Late May, early June 2001. Remember it well. 23 years old, I was working in Southwark, 1 year into my first full time job. I had just started my first blog (using Microsoft FrontPage, those were the days), and discovered the joy of Starbucks Frappuccinos. I remember reviewing this, the then new album from Weezer on that blog, but although I still have the bones of the site it seems an over-jealous PC clean has removed the actual html pages from the archives. Shame.
This was meant to be Weezer's return to form (form being the eponymous 1994 début), after their 4 year lay-off since 'Pinkerton'. In that time they had lost original bassist Matt Sharp and replaced him with Mikey Welsh. The fact the band decided to not give the album a name again, just like the début, also built expectations of a return to upbeat pop influenced alt. rock. On that score, the album doesn't disappoint at all. Rivers Cuomo song writing was happier, poppy and full of the strange laid-back/geek combo that served them so well 7 years earlier.
Album opener "Don't Let Go" is as fine a away to start an album as you could ask for. If Rivers' hope was to blast the fact that the band are back into your ears, then a 4-count drum leading into a multi-layers wall of guitar pretty much achieves his goal. A steady rocker that stays at the same beat led power for the full 3 minutes, I remember this quickly became a favourite driving song of mine on my commute to the station each morning. Looking back now, the guitar "solo" is a bit lazy and derivative, but that doesn't take away from the song too much.
The pop mood is enhanced even more my the sun-drenched "Photograph", all Beach Boys melodies, high-pitched backing vocals and hand-claps. It comes off as a happier "Un-done" from their début. "Photograph" is followed by lead single "Hash Pipe", which has the meatiest (and unhappiest) riff on the album, and a melody/song line stolen from The Beatles "You Cant Do That". I remember this video being everywhere, from MTV to those huge screens in shops - hell, they even performed it on that bastion of British music TV Top Of The Pops; admittedly slightly altered to be to "Half Pipe" to satisfy the censors... ho hum.
"Islands In The Sun", "Crab" and "Knock-down, Drag-out" form a little trio mid album that just flow together well. Again, very poppy, very happy and very summery. "Islands..." gives the album it's first taste of non distorted and constant guitars, relying more on a chilled out, acoustic-influenced 4 chord pattern to drive it along. "Crab" exhibits some of the best harmonies on the albums. "Knock-down" is another driving power-pop song in the vein of opener "Don't Let Go", and again I found this to be an excellent song for putting on in the car.
"Smile" slows the pace down to almost power-ballad speed and is, apart from some nice chord progressions, basically average.
The albums rounds off with another little trio. "Simple Pages" is another mid-paced wall-of-guitar rocker that fits well with "Don't Let Go" and "Knock-down...". A simplistic, but well used, repetitive lyrical delivery and sweet harmonies mine the classic Weezer sound. "Glorious Day" follows on well from "...Pages" but it is kind of overshadowed by the fact you want to press 'back' and play the previous track again - which is a shame as the chorus of "Glorious Day" is rather good and just as addictive given the chance. Album closer "Oh Girlfriend", I have to say, isn't a song I've given that much time too. Its an OK song, all plaintive lyrics about love lost over a strummed 4 chord progression. The spirit of Roy Orbison seems to be channelled in the chorus.
And that's it. Well, the UK version does have the bonus track "I Do" - 2 minutes of Rivers singing over a keyboard (?). Very throw-away.
Has the album stood the test of time? Well, 10 years is a loooong time in music. Tastes change, styles change. Weezer's brand of geeky power-pop-punk may have had it's day, but this album has such a timeless pop-quality to it that it seems to stand up well in 2011. The crisp, clean production helps a lot, proving that Weezer didn't feel the need to chase trends back then and incorporate the off-kilter tom-based drum sound that was prevalent in the alt. scene back then. Cuomo's lyrics still stand up too, tales of a love-lorn man are of course as old as time itself.
So Happy 10th Birthday Green Album. The last great Weezer album? Probably, but that only gives them a hit rate of 2 out of 9. Ouch. I guess the "Red" (also eponymous) album was OK...ish...
