Music / The Pod

"When you came into the pod, you told me something was wrong..."

The Pod is the 2nd studio album by Alternative Rock band Ween released in 1991, This was Ween's final album on an independent label before signing to Elektra Records.

The album is actually a compilation of two tapes (titled The Bilboa Tape and The Big Jimmy Wasserman Tape) recorded between January to October 1990. It has a more "brown" sound than their debut GodWeenSatan: The Oneness, (justified as it was recorded in the duo's apartment with a 4-track cassette recorder). It is also known for its album cover, which features part-time bassist Mean Ween parodying the cover of The Best Of Leonard Cohen. The album was reportedly recorded while the duo had come down with a bad case of Mononucleosis, which actually influenced a few songs on the album.

(Fun fact: Some of the songs from the aforementioned tapes (Bilboa and Big Jimmy Wasserman Tapes) have alternate versions of the songs from GodWeenSatan: The Oneness. There is even an early version of "Push Th' Little Daisies" on The Big Jimmy Wasserman Tape!)

Tracklist:

1. "Strap On That Jammypac" (3:03)
2. "Dr. Rock" (3:11)
3. "Frank" (3:46)
4. "Sorry Charlie" (3:51)
5. "The Stallion (Pt. 1)" (2:51)
6. "Pollo Asado" (2:45)
7. "Right to The Ways and The Rules Of The World" (5:05)
8. "Captain Fantasy" (3:19)
9. "Demon Sweat" (4:11)
10. "Molly" (4:49)
11. "Can U Taste The Waste?" (1:39)
12. "Don't Sweat It" (4:02)
13. "Awesome Sound" (2:22)
14. "Laura" (4:37)
15. "Boing" (1:33)
16. "Mononucleosis" (3:01)
17. "Oh My Dear (Falling In Love)" (1:57)
18. "Sketches Of Winkle" (2:44)
19. "Alone" (3:12)
20. "Moving Away" (3:06)
21. "She Fucks Me" (3:59)
22. "Pork Roll Egg And Cheese" (3:02)
23. "The Stallion (Pt. 2)" (4:35)

So, Mama, if you please, pass the pork roll, tropes, and cheese:

• Arc Words: The Pod has a couple bizarre lyrical motifs. Four songs mention a "pork roll egg and cheese": "Pork Roll Egg And Cheese", "She Fucks Me", "Frank", and "Awesome Sound".
  • Four others mention Rip Van Winkle: "Sketches Of Winkle", "Boing", "Strap On That Jammypac", and "Molly".
• Breather Episode: After the weirdness that was "She Fucks Me", "Pork Roll Egg And Cheese" is a nice and psychedelic sounding song... until the next track.
• Darker and Edgier: Compared with the upbeat songs of their debut, The Pod consists of mostly bleak, gloomy tracks with murky, lo-fi production, thus giving it a reputation as arguably the band's 'brownest' work.
• Deliberately Monochrome: The album cover is pretty murky, so to speak.
• Epic Rocking: It's the longest Ween album to date, being at about an hour and sixteen minutes.
  • The three longest songs (in order) are: "Right To The Ways and The Rules of The World", "The Stallion (Pt. 2)", and "Demon Sweat".
• Face on the Cover: Part-time bassist Mean Ween wearing a "nitrous oxide powered" bong (although people mistake it as a Scotchgard bong).
• Food Songs Are Funny: Exaggerated with the song "Pollo Asado". Which is just a guy ordering Mexican food in Spoken Word (yes, that is the song).
• Foreshadowing: "Frank" has this line alluding to "Pork Roll Egg and Cheese":

  Frank, give me a pork roll egg and cheese if you please

  • "She Fucks Me" also has this having "Pork roll egg and cheese on a kaiser bun" repeat on the background of the song.
• Genre Roulette: While most of the songs stay in the Lo-Fi Noise Rock area they were known for, some of the songs ("Sorry Charlie", "Pollo Asado", "Pork Roll Egg And Cheese") have a mellower vibe to them.
• Gratuitous Spanish: "Pollo Asado", the title means roasted chicken.
• Intentionally Awkward Title: "Strap On The Jammy Pac", "Demon Sweat" and "She Fucks Me" might leave some eyebrows raising because of their titles.
• Intercourse with You: The appropriately titled "She Fucks Me".
• Lyrical Cold Open: "Sorry Charlie", "Awesome Sound", "She Fucks Me".
• Meaningful Name: The Pod was actually an apartment Dean and Gene Ween stayed in when recording this album.
• Miniscule Rocking: "Boing", clocking in at 1 minute and 33 seconds.
• Money Dumb: In "Pollo Asado", a customer pays with a $20 bill and the cashier somehow suddenly confuses their change with the entire cost of the order.
  "Okay, that'll be $16.07. Out of $20? Okay, $16.07's your change." ^note Naturally, it should be $3.93.
• Multi-Part Episode: "The Stallion", which is divided here into two parts. The third part had to wait until Pure Guava. Fourth and fifth parts were also recorded later, neither of which ever made it to studio albums, but were performed later for the All Request Live album.
• Ode to Food: "Pork Roll Egg And Cheese" is basically this. "Frank" also mentions the titular snack.
• One-Man Song: "Dr. Rock", "Frank", and to a lesser extent, "Captain Fantasy".
• One-Woman Song: "Molly" and "Laura"
• One-Word Title: "Frank" "Molly" "Laura" "Boing" "Mononucleosis" and "Alone".
• Questioning Title?: "Can U Taste The Waste?".
• Real Life Writes the Plot: "Mononucleosis" is written about the disease that Gene and Dean actually had when recording the album.
  • "Pollo Asado" is about many actual orders Gene had with a fencing instructor, while working in a taco restaurant.
  • "Sorry Charlie" is about a true story that Dean had about a kid named "Chuck".
• Running Gag: Pork Roll Egg and Cheese sandwiches are routinely brought up in the album.
• Shout-Out: The album cover is an edited version of that for Leonard Cohen's 1975 Greatest Hits Album The Best of Leonard Cohen, with Mean Ween's head pasted on top of Cohen's.
• Sick Episode: "Mononucleosis", which chronicles how Dean suddenly came down with it one day, and then gave it to Gene.
  • On a meta level, this whole album may qualify, as they recorded most of the album while they had mono. You can even hear Gene coughing on songs like "Dr. Rock".
• Silly Love Song: "Oh My Dear (Falling In Love)", it's actually about Gene's future wife, Sarah Poten.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: The Stallion.
• Spelling Song: "The Stallion Pt. 2" turns into one.

  Hair-throng goo-tongue, stallion mang
  A 2 S-T-A-L-L-I-O-N
  I am the stallion, mang
  ...
  A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-S-S-T-A-L-L-I-O-N
  I am the stallion, mang

• Studio Chatter: Gene and Dean, both high as a kite, lose their shit during "Right to the Ways and the Rules of the World" after Gene chews the aural scenery sings "Chewing the curdles of cream from the rain!" They share a laughing and coughing fit before Dean tries in vain to get them back on track. They soldier on to conclude the song regardless as they were almost out of tape, anyway.

  Dean: "Monsters that tid-... twinkle..." (chuckles) "Jam's gone astray..."

  Gene: "...it's not ending, is it? We need to fill up the whole thing..." (chuckles)

• Stylistic Suck: It was recorded on a Tascam four-track cassette recorder, Bros. Dean and Gene Ween were (according to the linear notes) huffing high amounts of Scotchgard and had mononucleosis (which inspired the track of the same name). It basically became their "brownest" album to date.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Apparently it's pork roll egg and cheese sandwiches. Gene was actually asking his mom to make one when singing the titular song.
• Word Salad Lyrics: It's Ween, what did you expect?