Chocolate and Cheese

Chocolate and Cheese is the fourth studio album by the American rock band Ween, originally released by Elektra Records in 1994. It was the first Ween album to be recorded in a professional studio, in contrast to the four-track home recordings of The Pod and Pure Guava. However, most of the instruments were still played by Dean and Gene Ween, including their drum machine.

Background
Ween's previous three albums, GodWeenSatan: The Oneness, The Pod, and Pure Guava had been recorded in a very lo-fi setting – the band only had access to their guitars and a digital audio tape recorder; the albums were recorded in their apartment (nicknamed "The Pod," hence the name of their second album). Having signed to major label Elektra, they now had access to better resources to record. In addition, drummer Claude Coleman joined the band, meaning they had live instrumentation as opposed to relying on a drum machine.

As a result, this album ended up sounding more hi-fi than their prior works. The sound is clearer due to having been recorded digitally as opposed to the tapes that the first three albums were done on, and the resources the band now had meant they could experiment more than they did in the previous lo-fi set up.

The album is dedicated to comedian John Candy, who died while Ween was putting the album together. "A Tear for Eddie" was dedicated to the funk/psychedelic guitar pioneer Eddie Hazel, who died December 23, 1992. In a 2011 interview, Gene Ween credited a Spanish lesson on Sesame Street with inspiring "Buenas Tardes Amigo". The album's title is phonetically similar to the British saying "chalk and cheese," a way of saying that two items have nothing in common.

The first music video for the album was 'I Can't Put My Finger On It,' followed by 'Voodoo Lady,' and 'Freedom of '76,' filmed circa March 1995.

Album cover
In an interview with Hank Shteamer during the writing of the 33 1/3 book about the album, Dean Ween said that the original idea for the album art was to "get a sailor, like a gay sailor, in red, white and blue wearing the belt", but the studio rejected this idea, thinking it was inappropriate.

Gene Ween claims to have come up with the idea for the album art that ended up being made, saying "I had it sketched out... I remember telling Mickey how the top of the [shirt] would cut out right below the nipple line and so it was very important to have big breasts with a large 'under portion'". The creative director of Reiner Design Consultants, Roger Gorman, stated that they were given the direction to make it look like an album cover by the Ohio Players.

The model for the album art was Ashley Savage, and photography was done by John Kuczala.

Reception and legacy
In July 2014, Guitar World placed Chocolate and Cheese at #45 in their "Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994" list. The entire album was played live as part of the group's setlist at the Desert Daze festival in California on October 12, 2019.

Related releases and covers
"I Can't Put My Finger on It" is an EP released by Elektra Records in 1994, and including the tracks "I Can't Put My Finger on It", "A Tear for Eddie", "Now I'm Freaking Out" and "Bakersfield".

"Voodoo Lady EP" was released by Flying Nun Records (as a 7") and White Records (as a CD) in 1994, and included the tracks "Buenas Tardes Amigo", "There's a Pig" (CD version only), and "Vallejo" (CD version only). The EP's title track can be heard in the films Road Trip and Dude, Where's My Car?, as well as the original version of "In The Bathroom," a skit from the sketch comedy show The State, while the album track "Buenas Tardes Amigo" was featured in the German films Lammbock and Herr Lehmann.

"Freedom of '76" is an EP released by Flying Nun Records in 1995, and included two versions of the title track plus "Now I'm Freaking Out" and "Pollo Asado". CKY guitarist (and dedicated Ween fan) Chad Ginsburg appeared in the "Freedom of '76" promo video as an extra shouting at Gene and Dean after they stole the Liberty Bell.

Original Vinyl Pressings: On top of the Elektra Records release (Elektra 61639-2 US 1994), it was pressed and distributed by Grand Royal Records in the US in 1994 with a 2 LP non-gatefold version (Grand Royal GR 010 US 1994). Flying Nun Records from New Zealand released two different versions in 1994, one of which came with a bonus 7" single (Flying Nun Records FN314 Europe 1994, no 7") and (Flying Nun Records FNSP314 UK 1994, with 7").

Note that there is a catalog number for the vinyl issue by Elektra Records, but there is no confirmation it was pressed on vinyl at this time, possibly only in promo edition.

Cover versions:
 * "Roses Are Free" has been covered by the band Phish 51 times between 12-11-1997 and 7-16-2022. Official releases of their version appear on Phish's live concert albums Hampton Comes Alive (1999) and Live Phish 04.03.98 (2005). The 2000 documentary Bittersweet Motel features the band learning the track backstage at the Rochester War Memorial in Rochester, NY and then transitions into their first onstage interpretation. In an interview from 2015, Melchiondo observed that Ween began playing "Roses Are Free" regularly in concert after Phish began covering it, and credited Phish for boosting the song's popularity. Phish's guitarist, Trey Anastasio, commented to the crowd after their 8-7-2015 cover, suggesting that Mickey and Aaron should play together again, which was followed by Ween's first comeback show at the 1stBank Center in Broomfield, CO on 2-12-2016 where the song was played among 32 others.
 * Ash recorded a version of "What Deaner Was Talkin' About", released as a B-side on their 1997 single "A Life Less Ordinary". This track also features on their limited edition live album, Live at the Wireless.
 * Amos Lee performed "Buenas Tardes Amigo" on an iTunes exclusive live album entitled "iTunes Live From SoHo".
 * Jon Auer (The Posies, Big Star) covered "Baby Bitch" on his solo EP "6 1/2."
 * Folk Punk musician Sunny War covered "Baby Bitch" on his 2023 album "Anarchist Gospel."

Deluxe Edition
On June 7th, 2024, Ween announced they would be releasing a deluxe edition of Chocolate and Cheese to commemorate the album's 30th anniversary, with a release date of August 2nd, 2024. The deluxe edition will feature both remasters of the original tracks done by Bernie Grundman, as well as 15 previously unreleased tracks. One of these tracks, "Junkie Boy", was released as a single the same day as the announcement. On July 19th, a second single was released for the 30th anniversary edition, a demo version of Voodoo Lady.

Track listing
All tracks written by Ween, except "Freedom of '76", written by Ween and Ed Wilson.

30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition track listing

Personnel
The band
 * Dean Ween – guitar, vocals, drums
 * Gene Ween – vocals
 * Claude Coleman Jr. – drums

Additional personnel
 * Mean Ween – bass
 * Greg Frey – engineer
 * Howie Weinberg – mastering
 * Andrew Weiss – producer, engineer, mixing
 * Kirk Miller – live sound
 * Ashley Savage – model
 * Danny Clinch – photography
 * John Kuczala – photography
 * Reiner Design Consultants – design
 * Patricia Frey – drums
 * Scott Lowe – programming
 * Stephan Said – Spanish guitar