Weezer (Red Album) (Deluxe)

I'm going to start by confessing that I barely had my first listen a month ago and have only listened to it a total of three times. But trust me when I say I can distinguished an average album from an outstanding one. This, of course, is an outstanding one. Right from my very first listen, this album skyrocketed into my sphere of all-time favorite. This album stands tall among the 90's best. It stacks up high next to "OK Computer" and "Nevermind". And when talking about the best debut albums, it holds just as much accolade.

But what makes it so special? Charm. Charm is something many albums seemed to lack in it's period and that time's smog of grunge and over-seriousness. These songs aren't metaphors for drug use or sour relationships. They talk about being comfortable, playing D&D in your garage, and saying to hell with the traffic of life, just ride the waves. It has off vocal phrasing, cheesy lyrics, and just look at that cover. Just look at it. But these things serve to bring a smile upon your face, bring out the nonconformity to it's contemporaries, what made the music so special.

The most impressive thing about this masterpiece is it's complete lack of filler. There are very few albums that I have listened to where I can honestly say that each piece is just as good as the whole. But this one's different. Every song on here is absolutely incredible. If I were to review each separate track, they would all get five stars, expect for "Undone -- The Sweater Song" and "Only In Dream" for which I might reserve six stars. But reviewing each song would eliminate a key aspect of the product, this is a whole album. What I can say is that these jigsaws fit to make a beautiful picture. Each song flows into the other perfectly.

When re-listening to this for it's 20th anniversary (and I'll admit, I wasn't even around for it's first release), I realized just how important this was to music. It was released just three weeks after the death of Kurt Cobain and it shifted gears for the direction of musical tones in the industry. But beyond that, I was just blown away by how great an album can be. To me, this is the "Doolittle", "Ziggy Stardust", or "Velvet Underground & Nico" of the 90's: an album that strays away from the successful routines of its peers and manages to lives its own ways, different and eventually remembered as legendary. I haven't been this blown away by a group and record since The Band's "Music From Big Pink". And then I heard their sophomore effort "Pinkerton" is even better. Screw waiting another two years to celebrate that one's 20 years, I'm getting it as soon as I get a spare $10.

this was the first album I had bought. It was the third album in my beginning record collection. It was my introduction to the 90s alternative rock scene. This album was my introduction to weezer. I remember this bands name popping up after I watched a youtube video about the top ten alternative rock bands of the 1990s. I ended up listening to a few songs off the album, mainly the hits, and I was instantly hooked. Eventually, I decided to buy the album. Weezer is just a band that connects to me on a very simple level. This album is categorized by pure rawness and sincerity. The instrumentation isn't profound, but it doesn't need to be. The album has a very garage rock sound with banging drums and ripping guitar with some nice hooks. One of the best parts about the album is just how sincere is feels on every level. Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo shows off how geeky and awkward this band is in some cases. I connect to that and I just love it. Rivers isn't a poet; he just sings what he feels because he can't any other way. He just tells you how it is. This lets you know that the album means just as much to the band as it does to the listener. this album's hits: buddy holly, the sweater song, and say it aint so are staples of the band and are just awesome songs. The lyrical content with these range from the fact that rivers looks like buddy holly to going insane to talking about some seriously dark subject matter. Every song is just sincere, unique, and recognizable. My personal favorites: in the garage (I just feel like I can relate to it), my name is Jonas (it is an awesome opener and is just rocking), surf was America ( I just love the riff and it is about surfing!) and only in dreams (you'll just have to listen to that one). This album is just legendary and although weezer has gone through many ups and downs in their musical career; this album makes sure that their legacy is never tainted.

I'm not gonna dissect each song and say which ones are better than the others because I'm lazy but if given the choice you should buy the deluxe version over the standard. This album has an obvious split in it, as the first 6 tracks are the standard Rivers Cuomo made Weezer songs, then 7-9 are those made by Brian, Scott, and Pat. The 10th track goes back to Rivers, and it's a fantastic closer for the standard album. I was a little worried about the other band members making songs, but they turned out ok. I really like King now and Automatic is a solid song, but Thought I Knew and Cold Dark World are pretty weak. I blame the producers for using that version of Thought I Knew, but whatever. The audio preview of Miss Sweeney doesn't show how amazing the song is, it's the best song on the deluxe album and the best song to come out of Weezer since Pinkerton. That song alone makes the deluxe version worth getting, plus the other 3 songs are quite awesome too. So if you're a fan of Weezer, either casual or hardcore, this is a must own album. Oh and look out for Alone II, being released on November 25th, it's gonna be sweet!