Weezer (Blue Album)

Weezer | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 10, 1994)
• Original Release Date: May 10, 1994
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Geffen Records
• ASIN: B000003TAW
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (582 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,807 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #4 in Music > Alternative Rock > Hardcore & Punk > Punk-Pop
  • #5 in Music > Alternative Rock > Hardcore & Punk > Emo

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

There's a classic episode of The Little Rascals where one of the gang can't join everybody else on the ballfield because he has to stay home with his younger brother, who has the croup. "I can't come out and play," he whines. "I've got to stay home and grease Wheezer!" Nobody at Geffen Records knows whether this was the inspiration in naming Weezer, but it makes sense. Like many of their peers, the members of the Los Angeles quartet seem to have spent their formative years in front of the TV; when they were a little older, they were just as entranced by college rock. Finally, ala the Rascals, one of the gang said, "Hey, kids, let's put on a show!," and the result is Weezer's uplifting, unpretentious, and extremely endearing debut.

The self-titled Weezer is lean and mean at 10 short, punchy tunes, but nearly every one is powered by a larger-than-life chorus or a simple but effective lyric. "Undone-The Sweater Song" uses an unraveling sweater as a metaphor for a relationship on the rocks; "Buddy Holly" pays heartfelt tribute to the '50s rocker, and "In the Garage" paints a scene of suburban teens jamming while surrounded by posters of Kiss. Producer Ric Ocasek of Cars fame pushes the vocals and rhythm guitars, and this bare-bones approach may earn comparisons to fellow garage-pop band Green Day. But Weezer has more in common with the late, lamented Big Dipper, another group of slacker wiseguys that you just had to love. --Jim DeRogatis

Product Description

STANDARD EDITION : Debut 1994 album! Produced by Ric Ocasek from The Cars. Includes "Undone - The Sweater Song" ; "Buddy Holly" and "Say It Ain't So".

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

122 of 133 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Left quite an impression on me... May 11, 2001

By Knyte VINE™ VOICE

Format:Audio CD

As someone who is more of a Pop/R&B and hip hop fan, I'm going to go out on a limb and throw in my two cents for this album. Here it goes...

Back in 1994, I went through an "alternative" phase. I found myself enjoying music by the Smashing Pumpkins, Stone Temple Pilots (especially), Live, and some random singles here and there (like Candlebox and Collective Soul). Near the end of my phase, I heard a new song debut on a San Francisco radio station (Live 105) one August morning, and it was called "Undone/The Sweater Song". I Loved it. Immediately, I took note, and kept my eyes and ears open for more Weezer material...

Next came "Buddy Holly". The song was ridiculously catchy, and it sounded nothing like "Undone" (hey...variety!) and the Spike Jonze clip for the song was definitely fun to watch. I immediately borrowed the album from one of my friends at school. I was simply amazed at how consistently good Weezer's album was; absolutely no filler tracks whatsoever - at least in my opinion.

The songs that I still enjoy to this day (despite the fact that my alternative/rock phase is over) are "The World Has Turned And Left Me Here", all three of their singles ("Undone", "Buddy Holly", "Say It Ain't So"), "Holiday" (my absolute favorite song on the album) and "Only In Dreams" (what a long, yet perfect song...)

I guess the reason why I wrote this review is because...to me, really good music has the ability to leap out of its respective genre and attract just about anyone with an open mind, and an open ear. I'm very much looking forward to hearing Weezer's new material; by all accounts it's more of the melodic, sing-songy material that made this album such a classic.

Thanks for reading.

Knyte.

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Awakens Ancient Feelings August 5, 2000

By "rockefella"

Format:Audio CD

It was back in 5th grade when I had first started my ventures into music past Disney tunes. Weezer's self-titled debut was one of my introductions next to other albums of the time "Nevermind" by Nirvana, "Dookie" by Green Day, and "The Downward Spiral" by Nine Inch Nails. While all of the three aforementioned albums were very big influences on me musically and emotionally, none of them hit closer to home than Weezer. I must have moved on to other music and Weezer began to collect dust and was lost. Now upon entering 12th grade, the entire musical scene has changed, and I've been through a lot more music that has influenced me - OK Computer by Radiohead, Rid of Me by PJ Harvey, Post by Bjork, Dig Me Out by Sleater-Kinney, and others. Yet a small article about Rivers Cuomo, the lead singer of Weezer brought everything flooding back. I immediately went out and purchased another copy of Weezer. And now I can finally say this album is timeless. It'll always remind me of those lazy humid summer days me and my friends spent strumming on old acoustic guitars while watching Monty Python and arguing over Advanced Dungeons and Dragons rules. "The World Has Turned and Left Me Here" reflects those alienated times, when we felt the world was against us - stuck in the dredges of suburbia. While I've kind of outgrown those feelings, the song is still a beautiful display of yearning. "Buddy Holly" with its charming "ooh-oohs" was one of those songs that left us humming and tapping our feet. And "Undone-The Sweater Song" with its ambient guitar beginning, voices streaming in and out of the conscious is absolutely brilliant with its short phrasings. "Say It Ain't So" was our geeky anthem of despair and lonelieness. We practically thought "In The Garage" was written for us. Cynical and self-depreciating, Weezer writes witty songs with an amazing pop sensibility. This is one of those albums that I will always hold close to heart because it basically represents my childhood in a way. Weezer is one of those albums that will take a long time to manifest itself as a timeless classic.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Back in 1994 November 5, 2004

By Raskolnikov

Format:Audio CD

When Weezer released the Blue Album back in 1994, Geffen only shipped 13 000 copies because they thought the album wouldn't be a big seller since almost no publicity was made for it. Rivers Cuomo and Matt Sharp even wrote a list of persons who would surely buy the album, and the list came up to more or less a hundred persons. They sold 90 copies in the first week... But after Undone was released as a single, the album sold all the copies that were in shops, and in the end they ended up selling 3 million copies of the album. The Blue Album became a classic, and then years later, here comes this deluxe re-release.

A lot of people are not sure wether they should buy it or not. I have to admit that it's really expensive, especially in Canada. At first I decided that I wouldn't buy it, since almost every Deluxe Edition is dissapointing (see the Velvet Underground and Nico...). But a friend gave it to me for my birthday (thanks to him) and I was really surprised by what I saw (and heard). First, the packaging. It's absolutely beautiful. It contains rare and beautiful pictures of the band, which are spread through the packaging itself and inside the 30 pages booklet. The booklet contains pictures of the band, hand-written lyrics to the songs of cd 1 and 2, a story written by Todd Sullivan about how he discovered the band and got them signed and finally detailed notes about all the b-sides featured in the second cd. The only thing that was a bit dissapointing about the booklet is that the pictures are sometimes too small and the lyrics to "I swear it's true" and "Paperface" are missing, for some reason.

There is not much to say about the Blue Album. Everyone knows it's a masterpiece. So let's talk about the second cd. It contains b-sides, live tracks, demos and unreleased songs from the Blue Album era. Some of the songs can be found on compilations, soundtracks or from the Internet, but it's nice to have them all on one cd with a slightly better sound quality. Listening to this cd from the beginning to the end seems to give the impression that you understand the Blue Album even better now. It's really, really interesting, and some of the songs are actually really good (see "No one else" acoustic version, "Paperface" and "Mykel and Carli"). The only "bad" thing about the second cd is the original album mix of "Say it ain't so", which is almost identical to the version we all know. But it's interesting to see the band "stripped down" on the Kitchen Tapes recordings.

You should buy this cd. It's really a trip through the musical world of Weezer and it brings you back in 1994 in a very strange way. I know it's expensive, but it totally worths the money. Once again, Weezer as delivered quality material.