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| Thursday, October 02, 2008 |
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Seein' Red: Weezer
By Orange Peel Moses @ 5:30 PM :: 295 Views ::
0 Comments :: Music: Artist Spotlight, Nightlife, Events, Music: Concerts
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wordplay: Ben Simkins
Three self-titled albums standing as chapters in their sixteen year career; three primary colors to tell them apart and one cowboy outfit [SCREECH!!!] Wait, what?
You just echoed the sentiment of many as the cover of Weezer’s sixth full-length ‘Red’ album found its way onto the internet prior to release, with lead-vocalist/guitarist Rivers Cuomo sporting a look more at home on the Blue-Collar Comedy Tour than the cover of an alternative rock band album. Yes, it’s dumb. Yes, it’s puzzling. Yes, it’s down-right bizarre, but it’s Weezer. Their career has been an experiment in doing things the wrong way and somehow coming through the other side, some ways better off, some ways not. Maybe this is the reason for the three eponymous albums spread out every other album. Self-titled albums are usually a sign of birth, new beginnings. Weezer’s Blue, Green and now Red albums have somewhat symbolized a staged rebirth for the LA quartet. After exploding onto the scene with one of the best albums of the 20th century (Blue), Weezer made one of the cult hits of the 90’s (Pinkerton), but focus on that word, ‘cult.’ Translation: commercial bomb! One long hiatus later and the world had moved on. The kids that had grown up on Weezer were now taking the stage. But Weezer weren’t done and proved it with self-titled album number two (Green). Two more albums and mixed critical and commercial success later, Weezer are back out of the chrysalis again with self-titled number three (Red). As if to further solidify the motif, Cuomo and crew have graced the block colored covers with their presence. Like the notches scrawled on the door frame of a family home representing a child’s progressing height over the years, these snapshots have documented the changes in the philosophical and even physical line-up changes that have come about with each ‘color’ album.
But it is Weezer’s sound that has been affected most with each color shift. Blue brought So-Cal lightheartedness to a market that was flooded with Seattle style seriousness while still delivering an emotional punch to rival that of the grunge scene. Green cut through the Weezer ‘sound-a-likes’ and showed the world what Weezer really would sound like in the ‘noughties.’ Red, well Red really showcases the out-of-the-box thinking Cuomo is famous for. Love it or hate it, Red is as subtle as a shot of Russian Schnapps and you could argue that it’s possible that the guys were on a few shots while writing it. Yes, Rage Against the Machine raps, Korn raps, even Limp… (okay, better that one is never mentioned again), but Weezer raps? You better believe that the new handle-bar mustache sporting, cowboy hat wearing Cuomo busts a rhyme these days. This latest installment begs the question, what will Cuomo and crew do next? Purple yodeling? But when your career has spanned more than one musical generation almost unscathed, you have to ask the question, “Have any of Weezer’s questionable directions been the wrong ones?”
October 5th @ Broomfield Events Center
Weezer.com
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