| Quebec | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | August 5, 2003 | |||
| Recorded | 2001–2003 | |||
| Studio | Zion House of Flesh, Hopewell, New Jersey | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 55:07 | |||
| Label | Sanctuary | |||
| Producer | Andrew Weiss | |||
| Ween chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Quebec | ||||
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Quebec is the eighth studio album by the American rock bandWeen, released on August 5, 2003, onSanctuary Records. It was the first album released after the band's contract withElektra expired, and marked its return toindependent labels.
Recorded during a period of strife in the band members' personal lives,Quebec was described by Dean Ween as a "very negative" album that takes on a darker tone compared to the band's prior work.Josh Freese performed the drums on the album, stepping in forClaude Coleman Jr. as he was recovering from a near-fatal car crash in 2002. Freese also played with the band on tour during this time, including during a series of benefit concerts for Coleman at New York City'sBowery Ballroom on October 7 and 8, 2002.[1]
The album cover is an edited version of the packaging for the gameThorns from the3M Paper Games series with the band superimposed on it.[2]
The album was the band's first since 1991'sThe Pod to be released on an independent label, as Ween's contract withElektra Records expired following 2000'sWhite Pepper. The three-year gap between albums was the longest for the band up to this point.[3]
The album was originally titledCaesar. It was changed toQuebec because, according to Dean Ween, "Our vision is like this rainy, colder thanParis, Parisian place. The vibe of our record is like romantic and rainy without being as classy as Paris. That was why we called itQuebec, it's like this B-version ofLeonard Cohen."[3]
Dean Ween recorded the guitar solo on "Transdermal Celebration" illicitly usingCarlos Santana's guitar and amplifier at a storage space where it was to be shipped to New York. After being informed by a roadie, he took ahard disk recorder with him and successfully recorded it in ten minutes without getting caught.[4]
The recording ofQuebec saw the band deal with many struggles in their professional and personal lives.Gene Ween was going through a divorce from his first wife,[5]Dean Ween was dealing with drug issues and was "partying way too hard",[6]Claude Coleman was recovering from a life-threatening car crash that left him unable to perform on the record[7] (with drumming instead being primarily handled byJosh Freese), and the band was moving fromElektra Records to a smaller, independent label.
As a result, many of the songs on the album deal with drug abuse, mental health issues, and failing relationships. Gene Ween has admitted to taking inspiration from his divorce, saying toPop Matters “I wrote most of these songs right before the end. A lot of these songs are about that. Even if it’s not direct, you can feel the beginning of the end of the breakup in these songs.”.[8] Reflecting on these themes in 2007, Dean said toThe A.V. Club, "WithQuebec, I like it as a record, but it's very negative. It's one of our darker records, I think. I don't listen to any of our records, but I have never listened to that one."[9]
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 71/100[10] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [11] |
| The Austin Chronicle | [12] |
| Mojo | [13] |
| Mondo Sonoro | 8/10[14] |
| NOW | [15] |
| OndaRock | 7.5/10[16] |
| Pitchfork | 7.7/10[17] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [18] |
| Tiny Mix Tapes | [19] |
| Uncut | [20] |
The album received generally positive reviews from music critics. Mark Prindle namedQuebec the best album of the 2000s in an interview onFox News Channel'sRed Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld.[21]Mojo named it the No. 39 best album of 2003.CMJ named it the No. 8 best album of 2003.[22]
All tracks written by Ween.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "It's Gonna Be a Long Night" | 2:48 |
| 2. | "Zoloft" | 3:51 |
| 3. | "Transdermal Celebration" | 3:25 |
| 4. | "Among His Tribe" | 3:37 |
| 5. | "So Many People in the Neighborhood" | 3:28 |
| 6. | "Tried and True" | 4:01 |
| 7. | "Happy Colored Marbles" | 3:12 |
| 8. | "Hey There Fancypants" | 1:59 |
| 9. | "Captain" | 3:58 |
| 10. | "Chocolate Town" | 3:16 |
| 11. | "I Don't Want It" | 3:25 |
| 12. | "The Fucked Jam" (instrumental) | 2:53 |
| 13. | "Alcan Road" | 5:10 |
| 14. | "The Argus" | 4:51 |
| 15. | "If You Could Save Yourself (You'd Save Us All)" | 4:44 |
| Total length: | 55:07 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 16. | "Ooh Vah La" | 2:59 |
| Total length: | 58:18 | |
The song "It's Gonna Be a Long Night" is featured in the video gamesTony Hawk's Underground 2 andATV Offroad Fury 3, as downloadable content in theRock Band franchise, and in the TV showThe Shield. The song "If You Could Save Yourself (You'd Save Us All)" was featured in episode 7 ofThe Morning Show.[23]
"Tried and True" and "Transdermal Celebration" appeared in the second season ofSuperman & Lois with the former being featured in the sixth episode of the same name.[24]
Indie pop bandWater from Your Eyes covered "If You Could Save Yourself (You'd Save Us All)" in 2024 for mental health awareness.[25]
Heavy metal musicianDevin Townsend covered "Transdermal Celebration" for his albumTranscendence in 2016.[26]
On August 11, 2011,Dean Ween quietly released a two-disc, MP3-only collection of songs,The Caesar Demos, named after the band's original working title forQuebec, to friends on his Facebook page. In his comment, he stated the songs were all recorded between 2001 and 2003 while drummerClaude Coleman, Jr. was recovering from injuries sustained in a car accident, and that many of the tracks featured only himself andGene. In addition to a handful of recordings that eventually made the album, the demos feature several alternate takes as well as a number of songs that have remained unreleased.[27][28]
well what can i say about this here, lemme see. the first thing that comes to mind is that all the while we were doing this we still had claude coleman on drums, he eventually got into a major car wreck and wasn't around when it finally came time to make the "real" record. instead the drum duties fell on me, josh freese, and sim cain for a couple of tunes. almost all of this was recorded at our beach house in holgate, nj onto 16 track tape. a tiny bit of it was recorded in the garage behind aaron's house in pt. pleasant, pa. some of it was recorded in the spare bedroom of my house in new hope. most of the tunes are just me and aaron, with the two of us playing everything, with me on drums. the songs with claude, dave, and glenn are pretty obvious. on just a few tunes we took what you hear here and cleaned them up and had andrew weiss mix them for the record after some overdubs. dave sings on "it's gonna be a long night", this was days before he had surgery to remove polyps in his throat and his voice was really rough so we figured he was the guy for the job. This isn't even all of the tunes that we ended up choosing from, just the ones i happened to burn to cd before we drove home from the beach every week. hope you dig it for what it is.[29]
A few of the songs on the Caesar Demos would end up on later records by the band. "Someday" and "I Fell In Love Today" would later be featured on the B-sides compilationShinola, Vol. 1, while a slightly rewritten version of "Don't Let The Moon Catch You Crying" would end up on Dean Ween's second solo albumrock2.[30]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Chocolate Town" | 2:49 |
| 2. | "Pot Luck" | 2:27 |
| 3. | "Ooh Vah Lah" | 2:49 |
| 4. | "So Many People in the Neighborhood" | 2:26 |
| 5. | "Linda (the Sexy Dancer)" | 2:52 |
| 6. | "That Man (from the Flatland)" | 4:57 |
| 7. | "Happy Colored Marbles" | 2:39 |
| 8. | "Hey There Fancypants" | 2:08 |
| 9. | "If You Could Save Yourself (You'd Save Us All)" | 5:44 |
| 10. | "It's Gonna Be a Long Night" | 2:46 |
| 11. | "Oh My Little Country Cottage" | 1:36 |
| 12. | "Among His Tribe" | 2:46 |
| 13. | "Transdermal Celebration" | 3:23 |
| 14. | "Captain" | 4:18 |
| 15. | "Tried and True" | 4:24 |
| 16. | "I Fell in Love Today" | 3:40 |
| Total length: | 51:44 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "I Don't Want It" | 3:57 |
| 2. | "Ambrosia Parsley" | 4:36 |
| 3. | "Zoloft" | 2:32 |
| 4. | "Love Come Down (9-11-01)" | 5:42 |
| 5. | "Alcan Road" | 3:35 |
| 6. | "Don't Let the Moon Catch You Cryin'" | 3:30 |
| 7. | "You Can Go Shit in Your Hat (Matt)" | 2:20 |
| 8. | "Someday" | 3:34 |
| 9. | "She Caught My Fancy" | 3:01 |
| 10. | "Eulogy for David Anderson" | 3:08 |
| 11. | "Things You Already Know" | 3:52 |
| 12. | "Hello Johnny" | 3:55 |
| 13. | "I'm Wide Open" | 5:16 |
| Total length: | 48:58 | |
| Chart (2003) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| USBillboard 200[31] | 81 |
| Studio albums | |
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| Compilations | |
| Live albums | |
| Song articles | |
| Related articles | |
