Let me rant and rave for a minute.
Everybody has a few different kinds of favorite bands: The current favorite that might last long enough to become permanent, the guilty favorite you won’t admit to, and the perennial favorite—the one you always come back to.
May 10, 1994. I was thirteen years old when Weezer’s Blue Album released and it eventually changed my world. I don’t remember when I listened to it the whole way through, but I remember who I was with.
Jesse was a close friend throughout high school, and I was in his room after a sleepover filled with pizza, video games, and prank phone calls. He put the cassette in, and for about forty minutes, we didn’t talk.
That was probably my first real experience with what music could do for you—how it could speak to you.
“In the garage, I feel safe, no one cares about my ways.” I felt that. It was the first time a song had really taken me to a different place; because, I knew exactly what he was singing about.
I love Weezer.
Pinkerton will always have a place on my Top Ten Albums of all time. Hell, my son’s middle name is Rivers. I listened to the Blue Album to fall asleep throughout all four years of high school.
That brings me to this, Weezer’s seventh self-titled album (20th total album), known as the Gold Album (Reprise, Warner Records)—releasing tomorrow, Friday, Aug. 21.
It’s ten songs, around forty minutes.
Instead of listening to it in the car, I turned on my Bluetooth speaker and blasted it twice in a row, midday.
Weezer has a definitive sound, and it’s not just lead singer Rivers Cuomo’s voice. It’s the way the entire band fits together and plays.
This album gave me big-time Pinkerton vibes, because it sounded more raw and less polished.
The first song I had to listen to twice was, “We Might As Well Be Strangers,” probably because I was writing this and thinking about old friends already.
The lamentation of “C.E.O.” and “Hoops” also struck a chord with me.
The album ends strong with “Up In The Air” and “The LA Sound,” a nice one-two punch.
I have always been able to find songs I like on Weezer albums; however, this is the first one I have listened to in a while—from beginning to end—that reminds me it’s a Weezer album.
A favorite.
Favorite Track
“The LA Sound”
Rating
4.4/5
Tracklist
- Say Yes
- Shine Again
- Don't Make It Weird
- We Might As Well Be Strangers ft. Wednesday
- C.E.O.
- Hoops
- Nowhere
- The Show Must Go On
- Up In The Clouds
- The LA Sound
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Photo: Brendan Walter
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