Artist:     The Dean Ween Group

Album:     rock2

Label:     Schnitzel Records

Release Date:     3.16.18

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Once a class clown, always a class clown. As irreverent as ever, Dean Ween, co-founder of the eclectic, recently reunited ‘90s alternative-rock pranksters Ween, bucks the sophomore slump with a funny, wide-ranging grab bag of wildly entertaining material that has no filter.

Diverse musicianship, from a band that’s locked in tight and utterly fearless, drives the second album from the Dean Ween Group, with Ween making a strong case to be considered a guitar god. Among the sizzling solos and riffs is some sly, masterful knitting on rock2 that ties everything together, as the scorching hard funk of opener “Showstopper,” the noisy, cosmic psychedelia of “Waste Station 9” and the full-blown jazz fusion of “The Ritz Carlton,” (which sounds like a burning boat of Steely Dan yacht rock) showcase Ween’s abilities.

As does the driving instrumental “Love Theme from ‘Skinheads Kicking Your Ass,’” with co-conspirators Glen McClelland, Claude Coleman Jr. and Dave Dreiwitz and guests displaying power and finesse throughout the record. And they all seem to delight in Ween’s sardonic humor, as he growls and trolls the owner of a “piece of shit bucket” hard in the bluesy, bare-knuckled “Yellow Pontiac” and smirks through a juvenile “Fingerbangin’” and its saxophone-soaked, lowdown ‘50s rock groove.

While the drugged-out “This Heart of Palm” is strangely appealing, it’s the rolling, easygoing country-rock of “Don’t Let the Moon Catch You Crying.” about an unlikeable couple that can’t help but fight all the time, and the hilariously perverse “Pussy on My Pillow” that win the day. In “Don’t Let the Moon Catch You Crying,” Dean Ween sings, “When all is said and done, baby/I’m the only one/who can cheat you out of having a good time.” Nobody should feel cheated with rock2.

—Peter Lindblad