Weezer (Red Album) : Weezer : Review : Rolling Stone

What do Eddie Rabbitt, Slayer, Rick Astley, Terence Trent D'Arby and Rob Base have in common? Their hits are all shouted out in "Heart Songs," a ballad in which Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo pays loving homage to the chart-toppers of his youth. ("These are my heart songs/They never feel wrong," he coos.) Since 1994, Cuomo has been the reigning auteur-genius of power pop, but his musical fluency is wide-ranging, and on Weezer's sixth album he's determined to cram everything in. The album toggles maniacally between styles, climaxing with "The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn)," a satirical mini-epic that switches genres every eight bars, from hip-hop to mock-baroque choral music to Coldplay-esque falsetto balladeering.

Cuomo deploys this excess in the service of a time-honored theme: the midlife crisis. The nerd-boy angst that Weezer perfected with 1996's Pinkerton has spawned a whole generation of emo rockers, and Cuomo, closing in on 40, is clearly feeling his elder-statesmanship. ("I gotta be a big boy/I gotta pick up my toys," he sings in the barreling "Dreamin'.") He reminisces about his teenage high jinks, frets about the safety of his future children, and laments his expanding waistline and receding hairline. It's rich, often funny material, but in Cuomo's ambition to make a career-sweeping tour de force — telegraphed by the band's choice to return to estimable producer Rick Rubin — he badly overcooks the musical porridge, layering on overdubs, packing songs with key-change modulations and meandering instrumental codas, and generally refusing to hone and self-edit. Only the buoyant single "Pork and Beans," with its rousing singalong chorus and biting lines about hiring Timbaland to get back on the pop charts, has the rigor and punch of Weezer's best. It's the lone heart song in the bunch.

JODY ROSEN

(Posted: Jun 12, 2008)

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Review 1 of 22

3of 5 Stars

someone suggested that if u're a "true" weezer fan, u should not pick this cd up. does that make any sense to u? should we give such moronic thinking the authority to determine our actions by its clearly flawed standards? well, i'm happy to announce that i'm not a true weezer fan. weezer has always seemed to lean in and out of my sights over the years. but i AM a music fan and this album plays just fine. highs and lows like most any other album. what the fuck do u expect? a greatest hit compilation?

Sep 25, 2008 20:57:14

Review 2 of 22

2of 5 Stars

so disappointing

Aug 27, 2008 19:05:40

Review 3 of 22

5of 5 Stars

It's a real fun album to listen to. I enjoyed it more than make believe which was a pretty good all unto itself. BTW if anyone says that this doesn't sound like 1 of their first 2 albums then they should be shot in the head with a bb gun. I can't stand it when "fans" complain about an album sounding different/the same. Oh! And I'm convinced that whenever RS reviews an album, the fans feel the exact opposite of them. It's just something that I've noticed recently. Any way, the red album just takes a little while to get used to. I know at first it doesn't sound like "weezer". Whatever that means. TGTEL is such a cool song. It took me a few good listens to finally appreciate it but dang its awesome! The best part of this album is getting the 6 extra songs just by pre-ordering. The song that touched me the most is "Pig" I kept thinking of Babe the entire time among other things. The only complaint about the album was listening to "automatic". I tried my best to tolerate it but its just a horrible song. Other than that I ain't got no complaints. But know 1 thing, I'm king, I'm king, I'm king...

Jul 24, 2008 02:34:57

Review 4 of 22

4of 5 Stars

Before I heard any of this album, I read some reviews about it, because I was not too sure if I should even bother with Weezer anymore with the way it seemed the band was going (songs like Beverly Hills were made for the mainstream, and are very basic and bland). This album definitely was a great step for this band, pulling away from the bland songs from their previous 3 albums, and trying more daring material. Great stuff on this album! The weakest songs are the ones sang by the other members (though 'Automatic' is still pretty good). 'Dreamin' is an instant weezer classic. The Red Album, overall, is up there with Blue and Pinkerton as their best. Look forward to hearing future weezer albums as the band matures, as I believe this is the beginning of solidifying themselves as rock legends.

Jun 17, 2008 18:01:44

Review 5 of 22

3of 5 Stars

The album didn't quite match the hype and for that I have to say I am disappointed. If your a true Weezer fan you need to pick this up, just don't expect it to be their best album ever.

Jun 16, 2008 15:14:12

Review 6 of 22

4of 5 Stars

C'mon! This album has some great songs on it. Seriously. Don't pay too much attention to this review, find out for yourself. If you've been listening to Weezer since '94, and you've always liked them, then you need to listen to this album. It's amazing these guys are still able to kick out the jams so hard. Thanks Weezer, you keep rock alive. Don't stop.

Jun 13, 2008 23:25:48

Review 7 of 22

2of 5 Stars

i was actually kinda surprised some people thought this was really a four or five star album, when it's not. not even close. this is weezer's wors album by a mile, and i'm sorry but it's so erradict, so random and weird, but not in a cool or dorky fun weezer way. it's like they got really drunk and made a record. yes it's creative, i'll give u that, but it sounds like an album that if another no name band released it, it'd be trashed, but because it's weezer, it gets more room to breathe. sorry, this album isn't terrible, but it isn't good. just very very strange and very ok, sad since pork and beans gave so much promise for this album.

Jun 13, 2008 22:05:57

Review 8 of 22

5of 5 Stars

I have to disagree strongly with Jody Rosen. You say that one of the down sides to the album are that there are "key-change modulations and meandering instrumental codas." There are more modulations on "Pinkerton" than there are on this record, and there is more instrumental meandering on "Only in Dreams" than there is on this entire record. So what exactly are you talking about?

"Dreamin'" is Weezer's best song since the '90's and the entire first half of this record smokes. Sure it slows down when the other members of the band are allowed to write some songs. This is the album that Weezer fans have been waiting a decade for, they finally have broken free from the 3 minute ditties that have defined Weezer 2.0, and gone back to their inspired, counterpuntal, richly harmonic melody rock.

Jun 13, 2008 19:14:11

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