Weezer’s new album (The Red Album) is good, different; however still not the “old” Weezer

Weezer

Weezer (The Red Album)

Track Listing
01. Troublemaker
02. The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn)
03. Pork and Beans
04. Heart Songs
05. Everybody Get Dangerous
06. Dreamin
07. Thought I Knew
08. Cold Dark World
09. Automatic
10. The Angel and the One

Since the 1996 release of Pinkerton, Weezer has struggled to revive the magic they once knew. The new, self-titled album, also proclaimed “The Red Album,” is another attempt from the band to recreate that old “Weezer,” magic. For the first time in their known existence as a band, this album has input from the entire band; and not just with writing, but with singing as well.

I’m not gonna lie, before I even gave this CD a listen, I figured all the tracks would sound the same. After hearing one song, Pork and Beans, I thought “here we go again,” and expected 10 tracks that sounded similar to their last hit, Beverly Hills. I expected a CD of decent and catchy tunes that everybody would be sick of within a few months.

However, the new album wasn’t entirely what I expected. Each song has a different sound and different feel. In fact, this album is bizarre, and not entirely the Rock album I thought it would be. To be honest, this album is filled with pop and even rap. It has an action rock/pop kind of feel at times. Weezer certainly went out of the box on this one, and their unorthodox writing on this album works, but sometimes gets confusing and weird.

The Greatest Man That Ever Lived has to be one of the most bizarre songs I have heard in a while, but all the while it is definitely a Weezer song. This song is a convulsive, rollercoaster of a song that is all over the place in a matter of 6 minutes and 6 or so movements.

Personally, I enjoy the album, but it is nothing to write home about. Pork and Beans is obviously a track put on the album to emulate Weezer of old, and is certainly designed by the record label to be their “hit-single.” The fact is, without this song, there really isn’t anything that would put this album on the charts other than the name of the band. Now that isn’t saying that the other songs aren’t any good, they just aren’t billboard/MTV material.

Overall: 7.7/10

If you’re a Weezer fan, or like this genre of music, then you will like this album. It’s worth checking out, and depending on your taste it is worth buying. Don’t listen to Pork and Beans and expect an album filled with catchy songs similar to that (like I initially did). The album may not compare to the mid-nineties albums, but it isn’t like their last few albums that searched and searched for the glory that Weezer once knew. On that note, this album is good, but not the album Weezer was hoping to create with intentions to put them back in the mainstream.