Band:	Weezer
Album:	The Red Album

It has been a long three years, since their last full length release and even longer since their last “color” release. If you ask me, that’s about two and a half years too long. But I suppose if you decide to take a break from your multi-platinum band to go finish your Harvard degree…

When “Make Believe” came out I listened to it straight through many times, and this album was no different.  The so called, “Red Album” is hard to gauge on the first listen, but starts to make sense after the second and third time through. The album starts with the track “Troublemaker”. It is a classic Weezer song, up-tempo pop rock song that is infectiously catchy and only about 2:45 long.

But the second track, “The Greatest Man that Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn), is where the album gets confusing. Personally, I love the song, but I can see a lot of Weezer fans thinking the opposite. You can really hear the influence of Rick Rueben as the song starts with a simple piano riff, followed by a very hip-hop style drum beat and singing. The song also has the theme of your typical hip-hop song, being the greatest and wreaking havoc on anyone who disagrees. And then it makes a left turn. I knew Rivers had mentioned they were working with different song structures and lengths, well all of them were apparently in this song. There is no verse, per se, or chorus either. It just keeps changing. It changes styles. It changes tempos. It changes vocal phrasing. Oh and did I mention, it is nearly six minutes long.

Track 3, “Pork and Beans” is the first single. You may have watched the video in my previous post naming Weezer my “Band of the Week”. It is another classic Weezer song. It is quirky, funny, and catchy. This track is also short, only around 3:00 and it follows pretty closely the verse-chorus format they are famous for. It’s kind of funny that tracks 1 and 3, the only two songs that really have what you would call a “typical Weezer” sound were recorded at the request of their label, claiming there were no singles.

Again, you can feel the influence of Rick Rueben on the track “Heart Songs”. There is almost a clear divide in the album where Rueben produced (tracks 2, 4, 5, 6, and 10), the tracks Weezer produced themselves (tracks 7, 8, and 9), and the tracks Jacknife Lee produced (tracks 1 and 3). The lyrical “flow” is almost hip-hop-esque on most of Rueben’s songs, especially “Heart Songs”. The subject matter is that of a hip-hop song as well, its basically a shout-out to all of their influences. The song really showcases Rivers’ unique writing style and the skill he possesses as a lyricist. He could write a song about anything in any style and it still works.

“Everybody Get Dangerous” and “Dreamin’ ” are both Rueben produced tracks. “Get Dangerous” again has his feel on it, but “Dreamin’ ” I would say is the missing link between the old and new Weezer. It has that Beach Boy surf-pop-punk style that older songs feature.

The next several songs feature the other members of the band on lead vocals. “Thought I Knew” features Brian Bell on lead vocals, “Cold Dark World” features Scott Shriner on lead vocals and “Automatic” features Patrick Wilson. Although these songs are okay, they are definitely not the best on the album and lack that special quality that Rivers adds.

The standard edition wraps up with “The Angel and the One”. It is a great song. It is not in the style of their quirky and poppy singles, but people often ignore the slower more emotional songs that Weezer can write. Personally, I find this song one of the best on the album, yet it will probably never get the credit it deserves.

But any die hard fans will want to get the deluxe edition. It is more than worth it. The four additional tracks “Miss Sweeney”, “Pig”, “The Spider” and “King” are all worth the additional cost.

I think were this album suffers is the overall cohesiveness. As I mentioned there are clear divides in the album based on the producer. It is trying to be all things to all people and you can hear the conflict. Weezer wanted to branch out and write songs that were new and interesting to them, but the label wanted songs that were singles. Even though those songs were fun I think the album has a whole suffered because of it. I would have liked to have heard the original album before the label got a hold of it.

“Weezer (The Red Album)” - Tracklist
(*recommended tracks)

1. Troublemaker*
2. The 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. The Angel and the One*

Bonus Tracks

1. Miss Sweeney*
2. Pig*
3. The Spider*
4. King*

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