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Weezer returns with another middle of the road release.

Weezer is back with yet another self titled aka color album.  After thrilling us with Blue and Green, we’re treated to Red.  I really hope they do amber, periwinkle or chartreuse next.  Their best albums have always been their color albums, well that is until Red.  Rivers Cuomo brings his band back for another outing with mixed results.  But in ten or fifteen years, maybe it will be considered a cult hit like Pinkerton, an album that was seriously trashed by the pretty much everyone on its release. 

I have to admit I’ve always been a fair-weather fan of Weezer.  I enjoy the occasional individual track but rarely listen to the whole album.  Weezer fans have always considered they are too smart, trendy and slightly outside the mainstream to take much notice of what the press have to say.  They want to believe that Weezer is the joke that you only get if you know the in-joke.  The truth is Weezer isn’t as clever as their fans want them to be and most of their albums are fair to average at best.  Red falls into that category.  When it’s good, Red is really is great, but most of the album doesn’t achieve anything better than merely adequate.

The first single “Pork and Beans” is a solid effort and shows great promise for the album.  It’s a fun track that epitomizes why Weezer is has endured these many years.  The video is great with its use of internet stars.  “Troublemaker” leads off the album is a rehash of better Weezer songs.  It’s not helped along by the horribly bad “Heart Song”.  Who knows what Cuomo and gang were thinking when they included this track on the CD. As for the rest of the album, it’s filled with mediocre alt rock track that are largely forgettable.  A few descent tracks like “The Greastest Man That Ever Lived” and “Automatic” give Red some flair but lack the punch to make it a solid recommend.

It may seem like critics are unnecessarily hard on Weezer and we probably are.  It’s just that we know they can do better.  Weezer has produced three great albums and a couple of bad ones.  We know that Weezer is better than the mundane crap they sometimes turn out.  The Red Album falls squarely in but the middle of their catalog.  It’s not great but there are some really good tracks.  Fans of Weezer will find The Red Album a descent entry but not great. Everyone else will just download the tracks they enjoy.

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