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The first in a projected series of Dick's Picks-styled archival live recordings on Ween's own Chocodog label, Live in Toronto Canada documents an October 23, 1996, date in support of the now-classic 12 Golden Country Greats. Backed by the Shit Creek Boys -- a group of veteran Nashville session men led by pianist Bobby Ogdin -- the tour in question was perhaps the apotheosis of the live Ween experience: Ogdin's countrified arrangements breathed new life into chestnuts like "Doctor Rock" and "What Deaner Was Talkin' About," and the Jack Daniels-fueled interplay between Deaner and Gener with the aging Nashville cats was pure magic. (As Deaner's liner notes point out, "The 8-piece band sounded like a 747 landing on your house.") Far more effective in capturing the life-altering genius of the Ween live show than the earlier Paintin' the Town Brown collection, the disc divides evenly between 12 Golden Country Greats Material (including "Japanese Cowboy" complete with "Chariots of Fire" coda and an epic set-closing "Fluffy") and fan favorites (i.e., "Push th' Little Daisies" and "Buenas Tardes Amigo"), culminating in a rendition of Billy Joel's "Piano Man" complete with the new chorus, "Sing us a song, you're the piano man/Put some coke on my dick tonight." F*ck yeah. (AMG)
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