Pure Guava

Pure Guava
Pure Guava
Studio album by Ween
Released	November 10, 1992
Recorded	c. 1991–1992
Length	55:44
Label	Elektra Records
Ween chronology

Pure Guava is a studio album by Ween, released on November 10, 1992 on Elektra Records.

Description[edit | edit source]

Pure Guava is Ween's third major studio album, and it was also their first on a major label; however, the music on the album was recorded in a similar manner to the approximately 3,600 hours^[1] of material recorded at "the Pod" prior to Ween's signing with Elektra. Stylistically, Pure Guava is most comparable to the lo-fi, home-recorded sound of their previous album, The Pod, except heavily influenced by psilocybin mushroom usage.^[2] It is the final of Ween's lo-fi albums, as they began using professional recording equipment and a full band on Chocolate and Cheese.

Elektra offered the band "around $250,000", complete artistic freedom and a four album deal in exchange for releasing the album.^[3] Dean Ween recalled crying when copies of the album arrived at the band's doorstep, out of amazement that the band was on a highly important label like Elektra without having spent much money on the album (they had reused several cassettes during the Pod days, including demo tapes given to them by other bands).^[4] Mixer Andrew Weiss estimated the album cost the duo around $100 to make, while manager David Ayers stated it was $42.^[5]

Pure Guava also originated the band's first single, "Push th' Little Daisies", which achieved notoriety after the music video was riffed on MTV's Beavis and Butt-Head. "Push th' Little Daisies" would go on to peak at number 18 during its thirteen-week stay on the Australian ARIA Chart.^[6]

Track Listing[edit | edit source]

1	Little Birdy
2	Tender Situation
3	The Stallion Pt. 3
4	Big Jilm
5	Push th' Little Daisies
6	The Goin' Gets Tough From the Getgo
7	Reggaejunkiejew
8	I Play It Off Legit
9	Pumpin' 4 the Man
10	Sarah
11	Springtheme
12	Flies on My Dick
13	I Saw Gener Cryin' in His Sleep
14	Touch My Tooter
15	Mourning Glory
16	Loving U Thru It All
17	Hey Fat Boy (Asshole)
18	Don't Get 2 Close (2 My Fantasy)
19	Poop Ship Destroyer

Known Personnel[edit | edit source]

Sourced from the liner notes unless otherwise stated.

Gene Ween
Dean Ween
Andrew Weiss - mixing
Mean Ween - second verse vocals on "Little Birdy"
Guy Heller - vocals on "Flies on My Dick"
Larry Curtin - backing vocals and whistling on "I Saw Gener Cryin' in His Sleep"
Scott Lowe - harmony vocals, whistling and drum machine tom fills^[7] on "Don't Get 2 Close (2 My Fantasy)"
Patricia Frey - digital editing
Howie Weinberg - mastering
Tom Nichols - photography

Quotes[edit | edit source]

Deaner in Magnet magazine, August/September 2000:

One day, a box of Pure Guava discs shows up from Elektra, and I think I started crying, because I was a music junkie and now we were on the same label as the Doors. Here was this record that we recorded in our apartment for not even two dollars — we didn't even buy new tape, just taped over demo tapes bands gave us on the road — and it's on Elektra.

Andrew Weiss in Hank Shteamer's Chocolate and Cheese:
No major label had ever put out a record recorded on a 4-track, except maybe [Bruce Springsteen’s] Nebraska [...] But obviously [Nebraska] didn’t sound Scotchgard. It didn’t wear its 4-track on its sleeve like Pure Guava does. So that was kind of a coup because they got all this dough for doing a record on a 4-track that cost, like, $100 to make, and that was probably all spent on pizza and weed.