White Pepper (2000) – Rating: 9/10
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Let the sophistication continue! White Pepper, if it’s not obvious from the title alone, is the Beatles tribute. But it’s not all Beatles, there’s some other classic rock on here. “Bananas and Blow” sounds like Jimmy Buffet, “Stroker Ace” sounds like Motörhead, “Pandy Fackler” sounds like Steely Dan. The first three tracks are pure Beatles, though, and most of the album in general has some of the most straight-forward and accessible music Ween has ever made.

I have to make a special mention of “Flutes of Chi”, with its infectious melody, whispers of psychedelia, and a pitch-perfect pop music sensibility. It absolutely could’ve been a Beatles hit. Play it for any stubborn Beatles fan and watch them start jerkin’ it and frothing uncontrollably before you reveal the secret misdirection! They will laugh and laugh and they will not stop until they’re dead. Until they’re fucking dead.

Where was I?? White Pepper is Ween finally embracing their version of maturity. I mean, come on, they were both around 30 years old by this time. That’s ancient in rock-and-roll years. And this album of glossy, adult contemporary dad-rock with the occasional dick jokes is a testament to the established band’s carved-out niche. In short, I love this album but I probably wouldn’t if some other band did it. That’s the Ween brand for ya!

Quebec (2003) – Rating: 8/10
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Quebec is the spiritual sequel to Chocolate and Cheese: just a mixed bag of really good songs with no real thematic connection. Dream pop on “Zoloft”, psychedelic space-folk on “Among His Tribe”, aggressively trippy avant-pop on “Happy Colored Marbles”, classic prog on “The Argus”, overdramatic alt-rock on “If You Could Save Yourself (You’d Save Us All)”, a skuzzy Motörhead tribute on “It’s Gonna Be a Long Night”, etc. etc. etc. Dean and Ween were back to basics with this one, working as a duo on many of the album’s tracks, so it’s really just Chocolate and Cheese with slightly richer instrumentation and 10 years of time behind them. There’s not much more that needs to be said.

La Cucaracha (2007) – Rating: 6/10
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Ehhhhh, this one gets a bad rap. Now that it’s likely that this will be the final Ween studio album, I think the collective fanbase is a bit salty about La Cucaracha marring the discography as the swan song. Personally, I like this one a lot better than Pure Guava. It’s one last stylistic smorgasbord: you get whimsical Britpop (“Blue Balloon”), faux reggae (“The Fruit Man”), a late ’00s overexaggerated auto-tuned nightmare (“Spirit Walker”), incredibly sleazy smooth jazz adult contemporary (“Your Party”), a post-classic Led Zeppelin epic (“Woman and Man”), and others! I forgot the rest but I’m sure they’re good! OK, so this album is pretty inessential, but I’m still going to rate it exactly the same as I rated The Pod because I’m the worst Ween fan you’ve ever encountered.