Weezer – The Red Album – music review

Artist: Weezer

Title: The Red Album

Label: Geffen

Rating: 6/10

Corporate line:
For the third time in its six-album history, Weezer will release a self-titled album through DGC/Interscope Records. To distinguish it from the other eponymous albums, it’s being referred by people as “The Red Album.” There are now no more primary colors to describe Weezer albums having exhausted blue and green previously. Comprised of sessions produced by Rick Rubin, Jacknife Lee and the band itself, the album is adventurous and undeniable Weezer pop-rock. The first single, the quirky and catchy “Pork and Beans,” was recorded under the watch of the Irishman Lee and will soon be a Weezer classic.

Great albums are culminations of the past with an eye to the future, and the Red Album has parts “Blue Album,” “Pinkerton,” and forges new territory with all four members taking turns singing lead. The Red Album is the rarest of modern music combinations: being both immediate and having the quality of growing better upon each subsequent listen.

The hits:
“Pork and Beans” – When you talk about classic Weezer this is it. Big, catchy hook and rocks from beginning to end. Too bad every song wasn’t this good.
“The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn)” – Even though it has moments when it could have gone either way, Rivers pulls it out anddelivers.

The rest:
“Troublemaker” – It has all the elements of a Weezer song with its bad-ass geekiness ala Napoleon Dynamite–but it lacks the big hook.
“Heart Songs” – Why Rivers wasted such a beautiful instrumentation to do nothing but list his favorite bands is beyond me. What a waste of time.
“Everybody Get Dangerous” – Maybe it’s only me–but doesn’t this sound like Everclear? And no, that’s not a good thing.
“Thought I Knew” – Why Rivers handed off the vocals to guitarist Brian Bell is beyond me. It sounds like a bad Fastball track.
“The Angel and the One” – Forgettable.

Finally:
A Weezer album always has lots of anticipation. But this one sounds too cool for school again. There is a lot that seems pretentious from tracks like “Troublemaker” to another self-titled album. If Weezer could just stick to their catchy rock tracks like “Pork and Beans” all would be good. But sadly its not.

Watch the video for “Pork and Beans”