Author: King Tom

A Red Album Review From A Weezer Fanboy

The problem with new Weezer albums is that they are almost always compared by reviewers to the group’s previous efforts.

Reviewers often make up for their lack of creativity or unwillingness to move on with life by mentioning the band’s other efforts, previous bassists or frequent hiatuses. Unfortunately, this takes focus away on what the reviewer is supposed to be doing (reviewing a new album) and places it on the fact that the reviewer is living in the past.

So here it is, a commentary on Weezer’s recently released album, Weezer (2008, a.k.a The Red Album) that keeps mention of certain issues to a minimum.  And by the way, we’re not talking about the roody-poo ten-track CD that was issued. As far as I’m concerned, The Red Album is the 14-track “bonus/deluxe” edition.

After a listen to The Red Album, three words come to mind: bold, fun, rock.

For a band that has, in the past, perfected the 2.5 minute power pop song, this album is adventerous. This album features longer songs, increased use of synthesizers and other instruments, and different songwriters/lead singers throughout its 14 tracks. However, the most bold of all moves, especially for a band whose lead guitarist can shred, is the total lack of guitar solos.  But the beauty of that move is they’re not missed. These songs throw a lot out there. Case in point, The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn), showcasing about ten different musical styles, all united around a common theme in five minutes. Or Dreamin’, another five-minute gem which takes a light pastoral break in the middle of the rock.

On the surface, the two aforementioned songs aren’t emotionally deep.  The lyrics of TGMTEL are essentially five minutes of rock star posturing from Rivers, set against different genres of music. Not every track needs to whine with emotion. Weezer has succeeded in making quality rock that’s fun to listen to and sing along with.

This is not a lightweight album. If it’s emotion you’re looking for, consider The Spider or Pig, where Rivers contemplates his morality and place in the universe. There’s also Pat Wilson-penned Automatic, which he calls “family rock.” Or, probably the deepest song on The Red Album, The Angel and the One, a soaring number that just builds and builds before a long wind-down, much like the most underrated song on The Beatles’ self-titled album, Long, Long, Long.

The Red Album contains a lot of reflection, something you’d expect from Rivers, who a) wrote Pinkerton and b) meditates for fun. But not all of this introspection is in angst.  Most of it drives the music and ties into the fun aspect mentioned earlier. Consider the album opener Troublemaker, where Rivers sings of his childhood wishes to be a rock star (complete with reference to that awkward phase in ’99), or Pork and Beans, where he discovers he’s just fine with himself.  The introspection is all over the album, just not how you’d expect it.

In recent interviews, Rivers has expressed an interest in expanding himself musically and lyrically. No longer content with “generic” sounding songs, he’s mixing up arrangements, and even starting to write music from the perspective of other people. One of the unexpected gems of the album, Miss Sweeney is a good example of this. The song, about a boss who has some strong feelings for his assistant, features Rivers doing some quasi-rapping in the verses, followed up by big strong hooky rock for the choruses.  Listening to the verses, you wouldn’t think the song would amount to much, but as a whole, Weezer really knocks this one out of the park.

With all of this considered, you really can’t compare Red to any of the other Weezer albums. Band collaboration has increased exponentially. There are different songwriters and even singers.  The band is in a different place when it comes to promoting the album and allowing their fans to hear what’s been produced along the way. As I’ve mentioned previously, it’s an exciting time to be a Weezer fan. And this is the perfect album for that time.

King Tom

Where's Hideki?

For the past six seasons, the Yankees have had a dependable, professional and productive Japanese import–Hideki Matsui, an outfielder who has been a steady contributor to the team.

Ten years ago, the Yankees had another Japanese import, their first (if you’re not counting Kats Maeda), also named Hideki, but he wasn’t really dependable, professional, and was only productive in short spurts.

Hideki Irabu made his first appearance as a MLB player in July of ’97 after the Yankees acquired his rights (Along with Homer Bush) from the Padres. There was a lot of build-up and media frenzy during the acquisition and Irabu’s stint in the minors. While he impressed in his first game against the Tigers, he quickly fell apart and went back and forth between the minors and the big leagues.  A lot of news stories around the time focused on the fact that Irabu was rude, couldn’t cover first base and had a straight fastball.

Believe it or not, in the early months of the ’98 season, Irabu was the teams’ most dependable starter. In a year where injuries threatened the team early on, he kept a sub-3.00 ERA through July, and didn’t lose his first start until May 30.

Starting in late ’98, Hideki turned back into a pumpkin and floundered throughout ’99 before being dealt away to Montreal, in a deal where Expos management must have thought they were getting Cy Young.

The New York Times recently checked in on Irabu, who still lives in the U.S. and is in the restaurant business in California:

Irabu, who was out of the country and could not be reached for comment, now enjoys relative anonymity. He lives with his wife, Kyonsu, and two children in a three-bedroom home in the hills of Rancho Palos Verdes, about 25 miles south of downtown Los Angeles. In his current hometown, the difference from Manhattan or Tokyo is as easy to spot as the horse trails that run alongside many of the streets. His main chore is checking in on a pair of Japanese restaurants he has invested in. “He has a good life,” Nomura said.

As for the restaurant business, “one day he called me and said he was buying a udon shop,” Nomura said of the Japanese term for noodle. The fast-food shop was open for about a year, but closed late last year despite what neighbors in the industrial neighborhood of Gardena said was a brisk lunch-time business. Nomura said Irabu sold the business, but has two other restaurants, although he is not involved in their day-to-day operations.

One thing about that article- in the picture, Irabu is wearing a long Yankees jacket- in the middle of July. And that summer was hot, and now that I think about it, he was always wearing long sleeves.  Thing is, that summer, in New York, Irabu t-shirts were everywhere.

And as mentioned on his baseball-reference page, I still own two of them.

King Tom

The Greatest Video That Never Got Any Play

Weezer, “performing” The Greatest Man That Ever Lived.  This was actually produced by MTV, but it won’t air on the station, because, you know, they don’t show videos anymore.  And don’t look for it on VH1 Classic either, because they can’t fit it in between their 200 airings of Spinal Tap this month.

I’ll have a few words to say about the Red Album this weekend.

King Tom

iHate iTunes

Like a sucker, I signed up for iTunes for today’s release of the Red Album to get access to the bonus tracks and ticket pre-order access that was promised to those who pre-ordered it through Apple’s infernal software.

I’m just glad I wasn’t the only Weezer fan out there who got this message while attempting to download the album this morning:

itunes message

I know Weezer likes to take some time in between albums, but this is ridiculous!

I also went around in search of a physical copy of the album. Target was sold out. Barnes and Noble was sold out and was charging double Target’s price.  And a few other places didn’t have it yet.  I’ll have my thoughts together on the awesomeness that is the Red Album soon.

King Tom

How To Use A Magical Island

Ben in the desertFor the past four TV seasons, the survivors of the crash of Oceanic 815 have been stranded on an island.

We don’t know much about the island. But we know it’s a special place. It was home to some culture which built a statue honoring a being with four toes. A nineteenth-century slaving ship somehow landed in the middle of the island. People with life-threatening diseases and disabilities have been healed once they’ve stepped foot on the island. And sometimes around 40 years ago, the DHARMA initiative built a series of stations to harness the powers of the island to conduct “silly experiments.”

Continue reading “How To Use A Magical Island” →

King Tom2 Comments

A "Lost" Episode

I’m an idiot.

Last night The Civee started and I started up the ol’ DVR to watch parts 2 & 3 of  ‘There’s No Place Like Home,’ as she wasn’t around Thursday night.  We were watching the episode in glorious HD, when we decided to get some ice cream at the next commercial break. I hit stop, then hit another button and the next thing I knew, the episode was erased.

– – – – .

Our cable provider recently changed the software on our cable box, so some of the buttons I had gotten used to in the past year have changed.  If it was a mistake she had made, I would have been fine with it, but because it was me, I’m a bit pissed at myself.

We finished part 2 on ABC’s Web site, but it wasn’t just the same.

Maybe I should review the instructions the cable company sent along when the system changed.

King Tom

Stop the Beep, Creep

One of my weaknesses is a sensitivity to noise, particularly when I’m trying to sleep.  As I documented back in the summer of aught-six, my life was nearly ruined by a malfunctioning carbon monoxide detector in my then-next-door-neighbor’s apartment.

A few nights ago, I thought the malfunctioning detector had tracked me down with the intent to finish what it started back in ’06.  It was after midnight, I was hanging out and I heard this short beep emit from somewhere on our ground floor every minute. It was a short, soft beep–just enough to drive me crazy, but not enough to be able to pinpoint the source of the beep, which is kind of self-defeating.

It took me a good 20 minutes of roaming around our ground floor like a lunatic hunting for the source of the beep before I found it: a cordless phone which had been off its cradle all weekend. I returned the phone to the cradle and the beeping stopped.

I don’t understand why, in a world where we have birthday cards that can play the audio of the first fifteen minutes of Star Wars, our more sophisticated electronic devices are limited to a beep when they need our urgent attention. I would have gone through a lot less hassle had my phone simply emitted a “your cordless phone is nearing the end of its power cycle” in a pleasing voice once or twice.  I would have known what was causing the noise, where to find the source and how to remedy the problem.

(The titular line of this entry was inspired by a line from a Saved By The Bell episode.  I’m not sure which one, but I believe Lisa said something to this effect to Screech).

King Tom

Lost: The Future

I’m not trying to turn the Kingdom into King Tom’s House of Embedded Videos, but this one was pretty cool.  Scenes from all of the Lost flashforwards in chronological order (although I’m not sure Ben’s visit to Widmore is in the right place).

All I have to say is I’m really looking forward to Thursday night.

King Tom

They Still Make Music Videos?

J-Dog only beat me to the punch here because I stayed late at work today.

Weezer has released the music video for their single Pork ‘n Beans on Youtube.

It’s only fitting they released it on Youtube, because the video co-stars YT celebrities, half of whom I don’t know.

Still, the video is well done (and it’s about time Weezer’s done a video with lightsabers), humorous and entertaining.

Much like 2001, it is a great time to be a Weezer fan. The band has the new album coming out June 3. To promote the album, they’ve started a series of webisodes starring band members (in addition to Rivers’ ongoing Let’s Write A Sawng project).  Along with the regular album, Weezer is releasing a deluxe version of the CD the same day (which would serve as the definitive album) and a bunch of other tracks (aside from the 14 tracks on the deluxe CD) to come in various markets, including:

  • The Weight (The Band Cover)
  • Life is what you make it (Talk Talk Cover)
  • It’s easy
  • I can love
  • Are friends electric? (Tubeway Army Cover)
  • Love my way (Psychedelic Furs Cover)
  • Oddfellow local 151 (REM Cover)

Lots of interesting musical choices. Like I said, it’s a great time to be a Weezer fan.

King Tom