6 posts tagged “weezer”
 Insect Weezer ♥ Hammerstein Ballroom, New York (10/31/09) Tour Dates
12/01/09 Aragon Ballroom Chicago, IL
Discography
12/03/09 Eagles Ballroom Milwaukee, WI 12/05/09 Air Canada Center Toronto, ON 12/07/09 Agganis Arena Boston, MA 12/09/09 Patriot Center Washington DC 12/10/09 Susquehanna Philadelphia, PA
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To fully grasp the emotional scope of this review, you should know three things:
1. My first kiss took place at a seventh grade Halloween party with some dude named Eugene. “El Scorcho” was playing in the background.
2. My first non-paste-eating boyfriend was my ninth grade algebra tutor, who bore an uncanny resemblance to Green Album-era Rivers, minus the braces.
3. In high school I was co-president of a dedicated Weezer fanclub called The Cuomosexuals. We mostly dissected Pinkerton lyrics, line by line.
Needless to say, this show (on Halloween, of all days) carried quite a bit of sentimental weight for me. Like most seasoned fans, I’ve pretty much abandoned all hope of Weezer ever releasing anything remotely listenable, yet I’m still willing to brave Ticketmaster fees just to hear “Tired of Sex” – even if that means sitting through gems like “We Are All on Drugs” and “Can’t Stop Partying.” In terms of band-fanbase relationships, Rivers is Sid Vicious, and we old-school fans are doped up, masochistic Nancy.
The show was at the sprawling Hammerstein Ballroom, an odd place to see the opening act: Matt & Kim. (Unnecessary Personal Fact #4: My friends and I saw Matt & Kim right after our senior prom. This night truly was high school redux.) I’ve seen them play in the backroom of a Texan bar and the bowels of a Brooklyn brewery, but this venue was by far the strangest. Despite this, they were as hyper as ever, dressed up as Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgwick and hurling candy and condoms into the audience. They won the crowd over by using “The Final Countdown” to segue into “Daylight.” Yes, they had t-shirt guns and giant inflatable spiders, and they were playing in a 1200-capacity ballroom – but there was no denying that this was the same band I saw after my senior prom.
Alas, if that was only the same case for Weezer. I should go
ahead and say that I had a fucking amazing time. I was front row at a Weezer
show, mere inches away from Rivers. This was the epitome of my high school
fantasies. But something was amiss. This may have had something to do with the
fact that they came out dressed like insects.
Yes, when Weezer took the stage, Brian was as a beetle, Pat was a praying mantis, Scott was something vague and sparkly, and Rivers –ever the Kiss fan—was a big, fuzzy purple spider. It was cheesy and nerdy, two of Weezer’s hallmarks, but what really brought it home was when Rivers stormed onto the stage, one of his many furry appendages got tangled in a microphone stand, causing him to stumble. All of this happened within the first few seconds of “Hash Pipe,” by the way.
The theatrics were obviously a priority that night. Some of the stranger items of interest: Rivers brought out a ukulele with the sole intention of kicking its ass, Leighton Meester (a.k.a. Blair Waldorf of Gossip Girl fame) made a cameo to help sing some song off of Raditude, Rivers proved to be quite adept with a trampoline, Pat played Rivers’ guitar parts for most of the show, Scott sang “My Name Is Jonas” (blasphemy!), and they ended the first set with their infamous MGMT/Lady Gaga medley. Oh, and Rivers rapped Lil Wayne’s part on “Can’t Stop Partying.” Vanilla Ice would be proud.
As both an insufferable snob and helpless Weezer fan, I was torn. I went beavershit crazy during any song from the first two albums, but during anything post-2001, I’d turn to my friend and shrug, mouthing, Do you know this song? (Yeah, we’re assholes.) Soon I noticed that we were pretty much the only ones not creaming ourselves over a song like “Pork and Beans.” Weezer plays stadiums and ballrooms for a reason – and it’s because of this new breed of diehard fans who unconditionally love Rivers, regardless of his questionable facial hair and fondness for Snuggies. These are the people who close their eyes and sway to “Beverly Hills,” while restlessly checking their Blackberries during “Surf Wax America.” In short, these are Weezer’s true fans, whereas I represent their bitter ex who is stuck in the past with the emotional stretch marks to prove it.
They ended the show with “Buddy Holly,” which was good enough for me. My inner-seventh grader was dying to hear “El Scorcho,” but it went unplayed that night. I’m sure it was for the best, as it wouldn’t have been the same without Eugene.
11/01/2009 15:16:06 ♥ kateg (
) ♥ www.weezer.com ♥ myspace.com/weezer
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In 2001, Universal Music started re-releasing landmark albums in their Deluxe Editions. These reissues are in deluxe digipaks, usually with an extra CD. These Deluxe Editions are really targetted towards collectors, casual fans might be happy with just the regular album as the prices are sometime really expensive. Prices range from $15 to $40, but if you're a collector or mega fan, they are well worth it for the rare/obscure tracks and booklets that comes in these sets. The album are in digipacks and fit inside a clear plastic slipcase (note: these are not interchangeable with other Deluxe releases).
Since the series is pretty successful, there are a few imitators in similar formats, notably Rhino/Elektra/Sire releases of Depeche Mode, R.E.M., and The Cure, although I should point out that these special editions have cardboard slipcases, not the clear plastic.
Also note that "Legacy Editions" from Legacy Recordings and "Collector's Edition" from Sony should not be confused with the Universal Releases.
I've compiled a listing based on umeportal.com, livingwithmusic.com, and wikipedia: W♥M's guide to Universal's Deluxe Editions.
I may return and add in Legacy Editions and Rhino re-issues, if anyone out there is interested.
By the way, some Deluxe Editions are available only in certain countries because they're popular in certain region (for instance, I think all the Pulp and Orb Deluxes are available only in the UK).
For collectors, you might want to see if you can get your hands on the free Best Buy's Deluxe Edition: Sampler. There's nothing really special about the 12-track disc, it comes in a standard jewel case.
We've previously mentioned a few Deluxe albums, so I've include a few links on the sidebar for you to read more.
Below are reviews of six Deluxe Editions that is in my collection:
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GREASE - 25TH ANNIVERSARY
Grease is the word, is the word that you heard! Aw, who doesn't love this movie and soundtrack. The double LP album went on to the Deluxe Edition, released last year. All the classic songs are on here, "Grease", "Summer Nights", "Hopelessly Devoted to You", "Greased Lightning", and "We Go Together". The bonus second disc contains mostly "sing-a-long" version, which are essentially instrumentals. Although some instrumentals, such as the title track, "Grease", is amazing with the Gary Brown saxophone. The "megamix" and "dream mix" are dance medleys, which are kind of nice, but it couldn't really take the place of the originals. Also worth mentioning is the lyric booklet are designed as a school three-ring binder. |
ELVIS COSTELLO - MY AIM IS TRUE
I've been waiting for Universal to release all of Elvis' catalogue - and I was pleased to see that This Year's Model (the album with Pump it Up) was released a few months ago. My Aim is True (1977) is the first in the reissues, and it's a good start, because it was the first Costello album. Over thirty years later, the Deluxe Edition expands on the original release with some early demos. The bonus disc features the entire live concert from The Nashville Rooms (Aug 7th, 1977) as well as the soundcheck from the same venue. The live recording is from soundboard and sounds just as good as a studio environment. Trivia: I've seen Elvis Costello twice in my life, at a live concert in Berkeley and, strangely, at the Arctic Monkeys show as one of his bodyguard pushed me aside. |
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WEEZER - THE BLUE ALBUM
There's no additions to the original album, the first disc is relatively short, being barely 40 minutes long. The second disc made up for it, with fan-favorites such as "Mykel and Carli", a song about two of their biggest fan (who died while driving to a Weezer concert), "Jamie" (a song about their attorney, originally appearing on DGC Rarities, Vol. 1), and "Susanne". There are some pre-production recording, such as "Paperface" and "I Swear It's True", that's nothing more than glorified demos, but it's still nice to have it collected on this reissue. The best thing about this Deluxe Edition is all the original lyrics were reprinted from the original hand-written notes from Rivers Cuomo. At the same time this was released, Geffen also issued their first DVD called Video Capture Device, which made a nice addition to any Weezer fan's collection. |
VELVET UNDERGROUND & NICO
I've always thought this album was called Andy Warhol, but apparently the official title is Velvet Underground and Nico. What's interesting to note is that Warhol is the band's manager at this point in their career and he was the person that courted Nico to collaborate with the band. I'm actually not that thrilled about this re-release, partly because the extra is basically "the mono version" of their album. Let me put it this way: if you were to buy a bluray movie "deluxe edition" and the only extra is a VHS, it's really not worth paying extra, right? I suppose, they had to put something on the second disc as, by now, there was little undiscovered VU music. The extra bonus are five songs from Nico's album Chelsea Girl, originally released in October 1967. |
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SONIC YOUTH - DIRTY
This was the first of a series of Sonic Youth releases from Universal/Geffen. It contains a bunch of extras, mostly rehearsal recordings on the second disc (which includes songs not released on Dirty). What's important about this album is that it was originally the first album to make Sonic Youth a household name, with their massive hit "100%", even though they were previously getting airplay with "Kool Thing" (from Goo; also released as a Deluxe Edition). Photo extras includes a glimpse into the notes after their first proof print of the Dirty album, although I was disappointed to find out that they didn't reprint the pornographic image on the original album. I suppose it's all in good taste. |
TEARS FOR FEAR - SONGS FROM THE BIG CHAIR
This Tears for Fear's biggest hit album, finally released in Deluxe format. The original album only ran 44 minutes, so they added 7 B-sides, filling up the rest of the disc. The second CD contains 7" and 12" remixes, which was pretty common at the time (usually the 12" is a dance mix). The band really started to fit in radio in 1985, along such other smooth mellow soul 80s sound such as Simply Red and Sade, and their biggest hit at the time was "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" and "Shout". Songs from the Big Chair hit #1 in the US, Canada, and Germany, making this one of the most successful album from this British band, although surprisingly they only hit #2 on the UK charts. The booklet contains a 10-page article about the importance of this album from Paul Lester, editor at Uncut Magazine. |
There are a couple of CD releases on Tuesday, June 3rd that I need to address.
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Brendan James officially releases The Day Is Brave this Tuesday. I've previously talked about his new album and EP and judging from readers' comments, they really love this guy.
I'm looking at Amazon's "Customers who bought this also bought": Duffy, Death Cab for Cutie, and Jack Johnson, so you get the general idea just how popular James is.
So, just as a reminder, his album is finally almost here, for all the people that asked me about The Day is Brave and it looks like he'll be on tour this Summer:
06/04/08 New York - Highline Ballroom
06/06/08 Tuscon, AZ - Rialto Theatre
06/09/08 Chapel Hill, NC - WestEnd Wine Bar
06/10/08 Washington, DC - Corcoran
06/11/08 Boston, MA - Club Passim
06/12/08 New Haven, CT - Space
06/13/08 Easton, MD - Coffee East
06/17/08 Ridgewood, NJ - Blendbar
06/19/08 Londonderry, NH - Tupelo Music Hall
06/21/08 Philadelphia, PA - Tin Angel
06/22/08 Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom
06/23/08 Ann Arbor, MI - The Arc
06/24/08 Indianapolis, IN - Birdy's
06/26/08 Madison, WI - Cafe Montmarte
06/27/08 Chicago, IL - Matyres
06/29/08 Des Moines, IA - Vaudeville Mews
06/30/08 Columbia, MO - Mojos
07/01/08 Iowa City, IA - Englert Theatre
07/05/08 Chicago, IL - Schuba's
07/08/08 New York, NY - Canal Room
07/10/08 Vienna, VA - Jammin' Java
07/11/08 Nashville, TN - 3rd & Lindsey
07/13/08 Atlanta, GA - Eddie's Attic
07/14/08 Fayetteville, AK - Music Hall
07/15/08 Dallas, TX - House of Blues
07/20/08 Tuscon, AZ - Club Congress
07/22/08 Los Angeles, CA - Hotel Cafe
Radiohead is having their first ever Best Of collection out on their former EMI Records. Since I have all their albums and there's nothing new in this release, I probably won't pick up the album. There are two version: a single disc and a 2-disc set, the later disc containing such hits (with fans) as "You", "How To Disappear Completely", and "Let Down".
Radiohead apparently have been fighting against this release, and Thom Yorke is pretty unhappy about it, stating in the magazine Word:
We haven't really had any hits so what exactly is the purpose? There's nothing we can do about it. The work is really public property now anyway, in my head at least. It's a wasted opportunity in that if we'd been behind it, and we wanted to do it, then it might have been good.
That's not exactly true, Radiohead did have some chart success with "Creep" (their best-known work), "Paranoid Android", and "No Surprises".
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Radiohead's sound may have changed and evolved to their current experimental sound - but one band that doesn't want to evolve is Weezer. Their new album Weezer (The Red Album) is out on Geffen on Tuesday.
I'm sorry to say that I'm less than excited about their lack of a title (following their previously two releases of Weezer (the Blue Album) and Weezer (The Green Album)) and it seems to me that the band is just rehashing the album that made them famous: the Blue album.
Clearly the superior album that they need to imitate is Pinkerton, a commercial disaster, but much-loved by hardcore fans.
I do really respect Rivers and Patrick Wilson (I love this guy), but I just think the cover art and album title just doesn't ring excitment - at least for me anyway.
Admittedly, their video for "Pork & Beans" is actually pretty funny. It mixes a bunch of meme/viral videos together, so you'll recognize that dramatic prairie dog, to the "Will it Blend", to that Numa Numa kid, etc. Strangely it is missing the Rick Roll, because that would be awesome to see Rick Astley in a Weezer video.
Update: Apparently Weezer's had Tay Zonday to cover their "Pork & Beans" song. The video was uploaded last night for promotion for today's release. I have a soft spot in my heart for Zonday because he is from Minneapolis (I just wish they'd put a mic there so he can pull his head away to breath).
Links:
myspace.com/brendanjames
www.radiohead.com
www.weezer.com
| W♥M wrote: Tue, Jun 3, 2008 at 6:53 AM |
There's also a Radiohead DVD being released today in the USA, but like the "best-of" album and the previously released box set, it's not endorsed by the band. It's being released by their former record label, no doubt in retaliation for dropping them in favor of XL Recordings.
-randy
| vu wrote: Tue, Jun 3, 2008 at 11:31 AM |
I think I'll pick up the DVD, even though I have some of their videos from 7 Television Commercials and various compilation such as the Director's Label. Like a lot of things, the packaging and pricing does factor in, so if it's too expensive, I may just skip out on it.
I also noticed that Radiohead's back catalogue is now available on iTunes, according to BBC news.
| Jeff D wrote: Tue, Jun 3, 2008 at 11:43 PM |
After listening to the album, I couldn't disagree more about Weezer. The Red Album is absolutely nothing like the Blue or Green with the possible exception of Pork and Beans. The Greatest Man That Ever Lived would easily fit on Pinkerton. It's downright bizarre.
At their core, Weezer has always been about writing good solid rock and roll songs and has never made any apologies for it. Rivers Cuomo has talked about it interviews for years.
Weezer Album Discography
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Links
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Rivers Cuomo that famous singer of Weezer has a new CD out tomorrow (Dec 18th) called Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo. There's about five songs on the album that was meant for Songs from the Black Hole, that infamous album that was meant to follow their self-titled debut album.
I'm still unsure why those songs were dropped, they were quite good. I've included "Superfriend" that was meant for Black Hole. It contains the usual Rivers theme of love and "bestest friend". There's definitely the same feel as songs from Pinkerton (which is my all-time favorite Weezer album, by the way).
The other songs off this album were demo version meant for Blue album, including "Buddy Holly". It's interesting to hear that rough cut (as bad as the sound quality), before it was finally made it to the studio version.
"I Was Made For You" is easily the best song. The lyrics are themes we've seen on other Weezer songs, that is the only weakness to this song. The song I was thinking of is "El Scorcho", where the main chorus is: "I think I'd be good for you/And you'd be good for me" (I know there are a ton of songs that has those lyrics of "I was made for you, you were made for me", but this was the closest Weezer lyrics).
If you're a casual Weezer fan, I wouldn't recommend this CD to you. You're better off getting the blue album or Pinkerton (this album takes a few listen to before you really appreciate it). If you're already a Weezer fan, definitely get Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo.
As a special bonus, since it is so close to the Christmas Holiday, I'm also including "Christmas Song" which was a Radio Promo. The b-side to this EP is "Christmas Celebration", which originally appeared on the single to Photograph.
Also, check out I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams, the only Weezer song that's actually not sung by Rivers Cuomo. This song was meant for Songs from the Black Hole.
12/17/2007 23:32:44
vu
my♥posts
www.weezer.com
• Girls Gone Wild
• Mixican Heat (Fashion)
• Q&A With Elvis Costello
• Supreme Court vs Teens
• Layne Staley article
• Video Game Summer
Continuing on with my magazine coverage, we have the biggest US "music" magazine: Rolling Stone.
Although the magazine had its origin in news and music, they're actually more interested in movie stars and pop culture than music. Of all the major music magazine publishers out there, I have never liked RS.
So why do I have this issue you ask? Well, my brother had a free subscription for a year, so I ended up adding the magazine to my collection (since he never read it).
The main story that I'll be talking about is the Courtney Love vs the former Nirvana band members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic. I remember really hating Love (haha) after reading this article.
After Cobain's suicide in 1994, there was a long legal battle over the rights and management of Nirvana's music. Love contests that Cobain only shared the royalties out of kindness and she wanted full control of the Nirvana empire.
The real losers in this court battle are the fans, who haven't heard anything new since In Utero, which was released in 1993.
It should be noted that shortly after the Rolling Stone article that Love and surviving Nirvana members settled out of court and a few months later the greatest hits Nirvana album was released. Included in this album was the final Nirvana studio recording of "You Know You're Right".
Since then, a Nirvana boxset appeared: With the Lights Out (Nov 2004) (selections from this boxset was released under the title Sliver: The Best of the Box in Nov 2005).
July 26, 2007 8:29 PM
vu
my♥posts
vu@weheartmusic.com
interscope.com/nirvana
| Bouche wrote: Jul 26, 2007 8:57 PM |
[this is good] I subscribed to RS about 16 years ago. The most important feature was the articles concerning bands I liked and the CD reviews... Then along the way I think I developed a palate too eclectic and obscure than what they offered. I started djing in college and discovered CMJ magazine ... What isn't loveable about a music magazine that comes with a CD sampler? Whenever I bought it, it was like winning the lottery. Not only did I get tracks from bands I liked, but also from ones I never knew I liked... It were those CDs that made getting a music magazine exciting and what makes your posts a pleasure to read. It's great to have an offering of favorites others have found! that I might have missed. Thanks for all your work!
And I remember the first time I heard Smells like Teen Spirit. It was during the short period MTV actually played music... Most likely on 120 minutes. Strange how these services that were constructed around a love for 'music' seemingly abandoned it in favor of money. Not that money's a bad thing... But screwing a loyal viewer/subscriber base? That's not so good.
| Artist: Album: Website: Location: Members(Current): | Weezer Pinkerton http://weezer.com Los Angeles, USA rivers cuomo, brian bell, scott shriner, patrick wilson |
Alison and I were rocking out to this song.
It pretty much sums up my life at the moment :/
Did you know that there is an unreleased Weezer album ? It's called Songs from the Black Hole and it was supposed to be the sophmore album, but instead it was shelved in favor of Pinkerton. True story.I don't want to be an old man anymore
It's been a year or two since I was out on the floor
Shakin' booty, makin' sweet love all the night
It's time I got back to the good life
It's time I got back
It's time I got back
and I don't even know how I got off the tracks.
Some of those songs surfaced as b-sides, this is one of them: I Just Threw Out The Love Of My Dreams (featuring That Dog singer, Rachel Haden).
