Ween Set 12 Golden Country Greats 30th Anniversary Reissue With 36 Tracks and Unreleased Demos

Ween are marking the 30th anniversary of 12 Golden Country Greats with a deluxe reissue that stretches the album into 36 tracks. The set is due out 7/31 on Rhino and pulls together the 1996 record, two songs cut from the original sessions, and a large batch of demos, outtakes, and rarities.

That 1996 album landed as a strange pivot even by Ween standards. After building a cult following through the lo-fi, volatile Pure Guava and Chocolate And Cheese, the duo headed to Nashville, brought in a group of veteran session players they called the Shit Creek Boys, and even enlisted Elvis Presley backup singers the Jordinaires. The result was a country record built around songs like “Piss Up A Rope” and “Help Me Scrape The Mucus Off My Brain.”

The reception was not exactly straightforward. In a 2012 Stereogum list, Michael Nelson called it Ween’s worst album. But the record has clearly stayed alive enough to warrant a full-scale revisit. The new edition restores “I’ve Got No Darkside” and “So Long, Jerry,” the latter a Jerry Garcia tribute, both of which were left off the original album, which originally ran to 10 songs despite its title.

Along with those cuts, the reissue includes previously unreleased four-track demos, studio outtakes, and rarities, including a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Fool To Cry.” Today, the band shared the previously unreleased minute-long “Bad Day In Brownsville.”

Below is the tracklist for the box set.

Disc 1 (original album remastered)
01 “I’m Holding You"
02 “Japanese Cowboy”
03 “Piss Up A Rope”
04 “I Don’t Wanna Leave You On The Farm”
05 “Pretty Girl”
06 “Powder Blue”
07 “Mister Richard Smoker"
08 “Help Me Scrape The Mucus Off My Brain”
09 “You Were The Fool”
10 “Fluffy”

Disc 2 (12 Golden Demos)
01 “I Don’t Wanna Leave You On The Farm” (demo)
02 “Piss Up A Rope” (demo)
03 “Mister Richard Smoker” (demo)
04 “Help Me Scrape The Mucus Off My Brain” (demo)
05 “Pretty Girl” (demo)
06 “Fluffy” (demo)
07 “You Were The Fool” (demo)
08 “Powder Blue” (demo)
09 “I’ve Got No Darkside” (demo)
10 “Maybelle” (demo)
11 “I’m Holding You” (demo)
12 “So Long Jerry” (demo)

Disc 3 (14 Golden Outtakes and Demos)
01 “I’ve Got No Darkside”
02 “Boston Chicken”
03 “Bad Day In Brownsville”
04 “Good Timing Rhyming Song”
05 “Sweet Texas Fire”
06 “Twinkle”
07 “If You Can’t Look Me In The Eye”
08 “I’m Gonna Fix Your Ass”
09 “Fool To Cry”
10 “Spaghetti”
11 “I’ll Miss You”
12 “Maybelle” (Waste Version)
13 “Scum Of This Town”
14 “So Long Jerry”

Pre-order 12 Golden Country Greats (Deluxe Edition) here here.