Category: The Rock & Other Listening Material

The Rockingest Lullabies Baby Will Ever Hear

Around this time last year, The Civee and I were shopping in some store for babies or expectant parents when I saw a display of CDs from Rockabye Baby.  The company takes music by popular artists and converts them into lullaby versions.  This particular display had lullaby versions of songs from The Beatles and U2.

I took a few pictures with my cell phone and was planning on writing a blog entry about the CDs.  I was going to say how it was a shame that the U2 version didn’t have a version of the greatest U2 song ever.  Or about how it was a crime that there was no Weezer lullaby CD.  But we were expecting a baby and trying to buy a house and all so I didn’t exactly get around to it.

Well, it’s a year later and the Rockabye Baby version of U2 still does not have Lemon.  They are, however, coming out with a Weezer lullaby CD.  On behalf of parents everywhere, it’s a relief knowing this injustice has been corrected.  The tracklist for the Weezer version is actually pretty good (with the exception of Beverly Hills), containing mostly songs from their first two albums, plus an early B-Side.

Hope already likes Weezer.  And it was established pretty early on that she rocks.  But we’ll probably end up getting her one anyway.  However, I won’t buy the U2 version until they make Lemon into a lullaby.

King Tom2 Comments

Weezer Continues to Dust Off the Favorites for Memories Tour

A few years back, I went to a Rentals concert here in Columbus. The highlight of the show was easily the band (which included Rachel Haden) covering the Weezer B-side I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams, which featured Haden on lead vocals.  While the song was the highlight of the show and enjoyable, it wasn’t what I would call a great rendition.  But back then, the Rentals were the only band performing the song at all.

Weezer’s current tour, the Memories Tour, features them performing The Blue Album and Pinkerton on back-to-back nights (and of course, they’re not stopping in Columbus).  In addition to playing the complete album with some other hits, the band is also throwing in some seldom-played B-sides, like last month, when they played Jamie.

Over the weekend, in Vegas, they performed another rarely-played (if ever) B-side, I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams, featuring, you guessed it-Rachel Haden.  Thanks to the magic of YouTube, video of that performance is online.  And yes, it’s better than when the Rentals played the song:

King Tom1 Comment

Who’s Faxin’ You Now? Who’s Dialing Your Car Phone?

Columbus is one of a handful of lucky cities to have hosted two Weezer concerts this year.  I went to both, a show at the State Fair and another free concert at a local college.  Both shows were good.  Unfortunately, the other cities with two concerts were stops on the Memories Tour, a two-night event where the band will play a setlist containing the complete Blue Album with a second setlist containing Pinkerton on back-to-back nights.

And if that’s not enough, Saturday night, in New York, they busted out this gem:

This was the first time Weezer played Jamie voluntarily since the mid-90s (a few years back, at an event where the band was accompanied by their audience, the audience started the song, pretty much forcing the band to finish it).

Did I mention that one of the Columbus shows was free?

I did?

Congratulations, New York, you win.

Thanks to allthingsweezer for the video.

King Tom1 Comment

Will Weezer on the Simpsons be Perfectly Cromulent or Utterly Craptacular?

If you were to have told me ten years ago that Weezer would be guest starring on The Simpsons, I would have set my VCR months in advance and cleared my schedule for whatever Sunday night the episode aired.

This week, upon hearing the news that Weezer will be guest starring on a future episode of the Simpsons, I’m thinking that since The Simpsons airs during Hope’s bedtime routine, if I miss the initial broadcast, I can always catch it later on Hulu or somewhere else online.

My changed attitude reflects three things. First, (obviously) technology has totally changed the way most of us watch TV. Secondly, having a daughter has changed my priorities (as I type this with one hand, I’m feeding her with the other). And finally, I just don’t feel the way about new Simpsons as I did about the old Simpsons.

I think that Simpsons seasons four through eight are some of the best seasons of television ever produced.  There are whole episodes I can do line-by-line.  But after that, the show started getting full of itself.  Random guest starts (just for the sake of having guest stars), pointless storylines and a list of producers, co-producers, assistant producers and executive producers that lasted the whole first block turned the show from must see TV (for me) to well, I guess I’ll watch it if I have nothing better to do.  The last season in which I went out of my way to watch involved the family going to London, where Tony Blair greeted them at an airport, only to jet off on a rocket pack.  I’ve watched a few episodes since, and while I’ve enjoyed them, it hasn’t been enough to get me back every week.

Well, according to some tweets by band members, the members of Weezer are among the newest random guest stars.  If anything, their appearance will probably be more along the lines of each member gets one line rather than guest stars who are integrated into the episode.  I wouldn’t call Weezer a group of fringe musicians and while they don’t need an appearance on The Simpsons to embiggen their exposure, something like this can only help them.  Sure, I’ll watch, but I’m not sure that a Weezer appearance will get me to watch The Simpsons every week again.

Besides, 8:00 every night is Hope’s bedtime.

King Tom

Weezer Raids Secret Warehouse, Fans Reap The Rewards

One of the most striking endings to a film is that of 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark, where, after seeing Indiana Jones’ heroic rescue of the Ark of the Covenant, the government boxes the artifact up and stores it in an immense warehouse with an untold number of other mythic artifacts.

Weezer fans imagine the band’s “vault” of unreleased material to be similar to the warehouse. Over the past 18 years, the band and its members have recorded an untold number of songs, most of which have gone unreleased on the band’s eight official albums (or the two solo efforts from frontman Rivers Cuomo).

To go back to the Raiders analogy, for Weezer fans, today is the day Indiana Jones stormed the warehouse and made it out alive with two boxes of precious artifacts.

A day short of a year after the release of 2009’s Raditude (and less than two months after the release of Hurley), Weezer has released two more albums. These aren’t albums of new songs; rather they are comprised of material that has been boxed up in the warehouse for years.

Death to False Metal contains ten tracks from different recording sessions dating back to the lost summer of 1998. Pinkerton Deluxe is a reissue of the band’s seminal 1996 album, along with all of it’s b-sides, a number of live tracks, studio outtakes and some songs that have never before been heard. Both feature some recent updates from the band, but are, for the most part, as they were originally recorded.

For a Weezer fan, it’s all too easy to fixate on what isn’t part of these albums rather than what is. For example, of the numerous songs the band has recorded and not released (yet talked up throughout the years), it’s easy to complain about what didn’t make the ten-song cut. And for Pinkerton Deluxe, the band recorded a number of songs for the album (part of the attempt at realizing Songs From the Black Hole) that have not been included. Yet those takes were either lost to time or lost in a shipment that never reached its final destination.

Still, for what they are, these two albums are enjoyable listens – whether you’re a Weezer fan or not.

Pinkerton Deluxe, which fans have clamored for since 2004’s reissue of The Blue Album receives the same deluxe treatment. The original album has undergone a remastering (or some other type of sonic updating). Following the ten Pinkerton tracks, are the album’s b-sides which are nice to have in one place and radio remixes of The Good Life and Pink Triangle. Then there are a slew of live tracks- some from an acoustic show in Philadelphia from the summer of ’97 (the same show that was responsible for this slice of awesomeness) and some from an English festival from the previous summer. The acoustic tunes are nice (and from a different source than the version of the show that’s out there). On the other hand, the festival songs just seem superflous. There are also some early versions of Tired of Sex, Getchoo and Butterfly, which have more raw energy than their album counterparts.

But the true standouts of Pinkerton Deluxe are the three songs most fans are buying this collection for: Getting Up and Leaving, a full band Longtime Sunshine demo with a coda and Tragic Girl. Getting Up and Leaving was an unreleased b-side for Pink Triangle that fans have awaited for 13 or so years. The full band Longtime Sunshine is a nice (if not rough) attempt at a song many fans feel reached perfection on Rivers’ first Alone disc. Here, the band adds drums and bass and (when Weezer’s second album was still part of the Songs from the Black Hole concept) a vocal coda at the end recalling some earlier Pinkerton tracks. The coda is far from perfect (some voices sounding off-key, others too loud), but it’s still great to hear how Weezer’s second album was originally supposed to end. The album closes with the lost (and subsequently found) Tragic Girl, a song attempted during the final Pinkerton sessions. The song contains the same energy as the rest of the Pinkerton tracks, an untraditional structure and a great performance by the band. There are some lyrical and tonal references to the rest of Pinkerton, and as great as it is to have the other tracks we’ve waited for on this collection, Tragic Girl is an amazing listen.

The other treat for Weezer fans today is Death to False Metal, a collection of ten previously unreleased songs that were recorded for one album or another. Rivers is calling it the band’s ninth album, and considering Weezer hasn’t had a thematically linked album since Pinkerton, it’s hard to argue with him. The songs span the band’s redording efforts from 1998 through 2009. However (and a small complaint about the collection), half the album focuses on the sessions for Weezer’s fifth album, which eventually became 2005’s Make Believe.

That’s not to say the songs aren’t good. For the most part, they’re nice additions to Weezer’s catalog.  Standouts from the Make Believe sessions include Blowin’ My Stack (even if the riff does sound a little like Heard It Through The Grapevine) and I’m a Robot, which is more down-home than rock.  More recent songs include Turn It Up (the results of Rivers’ Let’s Write a Sawng process), The Odd Couple and Autopilot, which has one of the best bridges of any Weezer song (possibly due to my nostalgia for BASIC).

Possibly my favorite song on ‘Metal is 1998’s Trampoline, a simple pop rocker that would have fit in great late 90’s pre-nu-metal alternative rock radio (which is kind of ironic, since Rivers spent the years after Pinkerton trying to develop a chart-topper and here is a song he had all along which would have fit right in).  Trampoline and Everyone are the first original Weezer songs we’ve heard from the mystery year of 1998, where they demoed and recorded a bunch of songs and then promptly threw them in a box in the vast government warehouse.  But unlike Trampoline, Everyone is harsher and more riff-oriented, an homage to Nirvana that doesn’t get interesting to the solo.

The only song on Death to False Metal that’s a letdown to me is the closer, a cover of Unbreak My Heart.  It could be my aversion to 90 percent of things R&B, but this song does nothing for me and the fact that Weezer is performing it doesn’t change that.

Death to False Metal is supposed to be released with a plethora of bonus tracks, but to date, we’ve only been told of three – a version of Mykel and Carli attempted during the Blue Album Sessions in 1993, and Yellow Camaro and Outta Here, both from the early Album Five sessions.  I’m hoping for more bonus tracks, and hoping they come from some other time than the period between Maladroit and Make Believe.

As I mentioned earlier, the one drawback to Death to False Metal is they’re trying to squeeze a large number of songs into ten slots.  There’s way more under lock-and-key that the band claims isn’t the best quality, but I’m sure the fans would rather be the judges of that.

By the way, Weezer isn’t done.  Rivers has already announced plans to record Album Ten.  And releasing material from the band’s vault will continue as well- the band has announced a third edition of Rivers’ Alone series should be in stores before the end of the year, this one focusing on the Pinkerton years.

King Tom

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.

King Tom2 Comments

Official Pinkerton Deluxe, Death to False Metal Tracklists Revealed

Two weeks ago, I posted news of possible track lists for Weezer’s upcoming November 2 albums, the Pinkerton Deluxe reissue and Death to False Metal, a collection of unreleased Weezer tracks.

Today, in separate venues, the label has published official tracklists for both albums, confirming most of what we already knew.

First, from the official Pinkerton Deluxe press release, here’s that album’s tracklist:

DISC ONE
Original Album:
Tired Of Sex
Getchoo
No Other One
Why Bother?
Across The Sea
The Good Life
El Scorcho
Pink Triangle
Falling For You
Butterfly

B-Sides and More:
You Gave Your Love To Me Softly
Devotion
The Good Life (Radio Remix)
Waiting On You
I Just Threw Out The Love Of My Dreams
The Good Life (Live and Acoustic)
Pink Triangle (Radio Remix)
I Swear It’s True*
Pink Triangle (Live and Acoustic)

DISC TWO
You Won’t Get With Me Tonight*
The Good Life (Live at Y100 Sonic Session)*
El Scorcho (Live at Y100 Sonic Session)*
Pink Triangle (Live at Y100 Sonic Session)*
Why Bother? (Live at Reading Festival 1996)*
El Scorcho (Live at Reading Festival 1996)*
Pink Triangle (Live at Reading Festival 1996)*
The Good Life (Live at X96)
El Scorcho (Live and Acoustic)*
Across The Sea Piano Noodles*
Butterfly (Alternate Take)*
Long Time Sunshine*
Getting Up And Leaving*
Tired Of Sex (Tracking Rough)*
Getchoo (Tracking Rough)*
Tragic Girl*

*Previously unreleased

Looks like we’re not getting as many alternative versions as the preliminary Japanese tracklist, but this is still some great material.  And that Japanese tracklist also had the tracks that were going to make up Alone III: The Pinkerton Years, which will be released at some mysterious future date.

Also today, some quick Googling confirmed what another Japanese site posted as the tracklist for Death To False Metal, from Universal Music Canada’s Web site:

It’s likely that the two additional songs contained in the Japanese tracklist were the Japan-specific bonus songs.  We’ve been told to expect a lot of extra songs along with the album.

November 2 can’t get here fast enough.

King Tom3 Comments

Go To Ten Weezer Shows, See The Eleventh Free

Two months ago, I went to my tenth Weezer show, held about two miles from my house.

Tonight, I went to my eleventh Weezer show, also held two miles from my house.

Weezer played a special (free) show tonight for the local college university’s student activities group.   Supposedly, the show was restricted to students only.  But that didn’t keep me from going.  Although, I was prepared, having dragged along a current student (The Civee) and procuring a student ID from an associate.  (Gee, I don’t think I even went to shows with a fake ID when I was 19!)

As it was held on one of the campus’ open spaces, there was no problem at all to get in.  They didn’t even check IDs, rendering my two measures unnecessary.

As for the show, it was pretty much the same as the show I went to at the State Fair back in July.  They added Memories, their new single to the setlist and took off Can’t Stop Partying and Trippin’ Down the Freeway.  I was hoping it would be a little different, even mixing in some new material from Hurley.  Despite my hopes not being realized, it was still a lot of fun.  I was surprised the Kids/Pokerface medley they’ve been doing for what seems like forever got a great reaction from the crowd.

The two opening bands were local acts and were among the most forgettable opening acts I’ve ever seen.  Weezer’s set had what seemed to be a few technical difficulties, but considering my favorite band was playing two miles from my house, for free, and my lovely life willingly accompanied me, I have no complaints at all.

King Tom

Possible Pinkerton Deluxe Tracklist From Japan

Update 9/27: The official tracklist has been confirmed and is somewhat different from the below list. View the official tracklist here.

Yesterday I posted that a poster on a Weezer message board found a possible tracklist for Death to False Metal (hitting stores November 2), a compilation of unreleased Weezer material on a Japanese Web site.

Well today, I have some similar news; a poster on a Weezer message board found a possible tracklist for Pinkerton Deluxe (hitting stores November 2), a reissue of Weezer’s seminal 1996 album, along with a large number of unreleased and unheard songs. According to www.vanda.co.jp/300/MCO/P_UICY-1495/, the tracklist will be (all titles and comments translated through Google):

(1) Tired Of Sex (album version)
(2) Getchu (album version)
(3) No Other One (Album Version)
(4) Why Bother? (Album version)
(5) Across The Sea (album version)
(6) The Good Life (Album Version)
(7) El Sukorucho (album version)
(8) Pink Triangle (album version)
(9) Falling For You (album version)
(10) Butterfly (Album Version)
(11) Devotion
(12) Your Love To Me Softly You Geivu
(13) Waiting On You
(14) I Just Threw Out The Love of My Dreams
(15) The Good Life (acoustic version)
(16) Pink Triangle (acoustic version)
(17) You Will not Get With Me Tonight
(18) Tragic Girl
(19) I Swear It’s True
(20) The Good Life
(21) El Sukorucho
(22) Pink Triangle
(23) Why Bother?
(24) El Sukorucho
(25) Pink Triangle
(26) The Good Life
(27) The Good Life (Remix Radio)
(28) Pink Triangle (Radio Remix)
(29) Getting Up and Leaving (Alternate Take)
(30) Longtime Sunshine (Alternate Take)
(31) vs Blue Pinkerton Interview
(32) El Sukorucho (Acoustic Live 1996)
(33) Tired Of Sex (Rough Take)
(34) Getchu (Rough Take)
(35) Across The Sea Piano Noodles
(36) butterfly (Alternate Take)
(37) I’m So Lonely (demo Pinkerton Rivers)
(38) Getchu (Pinkerton Demo Rivers)
(39) Lisa (Pinkerton Demo Rivers)
(40) Negativland (Pinkerton Demo Rivers)
(41) Your Love To Me Softly Geivu You (Reverse Pinkerton Demo)
(42) When You’re Alone (Demo Pinkerton Rivers)
(43) Suzanne (Pinkerton Demo Rivers)
(44) There Is No Other One (Pinkerton Demo Rivers)
(45) Let Me Wash at Your Sink (Pinkerton Demo Rivers)
(46) Waiting On You (Reverse Pinkerton Demo)
(47) Oh No, This Is Not For Me (Demo Pinkerton Rivers)
(48) Tired of Sex (Pinkerton Demo Rivers)
(49) She’s Had a Girl (Demo Pinkerton Rivers)
(50) What Is This I Find? (Pinkerton Demo Rivers)
(51) Now I Finally See (Pinkerton Demo Rivers)
(52) Longtime Sunshine (Reverse Pinkerton Demo)
(53) Im A Lonely On A Saturday Night (Demo Pinkerton Rivers)
(54) Oh God I’m hungry (Pinkerton Demo Rivers)
(55) Im On A Fire, You’re a Liar (Demo Pinkerton Rivers)
(56) The End of My String (Pinkerton Demo Rivers)
(57) I Can Break Your Heart Slow (Demo Pinkerton Rivers)
(58) Money Makes Me Happy (Demo Pinkerton Rivers)
(59) My Minds On You (Reverse Pinkerton Demo)
(60) Defeat On The Hill (Demo Pinkerton Rivers)
(61) Clarinet Waltz (Pinkerton Demo Rivers)
(62) A glorious moment (Pinkerton Demo Rivers)

Last month, Weezer.com reported that accompanying Pinkerton Deluxe (though probably not released on 11/2) would be the third installment of Rivers’ Alone series, titled the Pinkerton Years. If that’s true, I’m guessing tracks 37-62 are Alone 3.

This is a very impressive collection of songs here. While it doesn’t look like there will be a full-band Superfriend or Blast Off!, this is probably all the mixed-down, final material available from the Pinkerton sessions, including the long-awaited, but never heard, Getting Up and Leaving.

As for the material on Alone 3, combined with the first two editions, we’ll finally have everything Rivers recorded for Songs from the Black Hole, his unfinished Space Rock Opera concept, plus what looks to be a number of other gems.

I know we just got a new Weezer album yesterday, but between Death to False Metal and Pinkerton Deluxe, I’m really looking forward to November 2.

King Tom11 Comments

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.

King Tom