Another Form of Relief

Shit, I actually sort of like this. It still amazes me just how much goodwill I have toward Weezer at this point. The last album I genuinely liked was 13 years ago, and yet I still give every release a chance. Even the last album had a couple of tracks I managed to enjoy on it.

(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To is the first single from the band’s seventh (holy shit, really?) album which may just have the worst artwork of any album in recent memory. Yes, even worse than this.

I haven’t heard the whole album so have no idea if it’s any good or not, but I admit I quite like this song. It’s by no means great, but it’s a solid enough bit of throwaway pop rock. It leaves a slight nagging feeling that the band are a little too old to be singing songs like this, but when the album also includes “I’m Your Daddy” and “The Girl Got Hot”, maybe this is their mid-life crisis record. Throw in collaborations with Lil’ Wayne and The All-American Rejects and I have no idea whether to be intrigued or terrified.

Fun fact: The video above is directed by Marc Webb, director of the delightful (500) Days of Summer.

Raditude will be released on November 3 by Geffen Records.

The 8-bit Album is the kind of project that I’d usually ignore. I’m not really a fan of entire compilations of covers or remixes, even if it’s of one of my favourite bands by a bunch of bands I’ve never heard of. And if that wouldn’t put me off, this almost certainly would:

“The songs on this compilation have mostly been created using original videogame hardware running home-brew software, and vary radically in style, from minimal ‘one man and his Game Boy’ compositions to 8-bit inspired full band performances.”

I only listened to one song from this as I was under the impression it was a remix, but then I started to explore the others. And you know what? It’s bloody excellent. It’s exactly what it’s described as. Weezer covers that sound like they were put together on a Game Boy. It’s not all perfect, with the compilation having a few more purely instrumental covers that I’d ideally like, but it’s a minor quibble. It’s more hit than miss, and it’s a hell of a lot of fun.

The entire 14 song 8-bit Album is available now as a free download from Pterodactyl Squad.

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.

It’s been a couple of years since The Band Of That Guy Who Was In Weezer appeared again with a new EP, following Matt Sharp’s misstep into the solo arena. Now they are back with their first full-length project in ten years, a collection of three EPs that will be collected as an album at the end of the year. It’s an interesting way to go, even if I’m not entirely convinced by it. The releasing of the EPs is fine, releasing them only as downloads and making us wait for physical copies is a tad annoying. Especially when the physical copies come with a long wait time and a ludicrously high price tag.

None of that should get in the way of the music though, and it’s good to hear The Rentals back at doing what they do best. Like the best songs from their previous release, Story of a Thousand Seasons Past sounds as though it would feel right at home on their original Return of the Rentals album. The song remains even handed throughout, never really getting it’s big rise or succinct statement. This style is one that a lot of bands struggle with, but here it manages to suit both Sharp’s voice and songwriting. Certainly it’s more rounded than any of their previous material, even if it doesn’t quite become the perfect song. It’s still good enough to win over new ears to the band, rather than having the band still ride along on the goodwill toward the previous band.

Chapter One of Songs About Time is available now as a digital download for $6. The next two volumes should appear in July and October respectively. Physical releases will follow in December and will cost, depending on which version you go for, either $125 or $275. I shit you not.

I’m not sure how I didn’t find this earlier, but Weezer have been doing the ‘Hootenanny Tour’, where, fans can bring whatever instruments they can play, and join in the performances of the songs. While this may not be the greatest musical achievement ever, it must certainly be something that’s a lot of fun for the fans taking part. As a preview to this, the band played a live set for Yahoo, with a small number of fans all bringing their own instruments in. The video of El Scorcho above is the result. A rowdy group of people singing along, half of them on guitars, a bunch of people drumming on whatever they can find, and a few stragglers playing entirely random instruments. Above all though, it’s a lot of fun. Even if it’s kind of curious that Brian Bell takes on lead duties over Rivers.

You can view the entire Weezer set, including Say It Ain’t So, Jamie, a cover of Radiohead’s Creep and a whole bunch more here.

The Rentals, or rather The Band Of That Guy Who Was In Weezer, seem to be alive once again. Eight years after their second and seemingly last album, Seven More Minutes, the band have released a new EP. It may seem a little odd to be writing about that release when I haven’t heard it, but I couldn’t resist posting this gem. Translator is a song that was cut from the all over the place Seven More Minutes, and is the epitome of everything that made their first album great. A nice usage of Moog, swirling male-female melodies and just the right amount of distortion. Which begs the question as to why it was left off of the album, given the some of the dreck that did make it on.

No matter how much great new music I discover, there is always one album that will seemingly ever remain my favourite: Pinkerton by Weezer. While I love the album dearly, it does make me listen to a lot of crappy songs. The crap I’m referring to is pretty much everything Weezer has recorded in the time since it’s release ten years ago. If any other band had produced that much rubbish I would have given up on them long ago, but I’m incredibly forgiving when it comes to Weezer. Apparently I still hold some subconscious hope that they can make another Pinkerton.

Every now and again though, something comes out from the Weezer camp that intrigues me a little. The last time this happened was a few years ago with the album five demo recordings, most of which never saw the light of day officially. A couple of weeks ago, Idolator put a up a new demo from Rivers entitled ‘Pig’. I have no idea exactly where it comes from or what it’s intended for. The only thing I do know is that I kind of like it.

In just the course of a few minutes, Rivers narrates an entire lifespan of someone, from a happy childhood through to getting married and having kids to eventual death. It’s quite an achievement to cover the life cycle so efficiently, and on the most part, it’s made to sound pretty good. There’s nothing here beyond an indifferent voice and an acoustic guitar in a style that isn’t a million miles away from Elliott Smith. The only problem is that it seems to fall apart a couple of minutes in when Rivers moves from gentle narration to over the top high pitched singing.

It’s certainly a good effort though, and the most interesting Weezer related material I’ve heard in the past five years. I look forward to hearing more of it, even if I’m probably setting myself up for further crushing disappointment.

MP3 Rivers Cuomo – Pig (expired)