20 years ago today, Ween released Shinola Vol. 1. Though often classified as a compilation by fans, I’ve always considered it a proper album within the band’s discography seeing as its tracks hadn’t been widely released before outside of the semi-official bootleg Craters Of The Sack. Speaking of which, it’s obvious when comparing the versions of the tracks that appear on both Craters and Shinola that they received many changes and, in some cases, significant improvements in recording, mixing and fidelity. This is not to insult Craters since that has a lot of great exclusive tracks that I wish received a similar treatment, but it’s worth noting these alterations as they demonstrate the amount of effort that went into Shinola’s construction; to this day, I wonder how much new recording was done specifically for this release. The ‘Volume 1’ might sting a bit knowing that there will likely never be an official follow-up, but not only have many fans created their own wonderful variations on the idea of Shinola Vol. 2, but it also strikes me as a very Ween thing to title a completely standalone release ‘Volume 1’. It’s about as comical as 12 Golden Country Greats having only 10 tracks (though it originally wasn’t going to). All in all, Shinola is a great entry into the band’s cannon as it gives one a great sampling of most things that the band does; it covers the good, the “bad” and the brown. Lots of great songs on it, but my favorites are probably Did You See Me, Monique The Freak and Transitions.
Trevor Ganoe
20 years ago today, Ween released Shinola Vol. 1. Though often classified as a compilation by fans, I’ve always considered it a proper album within the band’s discography seeing as its tracks hadn’t been widely released before outside of the semi-official bootleg Craters Of The Sack. Speaking of which, it’s obvious when comparing the versions of the tracks that appear on both Craters and Shinola that they received many changes and, in some cases, significant improvements in recording, mixing and fidelity. This is not to insult Craters since that has a lot of great exclusive tracks that I wish received a similar treatment, but it’s worth noting these alterations as they demonstrate the amount of effort that went into Shinola’s construction; to this day, I wonder how much new recording was done specifically for this release. The ‘Volume 1’ might sting a bit knowing that there will likely never be an official follow-up, but not only have many fans created their own wonderful variations on the idea of Shinola Vol. 2, but it also strikes me as a very Ween thing to title a completely standalone release ‘Volume 1’. It’s about as comical as 12 Golden Country Greats having only 10 tracks (though it originally wasn’t going to). All in all, Shinola is a great entry into the band’s cannon as it gives one a great sampling of most things that the band does; it covers the good, the “bad” and the brown. Lots of great songs on it, but my favorites are probably Did You See Me, Monique The Freak and Transitions.
3 months ago | [YT] | 13