Rewind album: The Mollusk, by Ween

Ween
Elektra

Experimental rock group Ween reached new heights of weirdness with their 1997 album, named after one of the world's least prepossessing invertebrates: the mollusc.

Much of the wry concept album was recorded by the beach at Holgate, New Jersey, where the duo of Dean and Gene Ween spent their time drinking, fishing and trying to keep warm. The original Holgate house they planned to use as a recording studio did not work out.

"When we pulled up to the house, I could see water coming down the front steps and gushing from every crack and crevice," frontman Dean said later. "The pipes had frozen and burst. The water was up to my ankles … It was like standing inside a big fish tank."

Recorded in seven studios over more than a year, the album - Ween's sixth full-length work - consists of 14 playful, progressive rock-style songs. Most of the songs, which are punctuated by flashes of psychedelia, have a twisted nautical theme. It is perhaps best known for the jaunty Ocean Man, played during the end credits of the animated series SpongeBob SquarePants.