Another Form of Relief

So here we are at the final collection of “lost” Weezer songs. I’ll probably pull the lot within a week or so, so get them while you can. It could be another three years before I post them again. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed them, or have at least found them “interesting”.

Listen kids, there’s a piano in this one! I’m a sucker for a piano, and it’s something that Weezer didn’t utilise anywhere near as often as they should. It’s also quite an upbeat sounding song, which is something of a refreshing change. Oh no, wait, it’s all about getting dumped.

Saturday Night would have felt perfectly at home on Maladroit. Take that how you will.

As romantic comedies go, you could really do worse than this one. I mean come on, it’s got John Cusack playing a likeable everyman! Eugene Levy being the cranky funny guy! Kate Beckinsale looking good! And Jeremy Piven! Everyone loves Jeremy Piven!

This is another one of the songs that went through several different versions. I can’t recall exactly where this one slots in timeline wise, but it doesn’t really better as none of the versions were really any better than any of the others. This one included solely because it contains the fantastic lyric of “I need a tissue for my nose”. I kid you not.

Weezer song not being sung by Rivers shocker! This one is a Pat Wilson original, and to be perfectly honest, I’d kind of prefer that he stayed behind the drum kit. If you’ve heard any of the records he’s done with his other project The Special Goodness you’ll know exactly what to expect here. A decent enough song that could use more developing sung with a vocalist that sits just this side of bland. It’s just a novelty to hear someone else on vocals more than anything else.

Another song that dates back to around 2000, this is Rivers in full on introspective mode about how he compares as a rock star to the bands he grew up with. Of course he finds himself lacking in comparison (”They’d strut around and do their thing / All I know how to do is sing / And I don’t do that so well”), which is to be expected from Rivers I suppose. He continues, “I’m just a regular white guy / Who’s afraid to rock so hard / I’d break my guard / And give myself away”, yet not trying to do anything about it because he’s too scared that he’ll fall into the rock stereotype and end up doing something like killing himself if he does. That said, the idea of Rivers fully rocking out on stage is something that would amuse me a little.

There’s nothing quite like a Weezer song of bitterness that seems to turn up everytime someone breaks Rivers’ heart. This would be the 2002 contender for the title, which although starting mundanely enough (”You like me / I like you”) quickly descends into rather more angry territory. While even managing to throw in the traditional “wha-oh” lines.

This one came from the same batch as Comin’ Home from the first set of songs I posted, and again it’s a completely different sound for the band. It’s a very downbeat acoustic affair, which works giving the content. Once again, I don’t know how right I am, but I get the same kind of feeling from this song as I do from Nick Cave’s Where The Wild Roses Grow. Whether or not the song is supposed to be about the guy killing the girl, I don’t know, but it certainly comes across that way at times (”Darling I think it’s time to I let you go / I don’t feel any guilt as I touch your throat”). If it is, that makes it just about the darkest Weezer song recorded.

We close our selection of rare Weezer material with another song sung by somebody not named Rivers. This one is all the work of guitarist Brian Bell. From what I understand, a Camaro is some kind of automobile type thing, so I guess there isn’t much in the way of explaination to this particular song. It’s not a great song, but it has a certain kind of frantic energy not usually heard on Weezer songs that gives it some unique appeal though.

..and stop.

Another Sunday, another batch of “lost” Weezer songs. So lost in fact that I’m posting them up here. On a personal level, this set is about my favourite. While it contains a few weak links, the triple-P header of Preacher’s Son, Private Message and Prodigy Lover more than make up for them. Enjoy!

The least interesting of the songs here, Mr. Taxman was a song that appeared on the Weezer site once back in the album five demo era and then never again. I assume it was abandoned at an early stage. Probably for the best as it’s just a little too silly compared to some of the others.

This has to be one of the shortest Weezer songs ever. That isn’t really fair to it though as it was never intended to be a full song. It’s another one of the fabled Songs From The Black Hole that would have been an interlude that slotted in just before Tired of Sex. I’d love to be able to hear the entire SFTBH, but it seems odd songs and fragments is all we’ll ever get to hear.

I think this one dates back to somewhere around 2000 as a demo for The Green Album, but it never progressed further than this version. It’s on the same kind of level as Green when it comes to lyrical quality (”Go out to the movies / Tell my girl she’s groovy”). The only real appeal from this song comes the fun timeshifting and harmonising that’s thrown into it.

I’ve never been able to quite work out the meaning behind this one. Some seem to think Rivers is singing about himself as the “bitter man” in the third person, but I’m not entirely convinced. I mostly just like it for it’s sound. Certainly one of the most mellow songs Weezer has ever recorded. It’s also nice to see Rivers employ something of a storyline into the song, even if I don’t have a clue what it’s supposed to all mean.

Preacher’s Son is one of the songs that was recorded back in the summer of 2000 as a demo for The Green Album. This was the first period of the band recording together in a few years, and they sound pretty good. The song is solid enough, yet was dumped so classic songs like Crab could make it onto the album. What a good decision that was.

This was one of the album five demos, and one of the best of them. Essentially the story of an internet relationship forming (”When you are reading the words I write / You think that I’m just some dumb horny guy”), and how quickly they discover it just doesn’t work. There are several versions of this song floating around it, including the acoustic version that’s entirely different in it’s sound. The electric one actually has the classic kind of Weezer sound to it.

This song comes from the same set as Private Message did, and it’s interesting mostly because of the subject matter. I have no idea how accurate this theory is, but I think this was Rivers’ response to Matt Sharp quitting the band. It has the feeling of something changing in the band (”Something is different / Something has changed / You write me your letters / They’re not the same”) and then seems to take on a slightly more bitter stance (”Uncomprehending / I’m stupified / I wrote the rule book / You can’t abide”). Now I may be reading far more into all this than is actually there, but that’s what I’ve always assumed it was about as it seems to fit so well. It’s also another chance to hear piano on a Weezer song, which is always good.

Not a great song, but an interesting one for being one of the few songs where computer trickery is employed on Rivers’ voice, giving it a slightly more robotic sound. There isn’t a great deal to the song itself beyond “be with me because I don’t want to be alone”, but it’s always fun to hear Weezer experimenting with entirely different sounds. It’s just a shame that they never try and do this on their actual albums.

Another song sung in the third person, this time all about a perfectionist who tries to control every little aspect of his life. Obviously, this isn’t really an achievable thing to do. Anyone want to start taking bets on whether or not Rivers is actually singing about himself despite the repeated “he’s not me” line?

Join us again next Sunday for the final collection of songs. You could join us any other day too. We post great music all week you know!

So here we are again with the second batch of Weezer songs. It’s been kind of a slow week here on the blog. Partly because I’m fighting some kind of bug or cold which has resulted in stuffed ears, and partly because nothing has really inspired me this week. That said, this week we’ll be back into the swing of things properly, starting off with more Weezer songs that if you’re a fan you probably have and if you’re not, you probably don’t care about. Oh well.

Throwaway nonsense just about redeemed by some rather impressive guitar work.

Wow, Rivers with an inferiority complex. Now that’s certainly a novel theme for a song. Joking aside though, it’s probably what Rivers does best when it comes to his songwriting, so unsurprisingly this is a pretty solid song. It’s another of the aborted album five recordings, meaning it never really got developed all that far, but what is here is pretty damn good.

Rivers loves football. Apparently Domingo is a footballer. That’s about all I have on this one.

One of the better songs that never amounted to anything, How Long? seemingly charts that last phase of a relationship. That part where you both know that it’s falling apart yet ignore that and carry on regardless. Musically it’s pretty simplistic stuff, but it could have turned into something very good.

Lyrically it’s pretty non-sensical, but the most interesting part about Little Songs is how Rivers seems able to rebuild a song from the ground up. I may have my timeline confused a little here, but the instrumentation on this song was originally used in another Weezer song entitled We Go Together that the band played live a lot back in 2001. This version of the song is completely different from the original, yet the core of it still remains intact, which is something of an impressive feat.

More piano goodness to be found on this one. Another one of the album 5 demo recordings than never made it any further. Which is quite a shame as it’s a really nice song.

A rare case of Rivers singing in the third person here. Seemingly a story about a homeless man who is actually quite happy with his lot in life (”He’s on his own / He likes it that way”). A world full of homeless people huddling under bridges is hardly massively original imagery, but it’s different enough to warrant a little attention. If only to prove Rivers can come up with something that isn’t misery or drugs.

An absolutely insane song, with guitar work that sounds like it just stumbled in from the big rock era of the 80s. Trying to keep up with the lyrics is pretty much a lost cause, so it’s not hard to see why the song was abandoned, but I still find it to be a lot of fun.

The first song where Rivers seemed to get vocally pissed at the press (and the fans?) for their constant negativity about recent Weezer material. It isn’t exactly the greatest of comebacks (”Now to my challengers / Still think with little words / You’re so upset you’re pissing on yourself”), but the sound of the song makes it unique enough for me to post it here. I think this may have been Rivers’ first dabble in the rap-rock genre, but I’m not too sure. There’s also a story floating about that this was written for Axl Rose to sing, but he dropped out so Rivers did it himself. I’ve no idea how much truth there is that, but it makes it all the more curious.

One of the few “lost songs” that is regarded almost as a band staple despite never having been released. If you were a Weezer fan back around the time of The Green Album, you knew Modern Dukes. The band played it live at just about every gig for a few years. Various recordings of it floated around the internet. It was even recorded in demo form for two different albums, but never made it to either. Which is a shame as it’s really bloody good.

That’s the halfway mark. Come back over the next two Sundays for the rest. Assuming swine flu hasn’t killed us all.

It’s been three years since I last posted up the Great Lost Weezer Songs collection. To this day, it remains the content that I’m asked most often to re-post. I’ve shied away from doing so for most of the intervening period, but listening to some of these again recently has changed my mind once more. As such, the 2009 edition of Great Lost Weezer Songs will contain more recordings than any previous version, clocking in at almost 40 tracks. Some of the songs posted in 2006 are no included as they have become commercially available as part of the Rivers Cuomo Alone releases. A handful of these are alternative versions of songs that eventually appeared on albums. The vast majority are original songs that never really got beyond the demo stage. Some are great. Others not so much. However, if you’re a fan of the band, they will most certainly be interesting.

This is the first collection of tracks. The rest will be posted on Sundays over the next month. Part 2 will be available on April 25. Part 3 will be available on May 2. The final part will be available on May 9. Depending on how much bandwidth this uses (previously it was a lot) I may have the remove the songs of the previous week before posting any new ones. With that in mind, you might want to grab them while you can.

A more mellow song that one comes to expect from Weezer. It was originally recorded with the intention of being a part of ‘Maladroit’, but like a ton of these songs, was eventually scrapped for no obvious reason. It covers pretty standard Rivers territory lyrically (guy finds perfect girl, perfect girl leaves), but it’s simplicity and brevity makes the song come across as far lighter fare.

This is the song that closest matches the style of “current” Weezer, meaning it’s weaker than most of the ones here, but as current Weezer goes, it’s actually pretty good. The lyrics are pretty dumb and simplistic, but it’s short and manages to rock pretty well in the meantime.

Booby Trap is from the period where Rivers wrote pretty simplistic songs, but it’s one of the better ones to fall into this category. And there’s something oddly enjoyable about Rivers asking “am I just going mental?” over and over.

Sadly not a song about the John Travolta / Christian Slater smackdown of the same name. Instead, it’s a Rivers standard about lamenting a relationship that has either ended or is ending. Not one of their greatest in all fairness, but it still remains rather catchy.

Burndt Jamb obviously ended up on Maladroit in entirely different forms. It started off as an impressive little instrumental song. It then had rather good lyrics added to it. These lyrics were then replaced with non-sensical drivel. Guess which version ended up making the album. Yeah. Anyway, this instrumental is actually rather good in that it is far more elaborate in it’s construction than the finished album version.

Another Weezer song where the fans are seemingly taken to task over how fickle they were following the Pinkerton to Green debacle. This seems to be a theme in a bunch of the songs from one particular time, something that manifested itself properly on certain Maladroit songs.

The strangest song here, and unfortunately I can’t remember any story behind it. I remember it being posted to the website out of the blue with a couple of other “unique” sounding songs, but nothing more ever seemed to come of any of them. I’m inclined to think it was a joke more than anything else, but it’s certainly amusing. I really don’t have the words to describe it, but if I didn’t know it was Weezer, I probably wouldn’t believe it if someone told me that was the case. It’s just downright bizarre, although any rock band who can feature whistling in their songs gets a thumbs up from me.

I’m not really a fan of instrumentals but this one manages to work for me. Probably because it wasn’t intended to be one. Working from pure speculation, I’m going to assume that this was intended to be a full song with lyrics and all, but it just never got any further along than this stage. Which is quite a shame as there’s a lot of potential in it.

Like Burndt Jamb, Death and Destruction started off as an instrumental that had silly lyrics added to it by the time it made an album. This version is enjoyable if only for how wonderfully melancholy it all sounds even without words and the little flourishes that appear every now and then.

This concludes the first collection. Remember that the rest will be posted over the next three Sundays.

I’m not usually a fan of mega-post style content, but seeing as this is our first official posting with proper hosting, I’m going to go a little nuts. I’m also going to kill two birds with one stone. My blog isn’t really big enough to have people chasing me down to send them songs where the links have expired or to ask me to repost things. There are however two posts where I keep getting emails of that nature: the two ‘Great lost Weezer songs’ features I did back in April. It seems that despite their current quality or credibility or whatever, people still love to get hold of some Weezer. Particularly if it’s rare. And actually quite good.

As such, below you will find all of the songs that were posted in those two features. I’m not going to comment on the songs individually once again. If you want my comments from the time, click through to the original posts. I’ve also included a bunch of songs at the bottom that I left off of the original posts. I won’t try and lie to you and tell you that they are of the same quality, but they are still very worthy songs, particularly given the band’s current output.

Originally posted in part 1:

MP3 Weezer – Preacher’s Son (expired)
MP3 Weezer – Private Message (expired)
MP3 Weezer – Prodigy Lover (expired)
MP3 Weezer – Queen Of Earth (expired)
MP3 Weezer – Superstar (expired)
MP3 Weezer – The Organ Player (expired)
MP3 Weezer – What Everybody Wants (expired)
MP3 Weezer – You Won’t Get With Me Tonight (expired)
MP3 Rivers Cuomo – Longtime Sunshine (expired)

“New” rare Weezer songs:

MP3 Weezer – Acapulco (expired)
A more mellow song that one comes to expect from Weezer. It was originally recorded with the intention of being a part of ‘Maladroit’, but like a ton of these songs, was eventually scrapped for no obvious reason. It covers pretty standard Rivers territory lyrically (guy finds perfect girl, perfect girl leaves), but it’s simplicity and brevity makes the song come across as far lighter fare.

MP3 Weezer – Burndt Jamb (instrumental) (expired)
MP3 Weezer – Death and Destruction (instrumental) (expired)
Both of these songs obviously ended up on ‘Maladroit’ in entirely different forms. Both songs went through pretty much the same pattern to get there too. Each started off as an impressive little instrumental song. They then had rather good lyrics added to them. These lyrics were then replaced with non-sensical drivel. Guess which versions ended up making the album. Yeah. Anyway, these instrumentals are actually rather good in that they are far more elaborate in their construction than the finished album versions. Combined with good lyrics, they would have been fantastic.

MP3 Weezer – Fontana (expired)
Wow, Rivers with an inferiority complex. Now that’s certainly a novel theme for a song. Joking aside though, it’s probably what Rivers does best when it comes to his songwriting, so unsurprisingly this is a pretty solid song. It’s another of the aborted album five recordings, meaning it never really got developed all that far, but what is here is pretty damn good.

MP3 Weezer – Hey Domingo (expired)
Rivers loves football. Apparently Domingo is a footballer. That’s about all I have on this one.

MP3 Weezer – Little Songs (expired)
Lyrically it’s pretty non-sensical, but the most interesting part about ‘Little Songs’ is how Rivers seems able to rebuild a song from the ground up. I may have my timeline confused a little here, but the instrumentation on this song was originally used in another Weezer song entitled ‘We Go Together’ that the band played live a lot back in 2001. This version of the song is completely different from the original, yet the core of it still remains intact, which is something of an impressive feat.

MP3 Weezer – Mansion of Cardboard (expired)
A rare case of Rivers singing in the third person here. Seemingly a story about a homeless man who is actually quite happy with his lot in life (“He’s on his own / He likes it that way”). A world full of homeless people huddling under bridges is hardly massively original imagery, but it’s different enough to warrant a little attention. If only to prove Rivers can come up with something that isn’t misery or drugs.

MP3 Weezer – Oh No, This Is Not For Me (expired)
This has to be one of the shortest Weezer songs ever. That isn’t really fair to it though as it was never intended to be a full song. It’s another one of the fabled ‘Songs From The Black Hole’ (see ‘Blast Off’ and ‘You Won’t Get With Me Tonight’ above) that would have been an interlude that slotted in just before ‘Tired Of Sex’. I’d love to be able to hear the entire ‘SFTBH’, but it seems odd songs and fragments is all we’ll ever get to hear.

MP3 Weezer – On The Edge (expired)
I think this one dates back to somewhere around 2000 as a demo for The Green Album, but it never progressed further than this version. It’s on the same kind of level as Green when it comes to lyrical quality (“Go out to the movies / Tell my girl she’s groovy”). The only real appeal from this song comes the fun timeshifting and harmonising that’s thrown into it.

MP3 Weezer – Running Man (expired)
Another song sung in the third person, this time all about a perfectionist who tries to control every little aspect of his life. Obviously, this isn’t really an achievable thing to do. Anyone want to start taking bets on whether or not Rivers is actually singing about himself despite the repeated “he’s not me” line?

MP3 Weezer – Sacrifice (expired)
Listen kids, there’s a piano in this one! I’m a sucker for a piano, and it’s something that Weezer didn’t utilise anywhere near as often as they should. It’s also quite an upbeat sounding song, which is something of a refreshing change. Oh no, wait, it’s all about getting dumped.

MP3 Weezer – Serendipity (expired)
As romantic comedies go, you could really do worse than this one. I mean come on, it’s got John Cusack playing a likeable everyman! Eugene Levy being the cranky funny guy! Kate Beckinsale looking good! And Jeremy Piven! Everyone loves Jeremy Piven!

MP3 Weezer – She Who Is Militant (expired)
This is another one of the songs that went through several different versions. I can’t recall exactly where this one slots in timeline wise, but it doesn’t really better as none of the versions were really any better than any of the others. This one included solely because it contains the fantastic lyric of “I need a tissue for my nose”. I kid you not.

MP3 Weezer – The Story Is Wrong (expired)
Weezer song not being sung by Rivers shocker! This one is a Pat Wilson original, and to be perfectly honest, I’d kind of prefer that he stayed behind the drum kit. If you’ve heard any of the records he’s done with his other project The Special Goodness you’ll know exactly what to expect here. A decent enough song that could use more developing sung with a vocalist that sits just this side of bland. It’s just a novelty to hear someone else on vocals more than anything else.

MP3 Weezer – The Victor (expired)
There’s nothing quite like a Weezer song of bitterness that seems to turn up everytime someone breaks Rivers’ heart. This would be the 2002 contender for the title, which although starting mundanely enough (“You like me / I like you”) quickly descends into rather more angry territory. While even managing to throw in the traditional “wha-oh” lines.

MP3 Weezer – Yellow Camaro (expired)
We close our selection of rare Weezer material with another song sung by somebody not named Rivers. This one is all the work of guitarist Brian Bell. From what I understand, a Camaro is some kind of automobile type thing, so I guess there isn’t much in the way of explaination to this particular song. It’s not a great song, but it has a certain kind of frantic energy not usually heard on Weezer songs that gives it some unique appeal though.

Weezer: Website || Myspace

Well that’s your lot for rare Weezer songs. Grab them while you can (14 days at most, probably less) as odds are I’m not going to be putting them up again. I’ll be resuming regular kind of posting tomorrow, which means the October leftovers post and back to writing about bands that weren’t massive in 1994.

So here we are with the second, and concluding, part in our mini-series featuring great Weezer songs that never were released. You can find the story behind most of these songs in part 1. I think this is actually the stronger set of songs of the two, with another Song From The Black Hole, a run of songs when Rivers hit a songwriting peak again and a Rivers solo song that is just as good as anything Weezer ever put out on their best albums.

MP3 Weezer – Preacher’s Son (expired)
‘Preacher’s Son’ is one of the songs that was recorded back in the summer of 2000 as a demo for the Green Album. This was the first period of the band recording together in a few years, and they sound pretty good. The song is solid enough, yet was dumped so classic songs like ‘Crab’ could make it onto the album. What a good decision that was.

MP3 Weezer – Private Message (expired)
This was one of the album five demos, and one of the best of them. Essentially the story of an internet relationship forming (“When you are reading the words I write / You think that I’m just some dumb horny guy”), and how quickly they discover it just doesn’t work. There are several versions of this song floating around it, with an acoustic version that’s entirely different in it’s sound. I like this one the best though, as it actually has the classic kind of Weezer sound to it.

MP3 Weezer – Prodigy Lover (expired)
This song comes from the same set as ‘Private Message’ did, and it’s interesting mostly because of the subject matter. I have no idea how accurate this theory is, but I think this was Rivers’ response to Matt Sharp quitting the band. It has the feeling of something changing in the band (“Something is different / Something has changed / You write me your letters / They’re not the same”) and then seems to take on a slightly more bitter stance (“Uncomprehending / I’m stupified / I wrote the rule book / You can’t abide”). Now I may be reading far more into all this than is actually there, but that’s what I’ve always assumed it was about as it seems to fit so well. It’s also another chance to hear piano on a Weezer song, which is always good.

MP3 Weezer – Queen Of Earth (expired)
Not a great song, but an interesting one for being one of the few songs where computer trickery is employed on Rivers’ voice, giving it a slightly more robotic sound. There isn’t a great deal to the song itself beyond “be with me because I don’t want to be alone”, but it’s always fun to hear Weezer experimenting with entirely different sounds. It’s just a shame that they never try and do this on their actual albums.

MP3 Weezer – Superstar (expired)
Another song that dates back to around 2000, this is Rivers in full on introspective mode about how he compares as a rock star to the bands he grew up with. Of course he finds himself lacking in comparison (“They’d strut around and do their thing / All I know how to do is sing / And I don’t do that so well”), which is to be expected from Rivers I suppose. He continues, “I’m just a regular white guy / Who’s afraid to rock so hard / I’d break my guard / And give myself away”, yet not trying to do anything about it because he’s too scared that he’ll fall into the rock stereotype and end up doing something like killing himself if he does. That said, the idea of Rivers fully rocking out on stage is something that would amuse me a little.

MP3 Weezer – The Organ Player (expired)
I’ve never been able to quite work out the meaning behind this one. Some seem to think Rivers is singing about himself as the “bitter man” in the third person, but I’m not entirely convinced. I mostly just like it for it’s sound. Certainly one of the most mellow songs Weezer has ever recorded. It’s also nice to see Rivers employ something of a storyline into the song, even if I don’t have a clue what it’s supposed to all mean.

MP3 Weezer – What Everybody Wants (expired)
This one came from the same batch as ‘Comin’ Home’ from the first set of songs I posted, and again it’s a completely different sound for the band. It’s a very downbeat acoustic affair, which works giving the content. Once again, I don’t know how right I am, but I get the same kind of feeling from this song as I do from Nick Cave’s ‘Where The Wild Roses Grow’. Whether or not the song is supposed to be about the guy killing the girl, I don’t know, but it certainly comes across that way at times (“Darling I think it’s time to I let you go / I don’t feel any guilt as I touch your throat”). If it is, that makes it just about the darkest Weezer song recorded.

MP3 Weezer – You Won’t Get With Me Tonight (expired)
The end of ‘Blast Off’ from the first set of songs cut off suddenly, and this is why. The end of that song should lead straight into this song, the story even continue from one to the other. That songs ends with one of the characters asking “wasn’t she your favourite bitch in the academy?” and this one opens with “who you calling bitch?” and proceeds on with two of the Songs From The Black Hole characters singing back and forth. It’s pretty hard to separate who is singing what given Rivers is doing both sides of it. It’s essentially about two people wanting different things from a relationship while trying not to hurt each other in the meantime. It’s also a hell of a lot of fun.

Bonus MP3!

MP3 Rivers Cuomo – Longtime Sunshine (expired)
‘Longtime Sunshine’ is another of the songs that would have appeared on Songs From The Black Hole. I don’t know if it was ever performed by the full band, as the only version around on the internet seems to be this Rivers solo version. I couldn’t leave it off of here though as it’s just so very good. It sounds absolutely nothing like any other Weezer song, with Rivers and a piano dominating the song. A wonderful little song about just wanting to settle down with the simple things in life, sung in the all too vulnerable Rivers style that has been MIA for the past ten years. This is probably my favourite of all of the songs I’ve put up over these two posts. Then cry a little inside for it never having been recorded properly.

I hope that you’ve enjoyed this little journey down the cul-de-sac of good Weezer material. I’m still slightly hopeful that one day they will actually be able to put out good music once more, but given how long it’s been since the last really good songs, that hope just keeps on fading. At least we will always have two classic albums though, which is more than can be said of a lot of bands.

A few years ago Weezer were just about my favourite band. They were certainly the first band that I took an almost obsessive liking to anyway. This led me to collecting pretty much every song they ever recorded, included every demo and unreleased song. This was done largely because a few years ago they would put new songs up on their website on an almost daily basis. It was an interesting way to watch the evolution of the band. Unfortunately, then they dumped most of them and proceeded to release shit like Maladroit and Make Believe.

There were a large number of really very good songs during that period though, and I’ve collected the best of them for this two-part series of posts. I would have put them all in one, but 16 songs at once seems a little excessive, and means I don’t have to write so much in one go. These songs aren’t in any kind of arranged order beyond alphabetical, largely because I can’t remember when a lot of them date from. Most are just demo versions of songs, meaning they aren’t fully mastered, but they are still a good indication of what might have been.

MP3 Weezer – 367 (expired)
‘367′ was one of the album 5 demo songs that got dumped back in late 2004. I don’t know if ‘367′ was to be the finished song, or whether it was just the number of the song, seeing as every song is numbered and 367 would be about where they were up to at this point. It’s notable for it’s use of piano (way) in the background, something that will crop up on more than one of these songs.

MP3 Weezer – Ain’t Got Much Time (expired)
This is the song that closest matches the style of “current” Weezer, meaning it’s weaker than most of the ones here, but as current Weezer goes, it’s actually pretty good. The lyrics are pretty dumb and simplistic, but it’s short and manages to rock pretty well in the meantime.

MP3 Weezer – Blast Off (expired)
‘Blast Off’ is probably the oldest song here, dating from around 1995. After ‘The Blue Album’, Rivers’ intent was to release a “space rock opera” concept album, entitled ‘Songs From The Black Hole’. This fell through and eventually turned into ‘Pinkerton’, and only ‘Tired Of Sex’ and ‘Getchoo’ survived the transition. A few of the other songs, like ‘Devotion’ and ‘I Just Threw Out The Love Of My Dreams’ eventually surfaced on other releases, but most of the songs never saw the light of day. ‘Blast Off’ would have been one of the earliest tracks on the album, setting the style for what was to come. It’s a conversation between the four human occupants of a spaceship, and their robot travelling companion. Which may sound pretty weird, but it’s strangely addictive. Unfortunately the mp3 has rough cuts at the start and finish of the song, as this is where it would have merged straight into the other songs.

MP3 Weezer – Booby Trap (expired)
‘Booby Trap’ is from the period where Rivers wrote pretty simplistic songs, but it’s one of the better ones to fall into this category. And there’s something oddly enjoyable about Rivers asking “am I just going mental?” over and over.

MP3 Weezer – Comin’ Home (Left My Broken Heart In Carolina) (expired)
The strangest song here, and unfortunately I can’t remember any story behind it. I remember it being posted to the website out of the blue with a couple of other “unique” sounding songs, but nothing more ever seemed to come of any of them. I’m inclined to think it was a joke more than anything else, but it’s certainly amusing. I really don’t have the words to describe it, but if I didn’t know it was Weezer, I probably wouldn’t believe it if someone told me that was the case. It’s just downright bizarre, although any rock band who can feature whistling in their songs gets a thumbs up from me.

MP3 Weezer – Lullaby (expired)
More piano goodness to be found on this one. Another one of the album 5 demo recordings than never made it any further. Which is quite a shame as it’s a really nice song.

MP3 Weezer – Misstep (expired)
An absolutely insane song, with guitar work that sounds like it just stumbled in from the big rock era of the 80s. Trying to keep up with the lyrics is pretty much a lost cause, so it’s not hard to see why the song was abandoned, but I still find it to be a lot of fun.

MP3 Weezer – Mo Beats (expired)
The first song where Rivers seemed to get vocally pissed at the press (and the fans?) for their constant negativity about recent Weezer material. It isn’t exactly the greatest of comebacks (“Now to my challengers / Still think with little words / You’re so upset you’re pissing on yourself”), but the sound of the song makes it unique enough for me to post it here. I think this may have been Rivers’ first dabble in the rap-rock genre, but I’m not too sure.

Well that’s the first batch of songs covered then. I’ll be back with the second set in a day or two. I actually think that the second batch is a stronger set of songs overall, although all of them are an interesting way of filling in the big gaps between old and new Weezer.