mean Ween played the bass on "Alone" and that's him on the cover doin' up some Scotchguard powered bongs. We got evicted on October 1, 1991. But Dave Ayers says he's gonna help us out. Cover and art designs by Logarithms."<ref name="liner notes"/>

Promotion

The Pod produced three music videos. "Pollo Asado", "Captain Fantasy", and "Pork Roll Egg and Cheese" were included on a VHS music video compilation titled Shimmy-Disc Video Volume 3.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Better source needed Shimmy-Disc Video was a series of VHS tapes created by Shimmy Disc containing music videos from artists who were signed to the label. These tapes were never remastered or re-released, nor were the music videos.

Shimmy-Disc released a vinyl version of The Pod in 1991. It was also remastered and reissued by Elektra Records in 1995, after the relative success of Ween albums such as Pure Guava (1992) and Chocolate and Cheese (1994).<ref name="auto"/>

Reception and legacy

Template:Music ratings In 1993, the album was named one of the 20 best albums of 1992 by Spin.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Trouser Press wrote: "Less inflamed and inspired than the first album (blame, perhaps, the five cans of Scotchguard the band claims to have inhaled), The Pod lurches, howls, fuzzes and strums through sloppy creations that are mostly one hit short of a high."<ref name="TP">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In a 1999 review of the album, The Stranger called it "excellent" and wrote that "someday, classical music students will write dissertations on The Pod."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Kerrang! wrote that "the electrified production on tracks like 'Dr. Rock' and 'Sketches of Winkle' is utterly unhinged, while the barking, aimless pace of 'The Stallion' (either part, really) feels like the sweaty blatherings of the most poisonous of drunks."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In a September 1992 Spin interview, Faith No More singer Mike Patton mentioned it as one of his favorite albums, and around this time his band also did live covers of the Pure Guava track "The Goin' Gets Tough From the Getgo".<ref>https://groups.google.com/g/alt.music.faith-no-more/c/qS1hW7iTSI8/m/N1xgH4mLf5QJ</ref> In later years, Aphex Twin named it one of his 10 favorite albums of all time (making it one of two Ween albums on the list, the other being Pure Guava).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Tour

Dates

citation

CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Date	Venue	Notes
Leg One
September 7, 1991	Mill Hill Park, Trenton, NJ, USA	Trenton Avant Garde Festival
September 16, 1991	The Space at Chase, New York, NY, USA
October 4, 1991	City Gardens, Trenton, NJ, USA	With Claude Coleman Jr and Kramer as backing.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
October 12, 1991	Wetlands Preserve, New York, NY, USA
October 30, 1991	VPRO Radio Studio, Hilversum, Netherlands
	Melkweg, Amsterdam, Netherlands
October 31, 1991	Vera, Groningen, Netherlands
November 1, 1991	Effenaar, Eindhoven, Netherlands
Leg Two
December 6, 1991	Eisner and Lubin Auditorium, New York, NY, USA
December 31, 1991	City Gardens, Trenton, NJ, USA
January 8, 1992	Kendall Hall, Trenton, NJ, USA	WTSR Radio Session. Ed Wilson on guitar<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
January 17, 1992	Court Tavern, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
February 15, 1992	The Underworld, London, England	With Claude Coleman Jr and Kramer as backing.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
February 16, 1992	The Princess Charlotte, Leicester, England
February 17, 1992	Riverside, Newcastle, England
February 18, 1992	Edwards No 8, Birmingham, England
February 19, 1992	Duchess of York Pub, Leeds, England
February 20, 1992	Maida Vale Studios, London, England	John Peel session. Claude Coleman Jr on drums and Kramer on bass<ref>Template:Citation</ref>
	The Cathouse, Glasgow, Scotland	With Claude Coleman Jr and Kramer as backing.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
February 21, 1992	The Venue, London, England
March 1, 1992	The Middle East, Cambridge, MA, USA
March 4, 1992	Euclid Tavern, Cleveland, OH, USA
March 5, 1992	The Blind Pig, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
March 6, 1992	Staches, Columbus, OH, USA	Excerpts released on Ween At The Cat's Cradle DVD.
March 7, 1992	Lounge Ax, Chicago, IL, USA
March 8, 1992	Uptown Lounge, Minneapolis, MN, USA
March 11, 1992	Jelly Club, Austin, TX, USA
March 12, 1992	Club Clearview, Dallas, TX, USA
March 14, 1992	Cicero's, St. Louis, MO, USA	Excerpt released on Paintin' The Town Brown.
March 16, 1992	Cat's Cradle, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
March 17, 1992	Twisters, Richmond, VA, USA
March 18, 1992	JC Dobbs, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Leg Three
May 1, 1992	Commons Cafe, Portland, OR, USA
May 2, 1992	Off Ramp, Seattle, WA, USA
May 4, 1992	Kennel Club, San Francisco, CA, USA
May 6, 1992	The Shark Club, Las Vegas, NV, USA
May 7, 1992	Club Lingerie, Los Angeles, CA, USA
May 8, 1992	Jabberjaw, Los Angeles, CA, USA
May 9, 1992	Winter's, San Diego, CA, USA
May 21, 1992	Maxwell's, Hoboken, NJ, USA
May 22, 1992	9:30 Club, Washington, DC, USA
May 23, 1992	City Gardens, Trenton, NJ, USA
June 18, 1992	Marquee Nightclub, New York, NY, USA

Personnel

Ween

• Dean Ween - lead guitar, acoustic guitar, bass, backing vocals
• Gene Ween - lead vocals, rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboard, drum machine

Additional musicians

• Mean Ween – bass on "Alone"

Technical

• Dean Ween – engineer, art direction
• Gene Ween – engineer, art direction
• Andrew Weiss – producer, mixing
• Michael McGrath – art direction
• Logorythms – cover art, design
• Howie Weinberg – remastering