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Weezer (Blue Album) (1994)8 My Name Is Jonas / No One Else / The World Has Turned and Left Me Here / Buddy Holly / Undone – the Sweater Song / Surf Wax America / Say It Ain’t So / In the Garage / Holiday / Only in Dreams Does the world really need another review of Weezer’s debut album? Well, NO, but the world could use some more albums like this, and not because it’s mind-blowing in any way or a revolutionary statement or a detailed musical summation of how moronic some of our world leaders are (which it isn’t), but just for the sheer enthusiasm, the self-deprecating sense of humor, and the fact that the bands seems to know what its limitations are. Essentially, the basic ingredients of Weezer’s melting pot aren’t that hard to discern either: you just grab a big bag of Cheap Trick, add some Orange State melodies, throw in some stylised mammoth riffs (preferably reminding of a stupid hard-rock band that never made it outside of the US), get yourself a notorious hook-producer (Ric “I refuse to use a ‘k’” Ocasek), and finally: a nerdy image. Concerning that last aspect: I bet they weren’t nerds at all (although they look like 50’s sci-fi geeks on the cover of the album), but they were smart enough to create that image, while their colleagues in Seattle were openly indulging themselves in rock ‘n’ roll’s less refined excesses. Anyway, it should be clear by now that Weezer turned in an album of chunky and muscular, but also highly hummable and accessible power-pop tunes that will be stuck in your head for a while as some of the better semi-disposable pop out there. |
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| In fact, as I play this album, “Say It Ain’t So” still appeals to the 15-year old riff-fanatic in me, so it must be a great song. And I think it is: that melody is just so catchy, the harmonies are positively silly and cheesy, and the chorus is as simple as it is effective. Combine all of that, and you have one hell of a popsong. The rest of the album betrays about the same ingredients: BIG melodies, BIG hooks (and more than you’ll see during the annual Trout Fishing Competition, I bet), BIG lyrics of being misunderstood, and a BIG production. But it works, take the pounding album opener “My Name Is Jonas,” for instance, with those loud and fuzzy (but harmless) guitars, or the adolescent-existentialism of “The World Has Turned and Left Me Here,” that has a melody and vocal delivery (finding the right balance between optimism and melancholy) that’s so good it completely camouflages the fact that the guitar parts are very monotonous and dragging. Likewise, the album’s biggest hit, “Buddy Holly” (with the funny clip that would eventually lead to the Happy Days-series) isn’t anything special on paper, with those predictable chords and accents, but somehow they turn it into a winner that succeeds in combining Brian Wilson’s sugar-coated melodies with the hooks of (surprise!) The Cars and the simple muscularity of 70’s Kiss. Not all the songs on the album are as impressive, though, as I’ve really grown tired of the silly “Undone - The Sweater Song” and never really got into the mediocre “Holiday.” That’s why I gave it an 8, of course: it has its share of really excellent tracks, which are kinda balanced by lesser ones, which can be quite enjoyable at times, like “In the Garage,” with its kitschy guitar/harmonica-intro and so uncool-it-becomes-cool-namedropping (Ace Frehley!!). A special mention also goes to the lengthy album closer “Only in Dreams,” which seems to be disliked, even among Weezer-fans (what do you call those people, then? Über-geeks?), but I thought it was a delicious track about the appeal of falling in love, the unavoidable disappointments that come with it, ah let’s just call it the pains of growing up. Anyway, if you’re into sophisticated art-pop with world music-leanings that wants to make philosophical statements about the here and now, this might not be your cup of jasmine tea, but if you’re just on the lookout for a big portion of fun (consider broken hearts as ‘fun’ for a second, will ya), this is exactly what you’re looking for. |
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Pinkerton ( 1996 )7.5 Tired of Sex / Getchoo / No Other One / Why Bother? / Across the Sea / The Good Life / El Scorcho / Pink Triangle / Falling for You / Butterfly They’re baaaaaack. And how. From the first few seconds of “Tired of Sex” on, it becomes clear that this incarnation of Weezer is louder and noisier. Blame it on the very loud drums (that made me think that Steve Albini had produced the album, just compare it to the Pixies’ Surfer Rosa, for instance), and the more distorted guitars. I guess their image as the next sunny pop band bothered them a bit, and they wanted to make up for that. On the other hand, it’s also often regarded as Cuomo’s “pain album,” his little triumph, where he deals with all the personal demons that had been haunting him since the debut. Indeed, Pinkerton seems a lot less joyful and optimistic than the debut. Whereas Weezer also had its share of self-doubt and disappointments, this Pinkerton directly deals with loss, rejection and the inability of maintaining steady relationships. |
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Luckily, Cuomo still infests the songs (even the ones with the clearest defeatist feel to them) with a healthy dose of self-deprecating humor, like “Tired of Sex”: “Monday night I’m makin’ Jen, Tuesday night I’m makin’ Lyn, Wednesday night I’m makin’ Catherine, oh why can’t I be makin’ love come true?” More emotional and jarring than anything on the blue album (if you think about it, this one should have been called ‘the blue one’), “Getchoo” benefits immensely from that fat bass sound and those cool-sounding guitars (man, I really thought the Butthole Surfer’s Paul Leary was participating there), while Cuomo delivers one of his best vocal performances, putting an edge and intensity in the song that really lifts the song to a higher level. The remainder of the album is a bit of a hit-or-miss affair, though the momentum is never really lost. “Why Bother?” comes across as your average punk-rock song (the harmless and joyful sing-along-kind, bred in the sunny valleys of the Orange State), so I wouldn’t care if this song suddenly disappeared from the record, but luckily it’s made up for by “Across the Sea,” a song in which Cuomo declares his fascination for 18 year old Japanese fans whoask him about his hobbies and favourite food The song has a chorus as infectious as a neighing horse (“I’ve got your letter, you’ve got my song”). It goes on a bit too long, but a decent reward comes in the way of “The Good Life,” which is stupidly poppy, has a great pumping bounce to it, some damn fine guitar parts, and a few short sections at the end that betray the band’s talent. I think “El Scorcho” was this album’s (first) single, but it made never any impact around here, and for understandable reasons too: although it boasts a nifty repetitive guitar lick that would have fit very well on any G. Love & the Special Sauce-album (maybe also because of the semi-rapping delivery of Cuomo), it’s a bit of a drag, despite the punk-acceleration in the mid-section of the song. “Pink Triangle” is – *drumrolls* - another song about bad luck women: “I’m dumb, she’s a lesbian, I thought I had found the one, if everyone’s a little queer, can’t she be a little straight?”. The nonsensical “Falling for You” (“Holy sweet goddamn! You left your cello in the basement!”) leads the way to the acoustic album-closer, “Butterfly,” which is a decent track, but definitely not an album highlight. So, Pinkerton is an album that, despite the fact that it doesn’t have the abundance of hooks the debut had, proved that Weezer wouldn’t hold on to exactly the same formula. Well, it’s not really a departure either, but the approach is different, and certainly intriguing. I can’t really understand how this album is supposed to have triggered an entire new (sub-)genre, and on the other hand I haven’t figured out why Rolling Stone called this ‘the worst album of 1996’, either. Maybe it’s just because they know crap about music? Pinkerton isn’t an encompassing revelatory statement designed to rival the kaleidoscopic masterpieces of Hootie & the Blowfish, but it’s fun, just like the previous one. |
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Weezer (Green Album) ( 2001 )7 Don’t Let Go / Photograph / Hash Pipe / Island in the Sun / Crab / Knock-Down Drag-Out / Smile / Simple Pages / Glorious Day / O Girlfriend 28:34. Twenty-eight minutes and thirty-four seconds. That’s how long the third Weezer album is. The second album (34:36) was released five (5) years earlier. So you could argue that Cuomo & Co. have written an average of 5:45 a year, and that means about thirty seconds a month … whoopsadaisy! But hey, what am I complaining about? My name isn’t Jonas, plus I’m one of those people who rather has one short album every five years than an overlong album each year, because nothing beats a short and crispy album. I’m probably wrong, too. I guess they must have been sitting on their rich behinds and composed the album quickly in the month before the recording session. Anyway, the result is, in many ways, The Blue Album Revisited: similar cover (photo, lettering, geekiness), same amount of songs (10), same producer (Ric “how did I ever wind up producin’ Bad Brains?” Ocasek), same style (Weezer-style). That means the band has left behind the more grating atmosphere and distorted sound of the previous album. In fact, it’s been often said that Cuomo regretted that move, and I don’t know why, as in several aspects, Pinkerton was a damn fine album that showed the band wasn’t necessarily your faceless sunny pop band, and that Cuomo could hold his own as a songwriter. But The Green Album is another party album, a short and fresh batch of songs that’’ll have you drive around with the windows down, even in January. |
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It starts off well with “Don’t let Go,” a short slice of California sunshine that proves surf rock isn’t dead yet. In fact, it’s more alive than David Lee Roth with a cantaloupe on his head on Malibu Beach. Next up is “Photograph,” the first of the album’s triumvirate. With its slightly ridiculous falsetto backing vocals, handclaps and overall nonsensical atmosphere, it more than once reminds of the debut’s “Buddy Holly,” and that’s a compliment. Something completely different, but also one of the best songs they ever pulled off, is “Hash Pipe.” Driven by a heavy metal riff, another inane vocal performance, and a muscular chorus, it’s one of those songs that only Weezer could do, having the right combination of accessible melody and crunchy guitars, of macho posturing and frat boy silliness. The song completing the short row of great stuff is “Island in the Sun,” an easily accessible cut of sun-drenched pop, with a few typical details (“Hip hip?”), that has the word “catchy” all over it, in CAPITALS. If I had to decide I wouldn’t even have included the louder parts in the song (because they kinda bothered me the first few times), but my last name isn’t Cuomo. The rest of the album doesn’t succeed in reaching the same level, but some of them are still worthy contenders nevertheless. “Crab,” for instance, has some great use of vocal harmonies and fuzzy guitars, while the sugar-coated “Glorious Day” has, besides a first-class melody, some semi-call-and-response-vocals that are used to great effect in this song. When you listen to the album and its unashamedly pop aspirations, it almost makes you feel guilty for liking it, but luckily I can still decide for myself what’s correct or not. I know that I like songs like “Smile” and “O Girlfriend,” despite the fact that they, like good children, follow the familiar Weezer-formula. The only songs that weren’t up to the standard, in my opinion, were “Knock-Down Drag-Out,” which sounded a bit too generic (making it sound like a song by the lesser competition), and “Glorious Day,” which is a weaker version of “Photograph.” But overall, Weezer is a satisfying effort. The Green Album is very similar to the debut, but it just doesn’t have the same amount of good ideas and songs. And yes, the boys did stick to the formula, but like many bands before them (Ramones, Motorhead, Bad Religion, AC/DC,…) they seem to have a formula that fits them (and only Weezer can make loud nerd-rock like this, right?), and what’s wrong with that? Weezer is okay. (Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that this album was recorded with a new bass player, Mikey Welsh, who replaced Matt Sharp.) |
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