Spring Break
Weezer's New Album Is 'Red' Hot
Fernando Dutra
Issue date: 6/9/08 Section: Focus
The band delivers on these claims as the album does features longer songs, with three of them clocking in over five minutes, and the most experimental song on the album, "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn)" changes musical genre every eight bars, beginning with the aforementioned "Southern rap."
There is a sharp contrast in the album between Cuomo's songs and his bandmates. While Cuomo is specific and meticulous with regard to the subject areas he writes about, his band members shoulder writing the trite, traditional and overly general love songs that ultimately hamper the album. Even Cuomo's heart-on-sleeve cringe-inducing "Heart Songs," which name checks Gordon Lightfoot to Michael Jackson and Nirvana, is stronger than "Thought I Knew" or "Cold Dark World." Of the non-Cuomo contributions, Patrick Wilson's "Automatic" is above its peers.
"The Red Album" is also available in a deluxe edition, which features four additional tracks: "Miss Sweeney," "Pig," "The Spider" and "King." Of these cuts, "Pig" is the most interesting, if only for its story arc. The song chronicles the life of a pig, his marriage and his trip off to be slaughtered.
"King" is sung by Scott Shriner, while the rest of the bonus tracks are handled by Cuomo. These tracks are clearly meant for Weezer-diehards, playing out more like B-sides than proper tracks originally intended for the album.
Rating: 3/5 stars
Contact Fernando Dutra at Fernando.Dutra@UConn.edu.
There is a sharp contrast in the album between Cuomo's songs and his bandmates. While Cuomo is specific and meticulous with regard to the subject areas he writes about, his band members shoulder writing the trite, traditional and overly general love songs that ultimately hamper the album. Even Cuomo's heart-on-sleeve cringe-inducing "Heart Songs," which name checks Gordon Lightfoot to Michael Jackson and Nirvana, is stronger than "Thought I Knew" or "Cold Dark World." Of the non-Cuomo contributions, Patrick Wilson's "Automatic" is above its peers.
"The Red Album" is also available in a deluxe edition, which features four additional tracks: "Miss Sweeney," "Pig," "The Spider" and "King." Of these cuts, "Pig" is the most interesting, if only for its story arc. The song chronicles the life of a pig, his marriage and his trip off to be slaughtered.
"King" is sung by Scott Shriner, while the rest of the bonus tracks are handled by Cuomo. These tracks are clearly meant for Weezer-diehards, playing out more like B-sides than proper tracks originally intended for the album.
Rating: 3/5 stars
Contact Fernando Dutra at Fernando.Dutra@UConn.edu.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Maria Ostridge
posted 3/11/09 @ 1:45 AM EST
A think this new storie have some mistakes.
Xenia Spisak
posted 4/19/09 @ 2:37 AM EST
Thank you so much for posting this article! I found the link from sheroes, and I wanted to complement you because it is fantastic!
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