Album Review : Weezer (The Red Album)

I love Weezer. I almost feel ashamed saying that these days since people could have the misconception that I’m talking about Beverly Hills or Pork N’ Beans… If any of you don’t know, Weezer’s first two LP’s along with some other non-album songs are absolutely mind-blowing. If you’ve never listened to these albums an entire chapter of your life has yet to unfold.

I wanted to write about their new self titled album, or more commonly referred to as “The Red Album”. The ubiquitous negative wrap that fans would give the upcoming ‘Red Album’ put a bad taste in my mouth before i even heard any of the songs, and once i did hear the first released track “Pork and Beans” my faith wasn’t miraculously restored either. Alas, i now have the ‘full’ album, which includes the ten album tracks along with four bonus tracks.

Rivers is getting old and batty, and it’s hard to find all of that old Weezer charm that i could tell was falling away after ‘The Green Album’ passed. Traces of it all could be found in Maladroit in tracks such as “Keep Fishin’” and “Dope Nose”, but was almost gone in Make Believe. Despite what people may say about the album, i actually think ‘Make Believe’ is decent. ‘Perfect Situation’ wasn’t bad, though it did suffer from some bland rhymes. ‘Beverly Hills’ was lame and overplayed but still enjoyable, and i actually truly like ‘This Is Such a Pity’. Some other songs such as ‘Hold Me’ and ‘Peace’ rock out as well.

Now it’s 2008 and Old Man Rivers looks quite different from the ‘Beverly Hills’ video, let alone the ‘El Scorcho’ or ‘Undone’ videos from the days of yore. ‘Troublemaker’ is the first single from the new album and it’s boring. The lyrics don’t flow and aren’t well written. ‘The Greatest Man That Ever Lived’, however, redeems Troublemaker’s lag as It’s a truly rock-tastic song, even though it may try a bit too hard. We’re all familiar with ‘Pork and Beans’, and while I’m not sick of it, the song just doesn’t do much for me anymore.

After Pork and Beans the album dies, briefly saved by the sing-a-long jam ‘Dreamin”. This doesn’t put Weezer’s new album in a very good spot, though there is one saving grace: The bonus songs are incredible. ‘The Spider’ is a bit slow, but the other three (‘King’, ‘Pig’, and ‘Miss Sweeney’) can be listened to countless times. ‘Pig’ and ‘King’ are fantastic and both could and should have made it on the original track list. When Rivers’ bursts into song with “And now i have to die!” on ‘Pig’ it’s almost as good as the explosion of sound from the end of ‘Only In Dreams’.

Some mood killers such as ‘Cold Dark World’ and ‘Thought I Knew’, which sounds like a weird Uncle Kraker B-side, make this album less than it could have been. However, if it’s not too much of a problem, you can overlook them and appreciate the good stuff that you do get. The Deluxe album is worth buying for all four of the Bonus tracks, and i have yet to listen to iTunes exclusive tracks ‘I Can Love’ and ‘It’s Easy’. I’m hoping they add some oomph to the whole package, though no offense to Rivers’ but just the sound of ‘I Can Love’ makes me cringe and think of another ‘Heart Songs’. While judging songs by their titles may not be the best way of doing things, i have a pretty good hunch that this one will be another sap fest.

I’m just hoping the album set to be released in November 2009 (according to Spin magazine) wont just be an extension of ‘Red Album’ type songs and that they may try and rock out a bit harder for their seventh…