Customer Reviews

Weezer (Green Album)

5 star:		(280)
4 star:		(199)
3 star:		(104)
2 star:		(67)
1 star:		(61)

 

 

Some reviewers have expressed a measure of ambivalence about this new Weezer album, and understandably so: it downplays some of the things the band's audience has come to expect and treasure.

Weezer's first record was a kind of dream come true for a certain type of bespectacled nerd--- the sort who plays Dungeons & Dragons, reads comic books, and worships Kiss (the band whose emboldening machismo is only complemented, for such listeners, by a makeup job worthy of the X-Men). For a legion of these dispossessed and marginalized geeks, "In the Garage" was an anthem, and "Only in Dreams," "Buddy Holly," and "Undone" were catchy love songs that spoke to their eccentricities.

"Pinkerton," with a raw sound that aped, according to Rivers Cuomo, the Steve Albini recording style, was a different expression of love, but it was aimed squarely at the same audience. The comic book-reading, Kiss-loving D&D player is often characterized by morbid sensitivity: for such a person (I speak from experience), love provides an idealized exaltation, and is worth clinging to and preserving at all costs, but when it goes sour (as it always does), it creates the kind of hurt that endures, that scars permanently. "Pinkerton," by comparison to the debut, was a cut nerve; it was a hypersensitive adolescent's cry of pain at lost love. With its bitterness ("Why Bother?"), its fantasies of unreal and childlike love objects in galaxies far, far away ("Across the Sea") and its tearful tales of clinging to love even when it is unhealthy to do so ("No Other One"), the record's bombastic evocations of loss hit home with anyone for whom the loss of a love was a vision of the Apocalypse. Like the debut, in other words, it was an expression of the feelings of a certain very specific demographic---only it was generally sad, while the other was generally ebullient.

None of this is meant to insult Weezer's accomplishment: both records were and are wonderful, and could locate the geek in anyone who listened without prejudice. One need not play D&D oneself to empathize with someone who does, or to be moved by the strange innocence and vulnerability Rivers Cuomo projected.

Now the NEW record retains these qualities, but expresses them far less lugubriously. "Island in the Sun" is a more plain-spoken version of the fantasy offered by the debut's "Holiday"; "O Girlfriend" is a soft-spoken and beautiful lost-love plaint that trades in the fire-and-brimstone hysterics of "Pinkerton" for a simple and poignant expression of human loss. The songs, meanwhile, are streamlined, short, and focused, produced for maximum physical force by Ric Ocasek. The record packs a sonic punch, and gets from start to finish quickly. Complaints about its brevity are misplaced; the point of a great pop record is drop a flurry of hooks in rapid succession and leave the listener wanting more. The new Weezer record does just this. In short, it offers less idiosyncratic and individualized portraiture of geek culture, and more pure pop sense. Consequently, it will hit a larger audience and be embraced by those who were somehow put off by all the nerdiness of earlier albums. But it still adumbrates enough nerdy despair to remind the nerds that Rivers is one of them, and that he understands them.

The reviewer who mentioned the early Beatles was smart to do so, but wrong to say that early Beatles records are characterized by filler (filler? where?). Early Beatles records were full of hits, but some were sleepers, while some stopped time the moment they were first heard. Weezer's new record is a more modest echo of such an achievement. Some of its songs, like "Photograph" and "O Girlfriend," will strike the listener right away. The others will sink in sooner or later. Terrific record. Go buy it.

Six years. Ten songs. An album whose entire length is 28:29? Say it ain't so, Weezer?

Truthfully, these tunes are excellent. In terms of pretty, catchy, guitar-griven pop songs, few have crafted better tunes than the boys from Weezer do here. At ten songs and 28 minutes, the album is quite short, but packs more hooks than some albums twice its length.

Pick a track, listen well, and enjoy. Tunes like "Don't Let Go", "Hash Pipe", and "Knock-down Drag-out" start out rocking and don't let up, and tracks which start more subdued like "Simple Pages", "Glorious Days", "Island in the Sun" and "O Girlfriend" eventually arrive there too with soaring, simple but memorable guitar solos and impeccable hooks. It's not rocket science, it's rock and roll, and Weezer has mastered the craft of catchy song-writing on this record as well as anyone.

This record seems out of place in the age of boy bands, self-involved rap rock, and standard corporate rock. It feels more of a throwback than anything with melodies that recall the Beatles or Buddy Holly (if they drenched their songs in distortion and feedback).

Definitely a stellar recording in a summer that has brought forth outstanding efforts from Tool, Stone Temple Pilots, and others, Weezer's latest demands to be heard. Easily among the best albums of the year.

Weezer return after five years. I disagree with the band claiming the record is somewhere "between Pinkterton and the blue album", though I wish it were true. Production-wise, it's extremely sharp, very similar to the blue album. Musically, the songs on the green album are half as complex (as Pinkterton, at least). The solos (almost all of them) are simply the vocal melody churned out on guitar. Rivers can shred on guitar, but he totally opted not to on this album. Lyrically, it seems practically without meaning. Considering it's Weezer, and their prior song topics and lyrics, this album is weak by comparison. Not that they are BAD lyrics, they are simply pop lyrics. (Rivers himself is quoted saying that "the lyrics suck"...) HOWEVER... despite all of this, you're still left with an amazingly infectious power pop rock album that I don't think should disappoint many people. It's not groundbreaking, but it's just good rockin music that few bands create like this.

Nobody loved "Weezer" and "Pinkerton" more than me, and that's why I can say wholeheartedly that "Green" (or whatever we're supposed to call it) sounds like a bunch of dumb kids imitating Weezer. It has none of the intelligence, imagination, and wry wit of their first two albums. In fact, all it does have is Rivers Cuomo's reedy voice and the wall of guitars. Where are the riveting guitar leads? The neck-snapping shifts in dynamics? The delicate guitar intros and intervals? The intricate vocal arrangements and harmonies? And most of all, the sincerity, the warmth, and the passion?

Green leaves me cold. Light and poppy, with no guts at all. Serious Weezer fans may as well pass this one up and wait until Cuomo starts getting serious about his songwriting again, and stops worrying so much about what his fans think. Teen angst. Get over it.

Although I like the new Weezer album entitled "weezer", (which is the best name by the way), I must say that it sounds a little sweet for me.....letting Ric Ocasek produce an album can only achieve one goal-it will definately sound "poppy". For any of you who love Guided by Voices-and I am a huge fan, you can relate to what I'm saying via the "Do the Collapse" album that Ocasek produced in 1999. I wish that guy would stay away from every band I listen to. He's a masterful producer, but tends to try to turn all bands into top 40 sound. Anyway, I like the album and am I weezer fan, all fans should and probably do have the album. Don't expect Pinkerton or even the Blue album, but you'll like it.

Am I the only person who thought Pinkerton was the Best Ever?

Weezer had taken a hiatus after their masterful second album, Pinkerton. That album was much harsher than their HUGELY successful debut. This comeback effort is more in the power-pop mold, and despite what the "cool" hipsters think, that's a good thing. This is a fun record, with a sunny sound that stands out from today's sludge of generic woe-is-me bands. The songs are there, the vocal melodies are great and the lyrics are cool (as River's always makes sure they are). The formulaic guitar solos are the only slight knock on this album, but they're not BAD, just not too original; they basically play the vocal melody over again. Hash Pipe and Island In the Sun were the hits, but O Girlfriend, Glorious Day, Photograph are all great too. This album top to bottom is awesome, a huge step on the way back for the Weez. Don't believe the hype and feel the summer love!

It took a while, but I finally understand what Weezer was getting at with the Green Album.

Its a total parody of the Blue Album.

Yes, I said a parody.

Think about it, virtually identical cover, same title, same production, same amount of songs... What really tipped me off, though, was that every single song has a solo, and every single solo is a note for note shadow of the vocal melody. Sometimes to the point of only being two or three notes.

I can't think of any other explanation. It sounds like an entire album doing a mock imitation of Weezer's Blue album. Its Weezer making fun of how generic their own music was on the Blue album.

Which is hilarious, honestly. I mean, if any other band put out the Green album, they'd be hailed as genius satirists. Weezer actually does it, and NO ONE gets it. They completely miss the straight faced sarcasm, and for some reason undyingly praise what sounds like 10 songs that were written and arranged in 10 minutes.

Just so funny...

The actual album is okay, but as I said before its super generic. The lyics, the chord changes, the melodies. Its all pleasant enough ("Island in the Sun" in particular is quite enjoyable), but it lacks any and all ambition or creative thought.

And thats EXACTLY the point. Too bad virtually everyone missed the joke.

...but I can't help but feel there's quite a bit missing here. The Blue Album came out when I was in middle school, and I got drawn to it for the catchy-as-hell melodies and the generally uplifting feel of songs like "The Sweater Song" and "In The Garage" - I ended up loving the album because there was more to it than just the pop. Pinkerton, on the other hand, drew me further in with a combination of the same great sense of melody and harmony and the more intense, emotionally stirring lyrics. This album, on the other hand, seems lacking in both departments. The riffs aren't really catchy - the only songs that stick with me much at all are "Don't Let Go" and "Crab" - and the lyrics don't have nearly the impact because, apparently, Cuomo was wounded by the indifferent-to-cruel reception that Pinkerton got. Seems a little cowardly, then, to backtrack into the relatively pointless subject material found here. All I'm really left with is a dissatisfied and disappointed feeling, and I hardly even want to go back to the older stuff because I can't help but be reminded, listening to the brutal honesty of Pinkerton, that Cuomo couldn't handle it, and ultimately kinda gave up: the honesty and raw openness I valued so much in Pinkerton, it seems, is regarded by its author as a mistake. I can't respect that.

And, honestly, "Hash Pipe"? Give me a break.

But I *do* like the song "Don't Let Go" quite a bit, if only 'cause of the catchy chorus, hence the second star.

If you have never heard weezer's first two albums, DO NOT BUY THIS ALBUM! i have been listening to weezer a long time and "the blue album" and "pinkerton" are way better than this. Yes, the green album is way better compared to other artists. I thought that after track 4 (island in the sun,) the songs sounded the same. Pinkerton is my favorite album because it has awesome bass, guitar, and drums. the emotion is great and the album is better each time you listen to it. If you are a first time listener, i reccomend you buy the cd's in the order they were released. First buy the blue album then pinkerton. you will appreciate weezer more for the great band that they are. I find that Rivers Cuomo's song writing was too formulated on the green album.

to sum it all up, the first two albums are better than the green album.

First off, you cannot enjoy this album if you are too worried about it being able to live up to the Blue Album. This CD is a great progression for the band, mostly in the lyrics. Not as "geek-ish" as The Blue Album and not nearly as "techno-ish" as Pinkerton, The Green Album offers up 28 minutes of up-beat, self defying songs. Sure, the CD is really short, and that alone kind of made me wanting more by the end of my first listen, but after the second listen, you will be hooked. All the songs on here are perfect. "Photograph" is my favorite song, a song Rivers wrote about all of his failed relationships and about how to do things on his own, rather than depending on someone else, and that is pretty much the basis of this whole album. It isn't shy or awkward, instead, this album is fully self-aware and is brimming with confidence. The most noteworthy moments are Photograph, Don't Let Go, Glorious Day, Crab and Island in the Sun. Please, try to enjoy this album. There aren't many great bands left these days and the music scene seems to get worse every year. Cherish this album, because you know in 5 years nothing will compare to it.