Chocolate And Cheese is the album where Ween stopped sounding like a pair of juveniles dicking around on a four-track and became a grown-up band dicking around in a fancy recording studio.
Even at this distance, it’s a freaky ride. The HIV Song alternates gleeful cries of “HIV!” and “AIDS!” over a ludicrously upbeat cartoon backing, while Spinal Meningitis (Got Me Down) is sung from the point of view of a sick child, plaintive vocals appropriately pitch-shifted.
Some of it’s merely bizarre Mister Would You Please Help My Pony? still startles, 30 years on), but there’s also the gorgeous instrumental tribute to late Parliament-Funkadelic guitarist Eddie Hazel A Tear For Eddie, the equally lovely soul of Freedom Of ’76, and Buenas Tardes Amigo, a Sergio Leone epic in song form featuring the greatest hand-claps ever committed to tape.
This deluxe edition perpetuates the genre-hopping, but there’s not much here to trouble the 1993 track listing. Only the overclocked blues of Dirty Money, the gonzo, Rocky Horror glam of Junkie Boy, and the deliberately dreary, storm-ravaged I Really Miss You (And I’m All Alone) come close to the original album’s addled brilliance.