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Weezer (Red Album)

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Untitled

Weezer, also known as "The Red Album", is the sixth studio album by the American alternative rock band Weezer, released on June 3, 2008.[1] Rick Rubin and Jacknife Lee both helped to produce the album.[2] Like the group's 1994 debut album Weezer (and unlike most Weezer records that featured Rivers Cuomo as the main songwriter and vocalist), other band members contributed to songwriting. This is the first Weezer album to feature lead vocals from all band members.

The video for the album's first single "Pork and Beans" quickly became the most-watched video on the internet the weekend following its release.[3] Additionally, an unconventional Hootenanny Tour replaced the traditional rock concert tour to promote the album. The sales of Weezer are below that of its 2005 predecessor, Make Believe, which was certified Gold (500,000 copies) after the same amount of time Weezer took to sell 300,000 copies.

Background

After the platinum success of their fifth album Make Believe, the band once again was put on hiatus.[4] Frontman Rivers Cuomo returned to Harvard University to complete his education. He ended up graduating Phi Beta Kappa.[5] Cuomo also married Kyoko Ito on June 18, 2006, a woman he had known since March 1997. He proposed to her in Tokyo shortly before Christmas of 2005.[6] The wedding was held at a secluded beach on Paradise Cove in Malibu and was attended by over a hundred people, including six of the seven members who played in Weezer (Mikey Welsh was not in attendance) as well as notables Justin Fisher, Kevin Ridel and Rick Rubin.[7]

Meanwhile, members Patrick Wilson and Brian Bell appeared in the 2006 film Factory Girl playing John Cale and Lou Reed respectively[8] and contributing a cover of the Velvet Underground song "Heroin" for the film.[9] Also during this time, Bell formed a new side-band called The Relationship[10] while Wilson started work on material for the next Special Goodness album.[11] He also had a second child, Ian Patrick Wilson, with his wife in early 2008.[12]

The band announced in June 2007 that recording sessions for the album would begin in July.[13] In December 2007, Cuomo released Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo, which featured home demos that Cuomo has recorded from 1992-2007.[14] It was also during this time that a mysterious website called albumsix.com began gaining attention.[4] The website gave false information about the album such as the album title would be "Tout Ensemble" and a fake release date.[15] The website fooled several news outlets such as Pitchfork Media and Rolling Stone.[16][17] The website was later revealed to be a hoax by some fans with band historian/webmaster Karl Koch stating on Weezer's official website:

Please note that Weezer and Geffen Records have no affiliation with www.albumsix.com. The new Weezer record is not called Tout Ensemble and there is no official release date yet for the album. Remember, when it's on Weezer.com, it's for sure. (Though I will say, 'well played', to the authors of that site.)[18]

Recording process

At the beginning of the album's creation each Weezer member asked themselves what they wanted to get out of the album. With that in mind, they set out to record. Recording was done in three sessions. Half of the album was recorded during the spring of 2007 with Rick Rubin overseeing production. The second session, started in July and finished on October 18, was produced by Weezer themselves at Malibu. The third and final session of recording was done at the request of Geffen records, who claimed that there was not enough commercial material on the album. This session was produced by Jacknife Lee and completed in March 2008.[19] In the first podcast released on www.riverspodcast.com, Rivers mentioned playing drums on two songs on the album. In an interview with Pitchfork Media, Cuomo stated the album would contain "longer songs, non-traditional song forms, different people writing and singing, instrument switching, TR-808s, synths, Southern rap, and baroque counterpoint."[20]

Writing and composition

The majority of the album's content was written by Rivers Cuomo. However, for the first time since their debut album other members of the band contributed songwriting as well.[20] Cuomo consciously strived to write less traditionally-structured songs, breaking away from the "verse-chorus--verse-chorus-bridge" structure that was present on past albums.[21] Much of the album's subject matter is rooted in past experiences and nostalgia.

"Pork and Beans" is the first single to be released from the album. "Troublemaker" was also considered for the album's first single, but later this was switched to "Pork and Beans", a song written by Cuomo as a reaction to a meeting with Geffen where the band was told it needed to record more-commercial material.[22] Jacknife Lee produced the track with the band in early 2008 during the third and final session for the record.

"The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn)" is a track that includes piano, police sirens, and Cuomo singing in falsetto.[23] "Miss Sweeney"' was named by Cuomo, along with "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived," as a track which features rapped vocals. Bass player Scott Shriner was particularly proud of the song saying, "The song 'The Greatest Man That Ever Lived' is a masterpiece that includes ten different styles of music based around a common theme. It's awesome. That word gets abused a lot, like 'Wow, these pancakes are awesome,' but 'Greatest Man' is . . . awesome!"[24]

Weezer plays in the foreground while Fritz Grobe and Stephan Voltz set off Diet Coke and Mentos eruptions behind them in the "Pork and Beans" music video.

"Heart Songs" is about all the artists and records that have influenced Cuomo from Gordon Lightfoot's "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" when he was 5 years old to Nirvana's Nevermind in his early 20s.[25]

"Everybody Get Dangerous" is featured briefly in the film 21.[26] The song was not included on the official soundtrack release. Cuomo's childhood friend Adam Orth recently commented on the autobiographical element of this song.[27] It also appears in Guitar Hero: On Tour: Modern Hits.

"Troublemaker" is featured in the trailer for Disney's comedy film G-Force.[28]

"Dreamin'" was formerly known as "Daydreamer" and was described in the liner notes to Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo as an "epic, 6-minute, symphonic type of art song."[29] "This is the Way" was written as a more straightforward counterpart, and was originally selected by the band to be recorded for the Weezer album, but Cuomo persuaded the others to go with "Dreamin'" instead.[29]

"Thought I Knew" was also the name of a song by Brian Bell's band The Relationship, and is a reworking and re-recording of the track with Weezer sung as a lead vocal by Brian Bell. The song was originally written in a minor key.[30] However, Bell felt that historically the band's songs haven't worked in minor and that the song needed to felt more uplifting. So he changed the song from minor to major and sped up the tempo.[30]

"Cold Dark World" is a song that was written by Rivers Cuomo and Scott Shriner and features Shriner on lead vocals. Shriner commented, "...I wrote this kind of creepy music, and Rivers wrote these kind of happy, positive lyrics, but when you put it together, it made a super-creepy song which I'm really proud of."[31]

"Automatic" was remixed by LA Riots for the upcoming video game Gran Turismo 5 Prologue.[26] This track features Patrick Wilson on lead vocals. Wilson commented, "This song is interesting. It's a big rock tune but it's kinda got a vibe to it and the lyrics are just about me wanting to give as much love as I can to my family..."[30]

"The Angel and the One" is the album closer. Some members of the band have claimed that this is their favorite track, including Pat Wilson.[30] Cuomo described the writing process of the song, "It started out as a really standard pop song called 'bad girl' and had a verse and a chorus and bridge and all that stuff. And I just wasn't satisfied with it. It was too normal. So one day I sat down with my acoustic guitar and I just played [this] song over and over, on basically looping it. My fingers hurt so much, I just kept playing it. And over the hour that I was playing it, the song slowly evolved and it smoothed over and the sections blurred into each other. And it turned into this spiritual reverie that is really just one long development without any distinction between sections."[30]

"Pig" leaked as a demo in early 2007, this song details the life of a pig including playing in the mud as a piglet, falling in love, getting married, raising children and eventually being slaughtered.[32] The final version of the track appears on the deluxe edition of the Weezer album.

"King" is the last song on the deluxe edition of the Weezer album and is sung by Scott Shriner. In the liner notes for the deluxe edition Scott says that the song was not being voted by the rest of the band but was one of his favorite tracks from the demos Rivers played for the band. One day Scott called up Rivers and demanded the band add the song on the album, Rivers responded by saying that if he [Scott] wanted the song so bad he should sing it, and so he did. The song apparently took the longest to record and perfect, taking three weeks.[30]

Artwork

The album's cover debuted on Spinner.com on April 21, 2008.[33] It features the band members Brian Bell, Patrick Wilson, Rivers Cuomo and Scott Shriner in various outfits standing left to right in front of a red backdrop, and is in a manner similar to their debut and 2001 album. The cover was photographed by Sean Murphy.[34] Pitchfork Media writer Amy Phillips compared the cover to the Village People saying, "Meet the new Village People: The Bartender, the Professor, the Cowboy, and the Biker."[35] The cover received mixed reactions from fans wondering if the cover was a hoax.[34][36][37] The cover was reconfirmed by the band's publicist Jim Merlis, "Yes, that's absolutely the cover. It's what they chose. They looked at a bunch of mockups, and that's the one they decided to go with. It's not a joke."[36]

From a Buzznet.com interview with Scott Shriner:

"The cover for The Red Album was kind of ... a happy accident," Shriner said. "We had a whole 'nother set of photographs that we wanted to be the cover and nothing that we were looking at ever matched up to what we felt that album sounded like and represents for us. Our art director got that photo [the official album cover], which originally was a fun photo. 'OK, everybody, go as your alter ego, and we'll take a kooky picture,' [he said.] He [the art director] put the red background behind that, and that's what felt like the strongest image that matched how we feel the album sounds." Like the album cover, the album itself was very much a group effort. While many tend to assume that most Weezer material was scribed by Cuomo, Shriner insists that, "We all wrote music on the record. [Drummer] Pat [Wilson] and [guitarist] Brian [Bell] wrote songs, and we all sing lead vocals on songs and sing leads on different verses and choruses."[31]

Release

On April 1, 2008, Rolling Stone reported that the album would once again be self-titled and become known as "The Red Album", with the first single being titled "Pork and Beans".[38] Weezer later announced that the release date had been moved up to June 3, 2008, from June 24, 2008. It got released on June 16, 2008 in the United Kingdom in a standard edition with 2 bonus tracks, and a deluxe digipak including 6 bonus tracks. On May 7, 2008, the first 8 tracks from the album were leaked to the internet, leading to mixed responses from Weezer message boards and fan blogs. On May 26, 2008, the final two tracks from the album were leaked along with bonus cover "The Weight". On May 31, 2008, the 4 bonus tracks from the US Deluxe Edition were leaked.

This record was one of the first albums to be released on the new microSD slotMusic media format. In addition to the full album in a DRM-free MP3 format, the memory card also includes album art, liner notes, videos, and other features.[39]

The standard album was released on transparent red vinyl upon its initial release in the US, though it is now out of print. A 180 gram version of the Deluxe Edition has been released. A video of the 180 gram versions being produced can be seen on Weezer's website.

Reception

The album received generally positive reviews, with a Metacritic score of 64, based on 32 reviews.[40] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic gave the album a positive review of 4 and a half stars out of five calling the album, "A cheerfully restless record, one where all the parts don't fit and it's better because of it, as it has a wild, willing personality, suggesting that Weezer is comfortable as a band in a way they never quite have been before."[41] The Boston Globe called the songs, "consistently vibrant, catchy, and well-built."[42] IGN also gave the album a positive review stating, "The Red Album is totally bizarre, a certifiable mess, and a hell of a lot of fun."[43] NME complimented Cuomo's songwriting saying, "Musically, it’s a record that does much to further the claim for Cuomo’s songwriting greatness."[44]

Among the negative reviews, Tiny Mix Tapes called the album "a sad portrait of a band that has been totally destroyed by fame and the pressures that come along with it,"[45] and The Onion A.V. club saying: "If the so-called 'Red Album' really is an elaborate goof on an all-too-forgiving fan base, that doesn't make Weezer's newest worst album any less insipid."[46] Pitchfork Media gave the record 4.7/10, lamenting that "like the YouTube culture the 'Pork and Beans' video depicts so well, the song-- and this album-- relies on a high quantity of short-lived pretty good ideas to distract from a shortage of great ones."[47] Prefix Magazine said that if The Red Album's "songs were formulaic, shiny, and easily digestible like everything on Green or Maladroit, the vacuity of the new songs wouldn't be as big a problem. But 'Heart Songs,' 'Thought I Knew'--these are just plain bad."[48]

The Red Album debuted at the fourth spot of the Billboard 200, with 126,000 copies sold in its first week.[49] As of November 2009, according to Nielsen SoundScan, The Red Album has sold 443,000 copies.[50]

Track listing

All lead vocals by Rivers Cuomo, except where noted.

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Troublemaker"Cuomo2:44
2."The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn)"Cuomo5:52
3."Pork and Beans"Cuomo3:09
4."Heart Songs"Cuomo4:06
5."Everybody Get Dangerous" (Lead vocals by Rivers Cuomo and Brian Bell)Cuomo4:03
6."Dreamin'" (Lead vocals by Rivers Cuomo and Brian Bell)Cuomo5:12
7."Thought I Knew" (Lead vocals by Brian Bell)Brian Bell3:01
8."Cold Dark World" (Lead vocals by Scott Shriner)Cuomo, Scott Shriner3:51
9."Automatic" (Lead vocals by Patrick Wilson)Patrick Wilson3:07
10."The Angel and the One"Cuomo6:46
Total length:40:31

Bonus tracks

US, UK & Japan Deluxe Edition Bonus Tracks

  • "Miss Sweeney" (Cuomo, Sarah C. Kim) – 4:02
  • "Pig" – 4:02
  • "The Spider" – 4:43
  • "King" – 5:11 – Lead vocals by Scott Shriner

iTunes Bonus Tracks

  • "It's Easy" (Bell) – 3:10 - Lead vocals by Brian Bell
  • "I Can Love" – 3:49 (Pre-order only)

UK (Standard & Deluxe Edition)/Japan (Standard & Deluxe Edition)/Argentina/Australia/Brazil/Corea/Germany/México Bonus Track

UK (Standard & Deluxe Edition)/Japan (Standard & Deluxe Edition) Bonus Track

Japan (Standard & Deluxe Edition) Bonus Track

Japan Deluxe Edition DVD Content

  • Intro
  • Dope Nose
  • Why Bother?
  • Surf Wax America
  • The Good Life
  • Island In The Sun
  • Undone - The Sweater Song
  • Behind the scenes From Japan Tour
  • 'Pork and Beans' PV
  • Interview
  • Song-by-song commentary

Chart positions

Album

Chart Peak position
U.S. Billboard 200 4[51]
UK Albums Chart 21[52]
Australian Albums Chart 21[53]
Canadian Albums Chart 2[54]
Japanese Albums Chart 9
Japanese International Chart 1[55]
Norwegian Albums Chart 21[56]
Austrian Albums Chart 39[57]
New Zealand Albums Chart 15[58]
Irish Albums Chart 27

Personnel

Release history

Country Date[1]
United States June 3, 2008
Canada June 3, 2008
Japan June 4, 2008
Germany June 6, 2008
Australia June 6, 2008
Worldwide June 9, 2008
United Kingdom June 16, 2008

References

  1. ^ a b Koch, Karl (2008-05-12). "05/12/08 the immensity of the pork and the bean". Weezer.com. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
  2. ^ Thompson, Paul (2007-10-18). "Rivers Cuomo Dishes on New Weezer LP, Alone Demos". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 2007-10-25.
  3. ^ Wang, Cynthia (2008-05-27). "Viral YouTube Hit 'Pork and Beans' Shoots to No. 1". People Magazine. Retrieved 2008-05-28.
  4. ^ a b Kreps, Daniel (2007-05-15). "Weezer: Album Six In The Works?". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
  5. ^ "Rivers Cuomo's Harvard Graduation". Spin. 2006-06-09. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
  6. ^ Chen, Lena (2006-02-15). "Hey, Rivers Cuomo! What did you do for Valentine's Day?". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
  7. ^ Koch, Karl (2006-06-18). "06/18/06 kongurachure-shonzu". Weezer.com. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
  8. ^ "Weezer Members Land Roles as Velvets". Aversion.com. 2006-01-26. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
  9. ^ "Weezer 'Become The Velvet Underground'". NME. 2006-01-25. Retrieved 2008-05-06. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  10. ^ "The Relationship". Myspace. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
  11. ^ Wilson, Patrick (2006-08-13). "Hiatus". The Special Goodness.com. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
  12. ^ Koch, Karl (2008-01-31). "01/31/08 See That Baby? He's Flyin' Across That Sky..." Weezer.com. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
  13. ^ Koch, Karl (2007-06-25). "06/25/07 Message From Rivers". Weezer.com. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
  14. ^ Zeiss, John (2007-10-15). "Rivers Cuomo To Release Demo Collection". Prefix Magazine. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
  15. ^ Cohen, Jonathan (2007-11-21). "Weezer Rallies The 'Ensemble'". Billboard. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
  16. ^ Kreps, Daniel (2007-11-09). "Albumsix.com Is Real, Announces Weezer's Sixth Album Release Date". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
  17. ^ Solarski, Matthew (2007-11-27). "Weezer LP6 Site Declared Hoax, Alone Pushed Back". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
  18. ^ Koch, Karl (2007-11-13). "11/13/07 Alone: The Home Recordings Of Rivers Cuomo". Weezer.com. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
  19. ^ Koch, Karl (2007-10-16). "10/16/07 A Message From Weezer". Weezer.com. Retrieved 2008-05-08.
  20. ^ a b Crock, Jason (2008-01-28). "Interview: Rivers Cuomo". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 2008-05-08.
  21. ^ Simon, Scott (2008-06-14). "Weezer's Rivers Cuomo Tries Reinvention". NPR. Retrieved 2008-06-18.
  22. ^ "Spring Album Preview". Issue #1050. Rolling Stone. p. 32. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  23. ^ "Spring Album Preview 2008". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2008-04-07.
  24. ^ Titus, Dale. "Warwick's Bass Survival 101 Feature Artist - Scott Shriner". Warwick. Retrieved 2008-05-08.
  25. ^ Montgomery, James (2006-07-12). "Rivers Cuomo Says Weezer Are 'Done' For Now — Again". MTV News. Retrieved 2008-05-08.
  26. ^ a b Maher, Dave (2008-04-01). "Weezer Reveal New Album Title? Or April Fool's Joke?". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 2008-05-08.
  27. ^ Orth, Adam (2008-06-03). "We Should Have Died A Long Time Ago". web.mac.com. Retrieved 2008-06-18.
  28. ^ G-Force Movie Trailer
  29. ^ a b Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo booklet and liner notes
  30. ^ a b c d e f Weezer (The Red Album) Deluxe Edition booklet and liner notes
  31. ^ a b Radke, Ronnie (2008-05-14). "Weezer Bassist Spills to Buzznet About New Album, 'Insane and Surreal' Video". Buzznet. Retrieved 2008-06-18.
  32. ^ "New Weezer Demo - Rivers Cuomo Pigs Out!". Twelve Major Chords. 2007-05-19. Retrieved 2008-05-08.
  33. ^ Spinella, Mike (2008-04-21). "Weezer Unveil the 'Red Album' Cover". Spinner.com. Retrieved 2007-05-04.
  34. ^ a b Montgomery, James (2008-04-23). "Weezer's Awkward Red Album Cover Is The Real Deal, 'Not A Joke' Publicist Confirms". MTV. Retrieved 2007-05-04.
  35. ^ Phillips, Amy (2008-04-21). "Is This Really the New Weezer Album Cover?". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 2007-05-04.
  36. ^ a b "Weezer cover is "Not a Joke"". Punknews.org. 2008-04-24. Retrieved 2007-05-04.
  37. ^ "Weezer Is Now Just Messing With Everyone". Idolator.com. 2008-04-01. Retrieved 2008-04-22.
  38. ^ "Spring Music Preview: Weezer Unveil Familiar Title for New Album". Rolling Stone. 2008-04-01. Retrieved 2008-05-08.
  39. ^ Maher, Dave (2008-10-16). "Coldplay, Weezer, M.I.A. Sell LPs in New Media Format". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2008-11-23.
  40. ^ "Weezer: Weezer (Red Album) (2008): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2008-06-19.
  41. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Weezer (Red Album) > Review". Allmusic. Retrieved 2008-06-19.
  42. ^ Anderman, Joan (2008-06-03). "Weezer's Recipe: Rock, With A Twist". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2008-06-19.
  43. ^ "IGN: Weezer (Red Album): Review". IGN. 2008-06-03. Retrieved 2008-06-19.
  44. ^ McMahon, James (2008-06-05). "NME: Weezer (Red Album): Review". NME. Retrieved 2008-06-19.
  45. ^ "Weezer: Weezer (Red Album) (2008): Reviews". Tiny Mix Tapes. Retrieved 2008-07-01.
  46. ^ "Weezer: Weezer (Red Album) (2008): Reviews". The Onion. Retrieved 2008-07-01.
  47. ^ http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/50995-weezer-weezer-the-red-album
  48. ^ http://www.prefixmag.com/reviews/weezer/weezer-red-album/18971/
  49. ^ Hasty, Katie (2008-06-11). "Disturbed Scores Third Straight No. 1 Album". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved 2009-01-19.
  50. ^ Ayers, Michael D. (2009-08-21). "Weezer Filled With 'Raditude' This Fall". Billboard. Retrieved 2010-01-27.
  51. ^ "Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved 2008-06-25.
  52. ^ "UK Album Chart Archives". www.everyhit.com. Retrieved 2008-06-25.
  53. ^ "Australian Album Chart Archives". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 2008-06-25.
  54. ^ "Canadian Album Chart Archives". Canoe.ca. Retrieved 2008-06-25.
  55. ^ "Weezer Tops Oricon Chart!". www.hmv.co.jp. 2008-06-21. Retrieved 2008-06-25.
  56. ^ "Norway Album Chart Archives". norwegiancharts.com. Retrieved 2008-06-25.
  57. ^ "Austrian Album Chart Archives". austriancharts.at. Retrieved 2008-06-25.
  58. ^ "New Zealand Album Chart Archives". charts.org.nz. Retrieved 2008-06-25.
  59. ^ "Keys for the Weez". Korg. 2007-10-16. Retrieved 2007-11-19.
  60. ^ "Cuomo Keen On Archival Releases, New Weezer CD". Billboard. 2007-12-26. Retrieved 2007-12-27.

External links

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