.gif)
Weezer (2008 album)
Encyclopedia
Weezer, also known as "The Red Album", is the sixth studio album
by the American alternative rock
band Weezer
, released on June 3, 2008. Rick Rubin
and Jacknife Lee
both helped to produce the album. Like the group's 1994 debut album Weezer (and unlike most Weezer records that featured Rivers Cuomo
as the main songwriter and vocalist), other band members contributed to songwriting. This is the first and so far, only, Weezer album to feature lead vocals from all band members.
The video for the album's first single "Pork and Beans
" quickly became the most-watched video on the internet the weekend following its release. Additionally, an unconventional Hootenanny
Tour replaced the traditional rock concert tour to promote the album. The sales of Weezer are below that of its 2005 predecessor, Make Believe, which was certified Gold (500,000 copies) after the same amount of time Weezer took to sell 300,000 copies.
returned to Harvard University
to complete his education. He ended up graduating Phi Beta Kappa. Cuomo also married Kyoko Ito on June 18, 2006, a woman he had known since March 1997. He proposed to her in Tokyo
shortly before Christmas of 2005. The wedding was held at a secluded beach on Paradise Cove in Malibu and was attended by over a hundred people, including six of the seven members who played in Weezer (Mikey Welsh
was not in attendance) as well as notables Justin Fisher, Kevin Ridel and Rick Rubin
.
Meanwhile, members Patrick Wilson
and Brian Bell
appeared in the 2006 film Factory Girl
playing John Cale
and Lou Reed
respectively and contributing a cover of the Velvet Underground
song "Heroin
" for the film. Also during this time, Bell formed a new side-band called The Relationship
while Wilson started work on material for the next Special Goodness album. He also had a second child, Ian Patrick Wilson, with his wife in early 2008.
The band announced in June 2007 that recording sessions for the album would begin in July. In December 2007, Cuomo released Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo
, which featured home demos
that Cuomo has recorded from 1992-2007. It was also during this time that a mysterious website called albumsix.com began gaining attention. The website gave false information about the album such as the album title would be "Tout Ensemble" and a fake release date. The website fooled several news outlets such as Pitchfork Media
and Rolling Stone
. The website was later revealed to be a hoax
by some fans. Band historian/webmaster Karl Koch stated on Weezer's official website:
, who claimed that there was not enough commercial material on the album. This session was produced by Jacknife Lee
and completed in March 2008.
In the first podcast released on www.riverspodcast.com, Rivers mentioned playing drums on two songs on the album. In an interview with Pitchfork Media
, Cuomo stated the album would contain "longer songs, non-traditional song forms, different people writing and singing, instrument switching, TR-808s, synths, Southern rap
, and baroque
counterpoint."
.
"Pork and Beans
" is the first single to be released from the album. "Troublemaker" was also considered for the album's first single, but later this was switched to "Pork and Beans", a song written by Cuomo as a reaction to a meeting with Geffen where the band was told it needed to record more-commercial material. Jacknife Lee
produced the track with the band in early 2008 during the third and final session for the record.
"The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn)
" is a track that includes piano, police sirens, and Cuomo singing in falsetto
. "Miss Sweeney"' was named by Cuomo, along with "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived," as a track which features rapped vocals. Bass player Scott Shriner
was particularly proud of the song saying, "The song 'The Greatest Man That Ever Lived' is a masterpiece that includes ten different styles of music based around a common theme. It's awesome. That word gets abused a lot, like 'Wow, these pancakes are awesome,' but 'Greatest Man' is . . . awesome!"
"Heart Songs" is about all the artists and records that have influenced Cuomo from Gordon Lightfoot
's "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
" when he was 5 years old to Nirvana
's Nevermind
in his early 20s. The song misidentifies the cover of "I Think We're Alone Now" as being by Debbie Gibson instead of Tiffany
, an error that was brought to Cuomo's attention while recording. Cuomo opted to keep the error in due to his own memories and the personal nature of the song.
"Everybody Get Dangerous" is featured briefly in the film 21
. The song was not included on the official soundtrack release. Cuomo's childhood friend Adam Orth recently commented on the autobiographical element of this song. It also appears in Guitar Hero: On Tour: Modern Hits.
"Troublemaker" is featured in the trailer for Disney's comedy film G-Force
.
"Dreamin'" was formerly known as "Daydreamer" and was described in the liner notes to Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo
as an "epic, 6-minute, symphonic type of art song." "This is the Way" was written as a more straightforward counterpart, and was originally selected by the band to be recorded for the Weezer album, but Cuomo persuaded the others to go with "Dreamin'" instead.
"Thought I Knew" was also the name of a song by Brian Bell's band The Relationship
, and is a reworking and re-recording of the track with Weezer sung as a lead vocal by Brian Bell. The song was originally written in a minor key. However, Bell felt that historically the band's songs haven't worked in minor and that the song needed to feel more uplifting. So he changed the song from minor to major and sped up the tempo.
"Cold Dark World" is a song that was written by Rivers Cuomo and Scott Shriner and features Shriner on lead vocals. Shriner commented, "...I wrote this kind of creepy music, and Rivers wrote these kind of happy, positive lyrics, but when you put it together, it made a super-creepy song which I'm really proud of."
"Automatic" was remixed by LA Riots for the video game Gran Turismo 5 Prologue
. This track features Patrick Wilson on lead vocals. Wilson commented, "This song is interesting. It's a big rock tune but it's kinda got a vibe to it and the lyrics are just about me wanting to give as much love as I can to my family..."
"The Angel and the One" is the album closer. Some members of the band have claimed that this is their favorite track, including Pat Wilson. Cuomo described the writing process of the song, "It started out as a really standard pop song called 'bad girl' and had a verse and a chorus and bridge
and all that stuff. And I just wasn't satisfied with it. It was too normal. So one day I sat down with my acoustic guitar and I just played [this] song over and over, on basically looping
it. My fingers hurt so much, I just kept playing it. And over the hour that I was playing it, the song slowly evolved and it smoothed over and the sections blurred into each other. And it turned into this spiritual reverie that is really just one long development without any distinction between sections."
"Pig" leaked as a demo
in early 2007, this song details the life of a pig including playing in the mud as a piglet, falling in love, getting married, raising children and eventually being slaughtered. The final version of the track appears on the deluxe edition of the Weezer album.
"King" is the last song on the deluxe edition of the Weezer album and is sung by Scott Shriner. In the liner notes for the deluxe edition Scott says that the song was not being voted by the rest of the band but was one of his favorite tracks from the demos Rivers played for the band. One day Scott called up Rivers and demanded the band add the song on the album, Rivers responded by saying that if he [Scott] wanted the song so bad he should sing it, and so he did. The song apparently took the longest to record and perfect, taking three weeks.
on April 21, 2008. It features the band members Brian Bell, Patrick Wilson, Rivers Cuomo and Scott Shriner in various outfits standing left to right in front of a red
backdrop, and is in a manner similar to their debut and 2001 album. The cover was photographed by Sean Murphy. Pitchfork Media
writer Amy Phillips compared the cover to the Village People
saying, "Meet the new Village People: The Bartender, the Professor, the Cowboy, and the Biker." The cover received mixed reactions from fans wondering if the cover was a hoax. The cover was reconfirmed by the band's publicist
Jim Merlis, "Yes, that's absolutely the cover. It's what they chose. They looked at a bunch of mockups, and that's the one they decided to go with. It's not a joke."
From a Buzznet.com
interview with Scott Shriner:
reported that the album would once again be self-titled and become known as "The Red Album", with the first single being titled "Pork and Beans". Weezer later announced that the release date had been moved up to June 3, 2008, from June 24, 2008. It got released on June 16, 2008 in the United Kingdom in a standard edition with 2 bonus tracks, and a deluxe digipak including 6 bonus tracks. On May 7, 2008, the first 8 tracks from the album were leaked to the internet, leading to mixed responses from Weezer message boards and fan blogs. On May 26, 2008, the final two tracks from the album were leaked along with bonus cover "The Weight
". On May 31, 2008, the 4 bonus tracks from the US Deluxe Edition were leaked.
This record was one of the first albums to be released on the new microSD slotMusic
media format. In addition to the full album in a DRM
-free MP3
format, the memory card also includes album art, liner notes, videos, and other features.
The standard album was released on transparent red vinyl
upon its initial release in the US, though it is now out of print. A 180 gram version of the Deluxe Edition has been released. A video of the 180 gram versions being produced can be seen on Weezer's website.
score of 64, based on 32 reviews. Stephen Thomas Erlewine
of Allmusic gave the album a positive review of 4 and a half stars out of five calling the album, "A cheerfully restless record, one where all the parts don't fit and it's better because of it, as it has a wild, willing personality, suggesting that Weezer is comfortable as a band in a way they never quite have been before." The Boston Globe
called the songs, "consistently vibrant, catchy, and well-built." IGN
also gave the album a positive review stating, "The Red Album is totally bizarre, a certifiable mess, and a hell of a lot of fun." NME
complimented Cuomo's songwriting saying, "Musically, it’s a record that does much to further the claim for Cuomo’s songwriting greatness."
Among the negative reviews, Tiny Mix Tapes
called the album "a sad portrait of a band that has been totally destroyed by fame and the pressures that come along with it," and The Onion
A.V. club saying: "If the so-called 'Red Album' really is an elaborate goof on an all-too-forgiving fan base, that doesn't make Weezer's newest worst album any less insipid." Pitchfork Media
gave the record 4.7/10, lamenting that "like the YouTube
culture the 'Pork and Beans' video depicts so well, the song-- and this album-- relies on a high quantity of short-lived pretty good ideas to distract from a shortage of great ones." Prefix Magazine said that if The Red Albums "songs were formulaic, shiny, and easily digestible like everything on Green or Maladroit
, the vacuity of the new songs wouldn't be as big a problem. But 'Heart Songs,' 'Thought I Knew'--these are just plain bad."
The Red Album debuted at the fourth spot of the Billboard 200
, with 126,000 copies sold in its first week. As of November 2009, according to Nielsen SoundScan, The Red Album has sold 443,000 copies.
, except where noted.
iTunes Bonus Tracks
UK (Standard & Deluxe Edition)/Japan (Standard & Deluxe Edition)/Argentina/Australia/Brazil/Corea/Germany/México/Russia Bonus Track
UK (Standard & Deluxe Edition)/Japan (Standard & Deluxe Edition) Bonus Track
Japan (Standard & Deluxe Edition) Bonus Track
Japan Deluxe Edition DVD Content
Production
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by the American alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
band Weezer
Weezer
Weezer is an American alternative rock band. The band currently consists of Rivers Cuomo , Patrick Wilson , Brian Bell , and Scott Shriner . The band has changed lineups three times since its formation in 1992...
, released on June 3, 2008. Rick Rubin
Rick Rubin
Frederick Jay "Rick" Rubin is an American record producer and the co-president of Columbia Records. Along with Russell Simmons, Rubin was the co-founder of Def Jam Records and also established American Recordings...
and Jacknife Lee
Jacknife Lee
Garret "Jacknife" Lee is an Irish music producer and mixer. He has worked with a variety of artists, including The Cars, U2, R.E.M., Snow Patrol, Bloc Party, AFI, The Hives, Weezer, Vega4 and Editors.-Biography:...
both helped to produce the album. Like the group's 1994 debut album Weezer (and unlike most Weezer records that featured Rivers Cuomo
Rivers Cuomo
Rivers Cuomo is an American musician, best known as the lead singer, lead guitarist, and principal songwriter of the alternative rock band Weezer. Raised in an Ashram in Connecticut, Cuomo moved to Los Angeles at age 19, where he participated in a number of rock bands before founding Weezer in 1992...
as the main songwriter and vocalist), other band members contributed to songwriting. This is the first and so far, only, Weezer album to feature lead vocals from all band members.
The video for the album's first single "Pork and Beans
Pork and Beans (song)
"Pork and Beans" is a song by the American alternative rock band Weezer, released on its 2008 album Weezer. It was released in digital form on April 24, 2008. The track debuted at number 19 on Billboards Modern Rock chart, and spent eleven weeks at number one. Critics generally liked the song,...
" quickly became the most-watched video on the internet the weekend following its release. Additionally, an unconventional Hootenanny
Hootenanny
Hootenanny is an Appalachian colloquialism that was used in early twentieth century America to refer to things whose names were forgotten or unknown. In this usage it was synonymous with thingamajig or whatchamacallit, as in "hand me that hootenanny." Hootenanny was also an old country word for...
Tour replaced the traditional rock concert tour to promote the album. The sales of Weezer are below that of its 2005 predecessor, Make Believe, which was certified Gold (500,000 copies) after the same amount of time Weezer took to sell 300,000 copies.
Background
After the platinum success of their fifth album Make Believe, the band once again was put on hiatus. Frontman Rivers CuomoRivers Cuomo
Rivers Cuomo is an American musician, best known as the lead singer, lead guitarist, and principal songwriter of the alternative rock band Weezer. Raised in an Ashram in Connecticut, Cuomo moved to Los Angeles at age 19, where he participated in a number of rock bands before founding Weezer in 1992...
returned to Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
to complete his education. He ended up graduating Phi Beta Kappa. Cuomo also married Kyoko Ito on June 18, 2006, a woman he had known since March 1997. He proposed to her in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
shortly before Christmas of 2005. The wedding was held at a secluded beach on Paradise Cove in Malibu and was attended by over a hundred people, including six of the seven members who played in Weezer (Mikey Welsh
Mikey Welsh
Michael Edward "Mikey" Welsh was an American artist and musician, best known as the former bassist of Weezer. He played with Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo during Cuomo's time in Boston during the hiatus in the band Homie...
was not in attendance) as well as notables Justin Fisher, Kevin Ridel and Rick Rubin
Rick Rubin
Frederick Jay "Rick" Rubin is an American record producer and the co-president of Columbia Records. Along with Russell Simmons, Rubin was the co-founder of Def Jam Records and also established American Recordings...
.
Meanwhile, members Patrick Wilson
Patrick Wilson (musician)
Patrick "Pat" George Wilson is an American musician, best known as the drummer for the alternative rock band Weezer. He joined the band in 1992. In addition to his work in Weezer, he also fronts his own band, The Special Goodness....
and Brian Bell
Brian Bell (musician)
Brian Bell is an American guitarist and songwriter. Active since 1989, he is best known as the rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist for the American alternative rock band Weezer. Bell joined Weezer in 1993 following the departure of founding member Jason Cropper...
appeared in the 2006 film Factory Girl
Factory Girl
Factory Girl is a 2006 American biographical film based on the life of 1960s underground film star, socialite, and Warhol Superstar Edie Sedgwick. The film premiered in Los Angeles on December 29, 2006.-Plot:...
playing John Cale
John Cale
John Davies Cale, OBE is a Welsh musician, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground....
and Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
respectively and contributing a cover of the Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City. First active from 1964 to 1973, their best-known members were Lou Reed and John Cale, who both went on to find success as solo artists. Although experiencing little commercial success while together, the band is often cited...
song "Heroin
Heroin (song)
"Heroin" is a song by The Velvet Underground, released on their 1967 debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico. Written by Lou Reed in 1964, the song is one of the band's most celebrated compositions, overtly depicting heroin use and abuse...
" for the film. Also during this time, Bell formed a new side-band called The Relationship
The Relationship
The Relationship is an American rock band formed in 2006 by Weezer guitarist Brian Bell and Nate Shaw of Die Hunns. The band also includes keyboardist Eric J, bassist Jason Hiller and drummer Blair Sinta....
while Wilson started work on material for the next Special Goodness album. He also had a second child, Ian Patrick Wilson, with his wife in early 2008.
The band announced in June 2007 that recording sessions for the album would begin in July. In December 2007, Cuomo released Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo
Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo
Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo is a compilation album by Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo, released on December 18, 2007. It is available as a digital release, CD release and 12" vinyl...
, which featured home demos
Demo (music)
A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...
that Cuomo has recorded from 1992-2007. It was also during this time that a mysterious website called albumsix.com began gaining attention. The website gave false information about the album such as the album title would be "Tout Ensemble" and a fake release date. The website fooled several news outlets such as Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
and Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
. The website was later revealed to be a hoax
Hoax
A hoax is a deliberately fabricated falsehood made to masquerade as truth. It is distinguishable from errors in observation or judgment, or rumors, urban legends, pseudosciences or April Fools' Day events that are passed along in good faith by believers or as jokes.-Definition:The British...
by some fans. Band historian/webmaster Karl Koch stated on Weezer's official website:
Recording process
At the beginning of the album's creation each Weezer member asked themselves what they wanted to get out of the album. With that in mind, they set out to record. Recording was done in three sessions. Half of the album was recorded during the spring of 2007 with Rick Rubin overseeing production. The second session, started in July and finished on October 18, was produced by Weezer themselves at Malibu. The third and final session of recording was done at the request of Geffen RecordsGeffen Records
Geffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...
, who claimed that there was not enough commercial material on the album. This session was produced by Jacknife Lee
Jacknife Lee
Garret "Jacknife" Lee is an Irish music producer and mixer. He has worked with a variety of artists, including The Cars, U2, R.E.M., Snow Patrol, Bloc Party, AFI, The Hives, Weezer, Vega4 and Editors.-Biography:...
and completed in March 2008.
In the first podcast released on www.riverspodcast.com, Rivers mentioned playing drums on two songs on the album. In an interview with Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
, Cuomo stated the album would contain "longer songs, non-traditional song forms, different people writing and singing, instrument switching, TR-808s, synths, Southern rap
Southern rap
Southern hip hop, also called Southern rap, is a genre of American music influenced by hip hop that emerged from a late-1980s club-oriented vibe in southern U.S...
, and baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
counterpoint."
Writing and composition
The majority of the album's content was written by Rivers Cuomo. However, for the first time since their debut album other members of the band contributed songwriting as well. Cuomo consciously strived to write less traditionally-structured songs, breaking away from the "verse-chorus--verse-chorus-bridge" structure that was present on past albums. Much of the album's subject matter is rooted in past experiences and nostalgiaNostalgia
The term nostalgia describes a yearning for the past, often in idealized form.The word is a learned formation of a Greek compound, consisting of , meaning "returning home", a Homeric word, and , meaning "pain, ache"...
.
"Pork and Beans
Pork and Beans (song)
"Pork and Beans" is a song by the American alternative rock band Weezer, released on its 2008 album Weezer. It was released in digital form on April 24, 2008. The track debuted at number 19 on Billboards Modern Rock chart, and spent eleven weeks at number one. Critics generally liked the song,...
" is the first single to be released from the album. "Troublemaker" was also considered for the album's first single, but later this was switched to "Pork and Beans", a song written by Cuomo as a reaction to a meeting with Geffen where the band was told it needed to record more-commercial material. Jacknife Lee
Jacknife Lee
Garret "Jacknife" Lee is an Irish music producer and mixer. He has worked with a variety of artists, including The Cars, U2, R.E.M., Snow Patrol, Bloc Party, AFI, The Hives, Weezer, Vega4 and Editors.-Biography:...
produced the track with the band in early 2008 during the third and final session for the record.
"The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn)
The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn)
"The Greatest Man That Ever Lived " is a song released as an iTunes single from American alternative rock band Weezer's sixth album, Weezer . The song bears a resemblance to the Shaker song "Simple Gifts" hence the "" in the title...
" is a track that includes piano, police sirens, and Cuomo singing in falsetto
Falsetto
Falsetto is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous edges of the vocal folds, in whole or in part...
. "Miss Sweeney"' was named by Cuomo, along with "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived," as a track which features rapped vocals. Bass player Scott Shriner
Scott Shriner
Scott G. Shriner is the bass guitarist for the alternative rock band Weezer.-Early life:Shriner was born in Toledo, Ohio. He took up bass in high school. After being discharged from the Marine Corps, he found his high school bass teacher Mark Kieswetter, with whom he studied until moving to Los...
was particularly proud of the song saying, "The song 'The Greatest Man That Ever Lived' is a masterpiece that includes ten different styles of music based around a common theme. It's awesome. That word gets abused a lot, like 'Wow, these pancakes are awesome,' but 'Greatest Man' is . . . awesome!"
Gordon Lightfoot
Gordon Meredith Lightfoot, Jr. is a Canadian singer-songwriter who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music, and has been credited for helping define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s...
's "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
"The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" is a song written, composed and performed by Canadian Gordon Lightfoot to commemorate the sinking of the bulk carrier SS Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior on November 10, 1975. It was inspired by the Newsweek article on the event, "The Cruelest Month", which...
" when he was 5 years old to Nirvana
Nirvana (band)
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...
's Nevermind
Nevermind
Nevermind is the second studio album by the American rock band Nirvana, released on September 24, 1991. Produced by Butch Vig, Nevermind was the group's first release on DGC Records...
in his early 20s. The song misidentifies the cover of "I Think We're Alone Now" as being by Debbie Gibson instead of Tiffany
Tiffany (singer)
Tiffany Renee Darwish , known popularly as Tiffany, is an American singer and former teen icon. She is most notable for her 1987 cover version of "I Think We're Alone Now", originally recorded by Tommy James and the Shondells in 1967. Released as the second single from her eponymous album, Tiffany,...
, an error that was brought to Cuomo's attention while recording. Cuomo opted to keep the error in due to his own memories and the personal nature of the song.
"Everybody Get Dangerous" is featured briefly in the film 21
21 (2008 film)
21 is a 2008 drama film directed by Australian director Robert Luketic and stars Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, Laurence Fishburne, Kate Bosworth, Liza Lapira, Jacob Pitts, and Aaron Yoo. The film is inspired by the true story of the MIT Blackjack Team as told in Bringing Down the House, the...
. The song was not included on the official soundtrack release. Cuomo's childhood friend Adam Orth recently commented on the autobiographical element of this song. It also appears in Guitar Hero: On Tour: Modern Hits.
"Troublemaker" is featured in the trailer for Disney's comedy film G-Force
G-Force (film)
G-Force is a 2009 spy-fi comedy film produced by Jerry Bruckheimer for Walt Disney Pictures in Disney Digital 3-D. Written by Cormac and Marianne Wibberley, the film is the directorial debut of Hoyt Yeatman, whose earlier work includes contributions in the area of visual effects...
.
"Dreamin'" was formerly known as "Daydreamer" and was described in the liner notes to Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo
Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo
Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo is a compilation album by Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo, released on December 18, 2007. It is available as a digital release, CD release and 12" vinyl...
as an "epic, 6-minute, symphonic type of art song." "This is the Way" was written as a more straightforward counterpart, and was originally selected by the band to be recorded for the Weezer album, but Cuomo persuaded the others to go with "Dreamin'" instead.
"Thought I Knew" was also the name of a song by Brian Bell's band The Relationship
The Relationship
The Relationship is an American rock band formed in 2006 by Weezer guitarist Brian Bell and Nate Shaw of Die Hunns. The band also includes keyboardist Eric J, bassist Jason Hiller and drummer Blair Sinta....
, and is a reworking and re-recording of the track with Weezer sung as a lead vocal by Brian Bell. The song was originally written in a minor key. However, Bell felt that historically the band's songs haven't worked in minor and that the song needed to feel more uplifting. So he changed the song from minor to major and sped up the tempo.
"Cold Dark World" is a song that was written by Rivers Cuomo and Scott Shriner and features Shriner on lead vocals. Shriner commented, "...I wrote this kind of creepy music, and Rivers wrote these kind of happy, positive lyrics, but when you put it together, it made a super-creepy song which I'm really proud of."
"Automatic" was remixed by LA Riots for the video game Gran Turismo 5 Prologue
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue is a PlayStation 3 exclusive title which was announced at the E3 2007. This short version title was a precursor and sampling of Gran Turismo 5 and replaced Gran Turismo HD Concept...
. This track features Patrick Wilson on lead vocals. Wilson commented, "This song is interesting. It's a big rock tune but it's kinda got a vibe to it and the lyrics are just about me wanting to give as much love as I can to my family..."
"The Angel and the One" is the album closer. Some members of the band have claimed that this is their favorite track, including Pat Wilson. Cuomo described the writing process of the song, "It started out as a really standard pop song called 'bad girl' and had a verse and a chorus and bridge
Bridge (music)
In music, especially western popular music, a bridge is a contrasting section which also prepares for the return of the original material section...
and all that stuff. And I just wasn't satisfied with it. It was too normal. So one day I sat down with my acoustic guitar and I just played [this] song over and over, on basically looping
Music loop
In electroacoustic music, a loop is a repeating section of sound material. Short sections of material can be repeated to create ostinato patterns...
it. My fingers hurt so much, I just kept playing it. And over the hour that I was playing it, the song slowly evolved and it smoothed over and the sections blurred into each other. And it turned into this spiritual reverie that is really just one long development without any distinction between sections."
"Pig" leaked as a demo
Demo (music)
A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...
in early 2007, this song details the life of a pig including playing in the mud as a piglet, falling in love, getting married, raising children and eventually being slaughtered. The final version of the track appears on the deluxe edition of the Weezer album.
"King" is the last song on the deluxe edition of the Weezer album and is sung by Scott Shriner. In the liner notes for the deluxe edition Scott says that the song was not being voted by the rest of the band but was one of his favorite tracks from the demos Rivers played for the band. One day Scott called up Rivers and demanded the band add the song on the album, Rivers responded by saying that if he [Scott] wanted the song so bad he should sing it, and so he did. The song apparently took the longest to record and perfect, taking three weeks.
Artwork
The album's cover debuted on Spinner.comSpinner.com
Spinner is an AOL Music property, which bills itself as "the ultimate music blog for free MP3s, free CD listening, [and] discovering new artists."...
on April 21, 2008. It features the band members Brian Bell, Patrick Wilson, Rivers Cuomo and Scott Shriner in various outfits standing left to right in front of a red
Red
Red is any of a number of similar colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths of light discernible by the human eye, in the wavelength range of roughly 630–740 nm. Longer wavelengths than this are called infrared , and cannot be seen by the naked eye...
backdrop, and is in a manner similar to their debut and 2001 album. The cover was photographed by Sean Murphy. Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
writer Amy Phillips compared the cover to the Village People
Village People
Village People is a concept disco group that formed in the United States in 1977, well known for their on-stage costumes depicting American cultural stereotypes, as well as their catchy tunes and suggestive lyrics....
saying, "Meet the new Village People: The Bartender, the Professor, the Cowboy, and the Biker." The cover received mixed reactions from fans wondering if the cover was a hoax. The cover was reconfirmed by the band's publicist
Publicist
A publicist is a person whose job is to generate and manage publicity for a public figure, especially a celebrity, a business, or for a work such as a book, film or album...
Jim Merlis, "Yes, that's absolutely the cover. It's what they chose. They looked at a bunch of mockups, and that's the one they decided to go with. It's not a joke."
From a Buzznet.com
Buzznet
BuzzNet is a photo, journal, and video-sharing social media network, owned by Buzz Media. Like other social networking sites, Buzznet is a platform for members to share content based on their personal interests...
interview with Scott Shriner:
Release
On April 1, 2008, Rolling StoneRolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
reported that the album would once again be self-titled and become known as "The Red Album", with the first single being titled "Pork and Beans". Weezer later announced that the release date had been moved up to June 3, 2008, from June 24, 2008. It got released on June 16, 2008 in the United Kingdom in a standard edition with 2 bonus tracks, and a deluxe digipak including 6 bonus tracks. On May 7, 2008, the first 8 tracks from the album were leaked to the internet, leading to mixed responses from Weezer message boards and fan blogs. On May 26, 2008, the final two tracks from the album were leaked along with bonus cover "The Weight
The Weight
"The Weight" is a song written by Robbie Robertson. It was released by The Band as Capitol Records single 2269 in 1968, and appeared one week later on the group's debut album Music from Big Pink. The song is listed as #41 on Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Songs of All Time published in 2004, and...
". On May 31, 2008, the 4 bonus tracks from the US Deluxe Edition were leaked.
This record was one of the first albums to be released on the new microSD slotMusic
SlotMusic
slotMusic is a type of microSD memory card developed by SanDisk preloaded with music in MP3 format. They were first available at Wal-Mart and Best Buy stores in the United States in October 2008. The current selection of songs comes from Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group and EMI...
media format. In addition to the full album in a DRM
Digital rights management
Digital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...
-free MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
format, the memory card also includes album art, liner notes, videos, and other features.
The standard album was released on transparent red vinyl
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
upon its initial release in the US, though it is now out of print. A 180 gram version of the Deluxe Edition has been released. A video of the 180 gram versions being produced can be seen on Weezer's website.
Reception
The album received generally positive reviews, with a MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
score of 64, based on 32 reviews. Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a senior editor for Allmusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for Allmusic, as well as a freelance writer, occasionally contributing liner notes. He is also frontman and guitarist for the Ann Arbor-based band Who Dat?Erlewine is the nephew...
of Allmusic gave the album a positive review of 4 and a half stars out of five calling the album, "A cheerfully restless record, one where all the parts don't fit and it's better because of it, as it has a wild, willing personality, suggesting that Weezer is comfortable as a band in a way they never quite have been before." The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
called the songs, "consistently vibrant, catchy, and well-built." IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
also gave the album a positive review stating, "The Red Album is totally bizarre, a certifiable mess, and a hell of a lot of fun." NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
complimented Cuomo's songwriting saying, "Musically, it’s a record that does much to further the claim for Cuomo’s songwriting greatness."
Among the negative reviews, Tiny Mix Tapes
Tiny Mix Tapes
Tiny Mix Tapes is an online music and film webzine that focuses primarily on new music and related news. In addition to its reviews, it is noted for its subversive, political, and sometimes surreal news, as well as its mix tapes generator.-History:Originally called Tiny Mixtapes Gone to Heaven and...
called the album "a sad portrait of a band that has been totally destroyed by fame and the pressures that come along with it," and The Onion
The Onion
The Onion is an American news satire organization. It is an entertainment newspaper and a website featuring satirical articles reporting on international, national, and local news, in addition to a non-satirical entertainment section known as The A.V. Club...
A.V. club saying: "If the so-called 'Red Album' really is an elaborate goof on an all-too-forgiving fan base, that doesn't make Weezer's newest worst album any less insipid." Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
gave the record 4.7/10, lamenting that "like the YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
culture the 'Pork and Beans' video depicts so well, the song-- and this album-- relies on a high quantity of short-lived pretty good ideas to distract from a shortage of great ones." Prefix Magazine said that if The Red Albums "songs were formulaic, shiny, and easily digestible like everything on Green or Maladroit
Maladroit
Maladroit is the fourth studio album by American alternative rock band Weezer, released on May 14, 2002 on Geffen Records. The album is the band's first to feature bassist Scott Shriner, following the departure of former bassist Mikey Welsh in 2001...
, the vacuity of the new songs wouldn't be as big a problem. But 'Heart Songs,' 'Thought I Knew'--these are just plain bad."
The Red Album debuted at the fourth spot of the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
, with 126,000 copies sold in its first week. As of November 2009, according to Nielsen SoundScan, The Red Album has sold 443,000 copies.
Track listing
All lead vocals by Rivers CuomoRivers Cuomo
Rivers Cuomo is an American musician, best known as the lead singer, lead guitarist, and principal songwriter of the alternative rock band Weezer. Raised in an Ashram in Connecticut, Cuomo moved to Los Angeles at age 19, where he participated in a number of rock bands before founding Weezer in 1992...
, except where noted.
Bonus tracks
US, UK & Japan Deluxe Edition Bonus Tracks- "Miss Sweeney" (Cuomo, Sarah C. Kim) – 4:02
- "Pig" – 4:02
- "The Spider" – 4:43
- "King" – 5:11 – Lead vocals by Scott Shriner
iTunes Bonus Tracks
- "It's Easy" (Bell) – 3:10 - Lead vocals by Brian Bell
- "I Can Love" – 3:49 (Pre-order only)
UK (Standard & Deluxe Edition)/Japan (Standard & Deluxe Edition)/Argentina/Australia/Brazil/Corea/Germany/México/Russia Bonus Track
- "The WeightThe Weight"The Weight" is a song written by Robbie Robertson. It was released by The Band as Capitol Records single 2269 in 1968, and appeared one week later on the group's debut album Music from Big Pink. The song is listed as #41 on Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Songs of All Time published in 2004, and...
" (The BandThe BandThe Band was an acclaimed and influential roots rock group. The original group consisted of Rick Danko , Garth Hudson , Richard Manuel , and Robbie Robertson , and Levon Helm...
Cover) – 4:30 – Lead vocals by Scott Shriner and Rivers Cuomo
UK (Standard & Deluxe Edition)/Japan (Standard & Deluxe Edition) Bonus Track
- "Life's What You Make ItLife's What You Make It (Talk Talk song)"Life's What You Make It" is a song by the English band Talk Talk.It was released as a single in late 1985, the first from the band's album The Colour of Spring. Noted for its distinctive piano hook and drum programming, the single reached #16 in the UK...
" (Talk TalkTalk TalkTalk Talk were an English musical group, active from 1981 to 1991. The group had a string of international hit singles including "Today", "Talk Talk", "It's My Life", "Such a Shame", "Dum Dum Girl", "Life's What You Make It" and "Living in Another World"....
Cover) – 3:33 – Lead vocals by Patrick Wilson
Japan (Standard & Deluxe Edition) Bonus Track
- "Meri KuriMeri Kuriis BoA's 14th Japanese solo single also 3rd Korean solo single. Two versions of the single were released simultaneously in both Japan and Korea. The songs were sung in Japanese on the version sold in Japan, and in Korean on the version sold in Korea...
" (BoABoABoa Kwon , commonly stylized and known by her stage name BoA, which is a backronym for Beat of Angel, is a Korean singer, active in South Korea, Japan, and the United States and sometimes referred to as the "Queen of Korean Pop Music"....
Cover)
Japan Deluxe Edition DVD Content
- Intro
- Dope Nose
- Why Bother?
- Surf Wax America
- The Good Life
- Island In The Sun
- Undone - The Sweater Song
- Behind the scenes From Japan Tour
- 'Pork and Beans' PV
- Interview
- Song-by-song commentary
Album
| Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
4 |
| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
21 |
| Australian Albums Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
21 |
| Canadian Albums Chart Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS... |
2 |
| Japanese Albums Chart Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc... |
9 |
| Japanese International Chart Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc... |
1 |
| Norwegian Albums Chart VG-lista VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by... |
21 |
| Austrian Albums Chart Ö3 Austria Top 40 Ö3 Austria Top 40 is the name of the official Austrian singles chart, as well as the radio show which presents it, aired Fridays on Hitradio Ö3. The show presents the Austrian singles, ringtones and downloads chart. It premiered on 26 November 1968 as Disc Parade and was presented by Ernst Grissemann... |
39 |
| New Zealand Albums Chart | 15 |
| Irish Albums Chart Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically... |
27 |
Personnel
Weezer- Brian BellBrian Bell (musician)Brian Bell is an American guitarist and songwriter. Active since 1989, he is best known as the rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist for the American alternative rock band Weezer. Bell joined Weezer in 1993 following the departure of founding member Jason Cropper...
- guitar, keyboards, synthesiser, vocals - Rivers CuomoRivers CuomoRivers Cuomo is an American musician, best known as the lead singer, lead guitarist, and principal songwriter of the alternative rock band Weezer. Raised in an Ashram in Connecticut, Cuomo moved to Los Angeles at age 19, where he participated in a number of rock bands before founding Weezer in 1992...
- guitar, vocals, drums, backing vocals - Scott ShrinerScott ShrinerScott G. Shriner is the bass guitarist for the alternative rock band Weezer.-Early life:Shriner was born in Toledo, Ohio. He took up bass in high school. After being discharged from the Marine Corps, he found his high school bass teacher Mark Kieswetter, with whom he studied until moving to Los...
- bass, vocals, keyboards, backing vocals, Korg R3 synthesizer - Patrick WilsonPatrick Wilson (musician)Patrick "Pat" George Wilson is an American musician, best known as the drummer for the alternative rock band Weezer. He joined the band in 1992. In addition to his work in Weezer, he also fronts his own band, The Special Goodness....
- drums, keyboards, vocals, guitar
Production
- Rick RubinRick RubinFrederick Jay "Rick" Rubin is an American record producer and the co-president of Columbia Records. Along with Russell Simmons, Rubin was the co-founder of Def Jam Records and also established American Recordings...
- producer (in conjunction with Weezer) for tracks 2, 4-6 & 10 - WeezerWeezerWeezer is an American alternative rock band. The band currently consists of Rivers Cuomo , Patrick Wilson , Brian Bell , and Scott Shriner . The band has changed lineups three times since its formation in 1992...
- producer for tracks 7-9 - Jacknife LeeJacknife LeeGarret "Jacknife" Lee is an Irish music producer and mixer. He has worked with a variety of artists, including The Cars, U2, R.E.M., Snow Patrol, Bloc Party, AFI, The Hives, Weezer, Vega4 and Editors.-Biography:...
- producer for tracks 1 & 3 - Rich CosteyRich CosteyRich Costey is an American record producer, engineer, and mixer who has worked with many bands including Muse, Cave In, Thursday, Franz Ferdinand, Glasvegas, The Mars Volta, Doves, Bloc Party, Ontronik , Jimmy Eat World, My Chemical Romance, Supergrass, Audioslave, Rage Against the Machine, Nine...
- mixer - Andrew Scheps - engineer
- Eric JEric JEric J Dubowsky also known as Eric J, is a musician, songwriter and record producer. He got his start at Greene St. Studios in New York City, the legendary home of early hip-hop artists Run-DMC, and Public Enemy. It was here Eric assisted engineer/producer Rod Hui...
- engineer
Release history
| Country | Date |
|---|---|
| United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... |
June 3, 2008 |
| Canada Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean... |
June 3, 2008 |
| Japan Japan Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south... |
June 4, 2008 |
| Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... |
June 6, 2008 |
| Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area... |
June 6, 2008 |
| Worldwide | June 9, 2008 |
| United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... |
June 16, 2008 |
External links
- Weezer (The Red Album) Weezerpedia entry