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.
–
Jason Ankeny, Rovi