Tragic Girl Adds a New Twist To Old Weezer

The official release date for Weezer’s Pinkerton Deluxe and Death to False Metal is a little more than two weeks away. But some of the new material for both albums is already out there. Seattle’s 107.7 The End is streaming Autopilot and The Odd Couple off Death To False Metal (both from the sessions for 2008’s The Red Album), along with a live version of El Scorcho and the newly-discovered Pinkerton-era track Tragic Girl from Pinkerton Deluxe.

I’m still in the process of listening (haven’t heard Tragic Girl yet) but I like what I hear so far.  Have a listen for yourself at blogs.1077theend.com/aharms/2010/10/14/new-music-weezer-from-death-to-false-metal-pinkerton-re-issue-here-stream/

Edit: I’ve listened to the three new songs a few (to be honest, more than a few) times and I’m happy.  Odd Couple is a sweet little number and Autopilot is a riff-driven new wave tune with a great bridge and interesting lyrics.

But the gem here is Tragic Girl.  I’m not 100 percent sure of the details, but the song was recorded in the summer of either 1996 (while recording some of the Pinkerton B-Sides, after the album proper was complete) or the following summer (for the Pink Triangle remix sessions).  Original bassist Matt Sharp did not play, as he was off galavanting with the Rentals.  Thematically, Tragic Girl fits in with the end of Pinkerton and would have fit in as either the second-to-last or last track.  The solo echoes that of Pink Triangle and the lyrics reference Butterfly. The song is a bit rough, and probably would have been edited had it been officially released.  But as it is, with its raw energy and emotion, it fits in perfectly with Pinkerton and is an amazing listen, even though we’ve had to wait 14 years for it.

Weezer Makes Some Interesting Choices For Their Next Album

More than a year ago, Weezer announced they would release a CD of material from past recording sessions that were never officially released.  The compilation, to be released November 2, is titled Death to False Metal (originally titled Odds and Ends), and is even being considered by Rivers Cuomo to be the band’s ninth album.

Keep in mind, Weezer’s eighth album, Hurley, was released today.

(Also hitting stores November 2 is a deluxe edition of Pinkerton, with loads of extra unheard material, but that’s neither here nor there).

As much as I’ve enjoyed the new Weezer material we’ve gotten in the past few years, I’m really looking forward to Death to False Metal.  Rivers is known for his prodigious songwriting and over the years, he and the band have recorded multitudes of songs that haven’t been heard by anyone outside Weezer.  Even though the material may be old (seemingly going back to 1998), it’s still being considered a new album, partially because Rivers has put some extra work in on the songs, as he told the AV Club while discussing ’98 era song Trampoline:

I just got stuck and had a verse and a chorus where I couldn’t figure out where to go. And just recently I was able to put in a new section, and some new chords and a guitar solo and a breakdown, and I just love it now.

The album itself will have ten tracks, although the band will release a number of other songs as bonus tracks in various regions.  In earlier interviews, Rivers confirmed that along with Trampoline, other tracks on the album include Autopilot, Everyone, Turn it Up and a cover of Unbreak My Heart. As for the rest of the album, nothing’s official, yet someone on the official Weezer message board says he’s found a Japanese site with a tracklist (in a manner similar to how I found the tracklist for the original Alone back in aught seven).  According to the site, the tentative tracklist (I’m guessing that songs 11 & 12 are the region-specific bonus songs) is:
01. Turn it Up
02. I Don’t Want Your Loving
03. Blowin’ My Stack
04. Losing My Mind
05. Everyone
06. I’m a Robot
07. Trampoline
08. Odd Couple
09. Autopilot
10. Unbreak My Heart
11. Outta Here
12. Yellow Camaro
If true, this should be a good listen, but one that will disappoint some people.  As I mentioned before, Weezer has a large amount of unreleased material from throughout their career.  You’re not going to make everyone happy in just ten tracks.  Having not heard any of these, it’s a bit hard to predict how the album will sound, but Rivers says some are poppy songs (Trampoline, Autopilot) and other are very heavy (Everyone, Blowin’ My Stack).

The surprising thing here to someone who has studied the Weezer recording history (not currently available on the revamped official site) is how many of these songs originate from the Make Believe Era. I Don’t Want Your Loving and Blowin’ My Stack are from 2003.  Losing My Mind, I’m a Robot, Unbreak My Heart and Outta Here are from the 2004 Make Believe Sessions.  Even Yellow Camaro, a Brian Bell composition already released as part of his side band, the Space Twins, was recorded during the early Album Five sessions in 2002.

As for the rest of the songs, the mystery sessions of 1998 are represented with Everyone and Trampoline.  Autopilot and Odd Couple are from the early Red Album Sessions.  And the albums first track, Turn it Up, is the latest version of 80s Radio, the song developed as part of Rivers’ Let’s Write a Sawng Project.

Obviously, I’m looking forward to Death to False Metal and any associated bonus tracks.  The scary thing is Weezer probably has enough material to make this a series and thus rule my life for the next few years.