White Pepper

"THE WEEN diet of mind enhancing drugs has been replaced with alcohol and pharmaceuticals, giving the band new insight into the psyche of working class America."

That's according to the press release which accompanies this seventh album from the band that spawned the Beavis & Butthead classic 'Push The Little Daisies'. It also helpfully points to the lack of the word "fuck" anywhere on the record!

Oh dear, what a relief this must be to the parents of the millions of 12-year-old white American males that surely must make up the bulk of Ween's devotees. On the positive side I suppose we can take it as sign of their maturity; it's certainly an improvement on the band's past obsession with bodily functions ('Painting The Town Brown'/'Piss Up A Rope').

If the title is meant to be a play on The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper and White albums then the opening pair of tracks 'Exactly Where I'm At' and 'Flutes of Chi' could be Wings outtakes, with the latter sporting a typically indulgent sitar solo. In fact there are more '60s pastiches here than you'd find in an Austin Powers trailer: 'Even If You Don't' blends Small Faces riffs with Pet Sounds textures, and 'Stay Forever' has jangly Byrdsian guitars, while 'Back To Bassoon' is a pretty decent tune with echoes of The Beatles.

If they could only stand still for a moment and focus on their strengths we might take them a little more seriously.