Late last month Rhino released the Deluxe Edition of Ween’s 1996 album 12 Golden Country Greats. Dean Ween (Mickey Melchiondo) and Gene Ween (Aaron Freeman) originally traveled to Nashville to work with producer Ben Vaughn on the record. Vaughn pulled together a number of Nashville session players, including The Jordanaires, who had once backed Elvis Presley, to back the pair on the project. The resulting album initially proved confounding to some of the band’s fans at the time but has grown in stature over the years.
12 Golden Country Greats (Deluxe Edition) presents over 20 previously unreleased recordings across 3 CDs and 3 LPs. The 36 songs on the package include two tunes that were recorded but never made the final 10-song album. These missing tracks are “So Long Jerry,” written following the passing of the Grateful Dead icon Jerry Garcia and “I’ve Got No Darkside,” which is a honky-tonk tune.
Now, Rhino has issued a companion EP. Golden Wastes presents four additional selections that didn’t find their way onto 12 Golden Country Greats (Deluxe Edition). It opens with “I’m Holding You (Waste Version),” an alternative version of the song that opens the original record. This is followed by “There's A Smooth Talkin' Dude Around,” which offers a different iteration of “Pretty Girl” from the album. “Mister Richard Smoker (Alternate Take)” is a variant on the song from 12 Golden Country Greats while “I'm Gonna Fix Your Ass (Alternate Take)” offers in another version of a song that appears in the Deluxe Edition.
Golden Wastes can be heard below. 12 Golden Country Greats (Deluxe Edition) is available via the Rhino store.
