Written by Dave Homsher on Monday, 09 June 2008 Category:Random Hits:3712

My favorite band of all time, Weezer, released their 6th album this past week.  Displaying a sense of creativity rarely seen above single-celled life forms, they titled it “Weezer”, making it their 3rd self titled album.  This one will always be affectionately known as the red album, much like the blue and green albums before it.  Let’s take a look at each song, and as usual I’ll offer Hompy’s final thoughts. 

Even cowboy hats can't stop the WEEZ!

1. Troublemaker

Troublemaker is a catchy, upbeat album starter.  Both and verse and chorus will have you nodding your head along to the beat.  It’s probably the most straightforward number on the album.  It’s a typical pop song, but as usual, Weezer pop songs are much better than the usual crap you hear on the radio.   

2. The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn)

TGMTEL is easily the weirdest song on the entire album.  It’s like the band tried to combine as many musical styles as possible into a single song.  It opens with some classical piano, transitions into rap (WTF?), moves into hard rock, church hymn, a beatnick spoken word section, punk and finally an excellent alternative rock section with some top notch vocals from Rivers Cuomo.  Somehow, it works.  Even though the transitions are less than smooth, the song is fantastic and displays some incredible creativity. 
  
3. Pork and Beans

Supposedly, the only reason Weezer included this song on this album is because Geffen requested a hit single.  Well, as usual, Weezer delivered 100%.  The odd intro reminds me a lot of “El Scorcho” with its unconventional guitar.  However, the chorus delivers with an insanely catchy hook despite its nonsense lyrics such as “I eat my candy with the pork and beans”.  Weezer sure can pump out the hits, sort of like Britney Spears before she became a train wreck.     

4. Heart Songs

Heart Songs is an absolutely brilliant homage to the bands that influenced Rivers’ song writing over the years.  He pays tribute to an eclectic mix of artists such as Cat Stevens, Devo, Pat Benatar, John Lennon, Michael Jackson, Quiet Riot, Slayer, Debbie Gibson, and Will Smith.  However, the highlight of the song is easily the 3rd verse, an incredible tribute to Nirvana’s groundbreaking Nevermind album (Weezer semi-famously played several shows under the alias “Goat Punishment” where their set list included a wealth of Nirvana covers). 

“Back in 1991 I wasn't having any fun
'til my roommate said "come on" and put a brand new record on
Had a baby on it, he was naked on it
then I heard the cold words that broke the chains I had up on me
got together with my bros at some rehearsal studios
then we played our first rock show and watched the fanbase start to grow
signed the day
made a record all our own
a song comes on the radio and now people go ‘This is the song’”

River’s vocals are incredible.  The song starts with a relatively slow, yet catchy beat, but by the end grows louder and louder until a more rocking final chorus.  You WILL be singing along with this one.    

5. Everybody Get Dangerous

The band follows up that touching tribute with…a rap song??  Rivers spends 75% of this song rapping about some of the “bad stuff” he and his friends did growing up (they were about as badass as Corey Matthews in Boy Meets World).  Although the song as a whole isn’t terrible, it is extremely subpar by Weezer standards.  It’s way too simple and the only “creativity” shown in the song is the fact that they are “branching out” with their rap skills, if you can call them that.  The bridge ¾ of the way through the song really saves the song from B-side status. 

White guys rapping - RARELY a good idea

6. Dreamin’

The song opens as a simple, catchy, traditional Weezer song with some wonderful vocals from Rivers.  Towards the end of the song, the music slows down and the vocals are appropriately dreamy (like the title, get it?).  After the 2 minute mark, the song definitely ventures away from your traditional pop song.  The finale brings a satisfying conclusion to a thoroughly creative tune featuring some of the most inventive transitions on the entire album. 

7. Thought I Knew

Brian Bell writes and sings lead vocals for the first time on any Weezer album.  Though the song is OK, I have to admit that I can see why Brian hasn’t taken much of a lead in the past.  When you have a musical genius like Rivers Cuomo on your team, you don’t hand over the reigns without a fight.  The song is a straightforward pop number that might fit well on a lesser band’s record, but it simply doesn’t meet their usual standards.  It was sort of like the time Vin Baker played for the 2000 Olympic team.  He was a fine player before he became a big fat walrus, but there’s NO WAY he should have ever been a United States Olympian.

8. Cold Dark World

For whatever reason, Weezer decided that every band member should write their own song for the album.  Cold Dark World was written and sung by bassist Scott Shriner.  It’s easily the best of tracks 7, 8, and 9 which were the first Weezer songs not written/sung by Rivers.  The dark music sounds nothing like anything the band has done in the past, but everything fits together like the Detroit Pistons and choking the Eastern Conference finals – that is to say – it fits perfectly.   

9. Automatic

Written and sung by drummer Pat Wilson, the band decided to play 100% different instruments than normal on this song.  Rivers plays drums and Pat sings and plays guitar.  The guitar is actually pretty awesome.  The main riff used during the chorus really gets you pumped up.  Still though, the song is certainly less quality than a normal Weezer song.  You don’t move Michael Jordan to center in the NBA Finals just to try something new. 

10. The Angel and the One

Now THIS is a Weezer closer!!  This is the one song on the album that the band “got right” beyond any possible argument.  The song starts out extremely slow and moody, and builds and builds until a ripping climax towards the end of the song.  Without question, this song features the most heartfelt and the most compelling lyrics on the entire album.  Both the rhyming lyrics and the stunning vocals perfectly fit the music.  The squealing guitar towards the end of the song might be the highlight of the entire album.  

HOMPY’S FINAL THOUGHTS

The red album might be the most frustrating of Weezer’s career.  It’s got flashes of brilliance (TGMTEL, Heart Songs, The Angel and The One) broken up by unusual levels of mediocrity (Everybody Get Dangerous, Thought I Knew, Automatic).  River’s incredible vocals have always been the strongest point of all Weezer albums, so the decision to let other people sing on 3 songs, and to have Rivers rap several others makes no sense whatsoever.  However, the good more than outweighs the bad.  The red album is a worthy purchase, but it’s no masterpiece.  8/10. 

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• Death of Reality - Part 1 -04/09/2008
• Corporate Buzzwords -02/11/2008

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