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Review |
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There are definately some odd things about Weezer,
for a start their sixth studio album is called 'Weezer'
and is the third stuido album the band have released
called that and the most freaky thing about this
is that they release an album called 'Weezer' every
seven years, now I don’t know if this is something
they have always planned to do or if it just randomly
becomes six years since the last self titled album.
Each of the self titled albums take on a different
colour scheme and become known by the colour rather
than the title, the 1994 self titled album was blue
and became known as the blue album, the 2001 self
titled album is green and became known as the green
album and the brand new self titled studio album
is red and will become known as the red album.
After each and every Weezer album release they
tour for a while and then the band hiatus and
their members go there separate ways with frontman
Rivers Cuomo normally heading back to Harvard
to polish up on his education, this leads to speculation
from everyone wondering if it is the end of Weezer
and will they release another album, when Weezer
released 'Make Believe' in 2005 and finished touring
the album everyone thought Weezer had split for
good but once again they are back, they go through
a cycle that people should be used to by now we
all know deep down Weezer will come back from
hiatus after every album to release a new one
but I guess there will be a day when the hiatus
is permanent and Weezer don’t come back,
but let’s hope that time is many years into
the future.
Everyone who's heard of Weezer knows frontman
Rivers Cuomo is a dark man, he’s a bit geeky
and comes across really shy, he avoids doing interviews
with the press as much as he can and keeps his
interaction with the fans to a minimal at the
bands shows leaving bassist Matt Sharp to do most
of the talking, but on the internet the man is
totally different leaving blogs and messages on
his myspace and various other sites as much as
he can. For the new Weezer album, Rivers Cuomo
has gone for the wackiest look of his time yet,
looking some what like the gay cowboy from The
Village People's 'YMCA' video with his cowboy
hat and newly grown mustache which looks quite
comical.
The new Weezer album is the first Weezer album
to feature all members contributing on song writing
and singing lead vocals on their own songs, this
is something which helps make the new Weezer album
such a welcome comeback and so close to being
a masterpiece, it’s just a shame the vocals
don’t live up to expectations, but more
about that later.
The album opens up with 'Troublemaker' a song
which features Rivers Cuomo singing "I'm
such a mystery as anyone can see there isn't anybody
else exactly quite like me', now these lyrics
are quite true, Rivers is such a mystery and is
very much unlike any other frontman from a band
which is probably why he is such a loved frontman.
The guitar riffs throughout the song are a lot
more powerful than on previous Weezer albums.
'The first highlight on the album is 'The Greatest
Man That Ever Lived (Variations On A Shaker Hymn)"
the song is very different to anything Weezer
have done before and is quite odd sounding, Rivers
vocals are so different sounding, appearing quite
squeaky sounding in places, there are also spoken
word vocals from Rivers during the song where
he talks about things he has done throughout his
life so far, Rivers also sings "I am the
greatest man that ever lived" time and time
again throughout the song which proves that Rivers
has an high opinion about himself and I am pretty
sure a lot of his fans would agree with his statement.
The song is pure entertainment, it is lyrically
very clever and musically quite technical and
totally different from anything Weezer have achieved
before.
The lead single for the 'Red album' is 'Pork
And Beans', the song is a classic and has already
proved to be a hit within the music industry,
the song is fun and wacky with such random lyrics
with Rivers singing about how he will do what
he wants and that he will eat his candy with his
pork and beans if he wants, there are some big
guitar riffs on offer which shows that Rivers
has knocked his guitar up a notch or two and become
a more aggressive guitar player.
Everything slows down for just over 4 minutes
during 'Heart Songs', the song is well chilled
out, yet features such a nice groove running throughout,
Rivers Cumomo name drops many artists throughout
the song from John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen,
Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Michael Jackson and
many others, the lyrics are definitely worth reading
through.
Weezer verge onto rap-rock territories with 'Everybody
Get Dangerous' the song starts off with a killer
drum roll, Rivers vocals come in seconds later
sounding as normal as ever, but suddenly the chorus
kicks in leading the song into a rap rock feel.
It’s not long before we are treated to a
classic sounding Weezer song and this time it
is brought in the form of 'Dreamin', the song
is a pure pop song that is so catchy and has such
a great vibe, the song does go a bit off track
midway through sounding totally different from
the start of the song, but overall the song has
such an upbeat power pop summer feel about it.
The first track on the album to be written by
and sung by one of the other members of the band
is 'Thought I Knew' the song was written and performed
by guitarist Brian Bell, the song is quite interesting
mainly for the fact that Brian's vocals are so
much different from Rivers, the song isn’t
bad but is nothing special and doesn’t have
that killer Weezer feel about it. The next track
to be written by another member of Weezer is 'Cold
Dark World' the song was written by both Scott
Shriner and Rivers Cuomo, once again the vocals
are a lot different and quite hard to take to
as Scott Shriner takes more to rapping through
the song than he does singing, luckily the song
features backing vocals from Rivers which really
does help bring the song more to life. The last
song of the trio of songs written and preformed
by the other members of the band is 'Automatic'
the song was written and sung by drummer Pat Wilson,
now this is the best offering from the three tracks
but to be honest the song really isn’t that
special either, it is good to see the other members
of Weezer contributing to songs but I think the
lead vocals should be left to Rivers from now
on.
The 'Red Album' is an interesting offering from
Weezer and without a doubt is an album that has
seen the band experiment the most with their sound,
the main highlight from the album is the current
single 'Pork And Beans', and then the second most
interesting song on the album is 'The Greatest
Man That Ever Lived (Variations On A Shaker Hymn)',
in fact it is one of the most interesting songs
that Weezer have ever created, the song is like
a rollercoaster ride with the way that it’s
thrilling from start to finish and no one bit
is the same with so much variation throughout
the song. There are a few week moments on the
album such as when other members of the band take
to the part of lead vocalist for a song each,
you have to respect the band for trying something
different and being more creative than ever, I
am currently not in favour of the songs but they
may well grow on me after a few more listens who
knows.
If you are a hardcore fan of Weezer you will
love the album, if you have just come across Weezer
and are thinking about buying this album on the
basis of just hearing 'Pork And Beans', then I
would put it on hold and get the 'Blue Album'
instead as it is the best starting point for getting
into Weezer.
4/5
Review by Trigger |
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| Band
Members |
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Rivers Cuomo (Vocals, Guitar)
Brian Bell (Guitar, Backing Vocals)
Scott Shriner (Bass, Backing Vocals)
Patrick Wilson (Drums) |
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| Track
Listing |
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1. Troublemaker
2. Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations On A
Shaker Hymn)
3. Pork And Beans
4. Heart Songs
5. Everybody Get Dangerous
6. Dreamin'
7. Thought I Knew
8. Cold Dark World
9. Automatic
10. Angel And The One/Non Musical Silence
11. Weight (UK Only Bonus Track)
12. Life Is What You Make It (UK Only Bonus Track) |
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| Band
Related Links |
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| Review
Score Code |
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- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
-
What Was That? |
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