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Track List
01) Hero
02) All the Good Ones
03) The End of the Game
04) I Need Some of That
05) Beginning of the End
06) Blue Dream
07) 1 More Hit
08) Sheila Can Do It
09) She Needs Me
10) Precious Metal Girl
01) Hero
02) All the Good Ones
03) The End of the Game
04) I Need Some of That
05) Beginning of the End
06) Blue Dream
07) 1 More Hit
08) Sheila Can Do It
09) She Needs Me
10) Precious Metal Girl
3:56
2:44
3:01
3:19
3:15
2:50
3:05
2:57
2:52
2:50
Data Complete
60%
Total Rating
60%Total Rating
(0 users)
Back Cover
CD Art
3D Case
3D Thumb
3D Flat
3D Face
3D Spine
First Released
2021
Alternative Rock
Moody
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Medium
Album
0 copies
Album Description
Available in:
Van Weezer is the fifteenth studio album by American rock band Weezer, released on May 7, 2021 by Crush Music and Atlantic Records. Featuring a classic rock and hard rock inspired sound, the album was announced in September 2019 with an original release date of May 2020, coinciding with announcement of the band's participation in the Hella Mega Tour alongside Green Day and Fall Out Boy. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tour was delayed indefinitely and Van Weezer's release was delayed until May 2021.
Four singles were released ahead of the album's release; "The End of the Game", "Hero", "Beginning of the End" and "I Need Some of That". The album received generally positive reviews from critics.
Background
In February 2019, Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo began working on new songs with a hard rock influence, in contrast to the pop rock and electropop sound that had been featured on the band's previous albums Pacific Daydream, the Teal Album, and the then-upcoming Black Album. In an interview that month with Entertainment Weekly, Cuomo mentioned that an album tentatively titled Van Weezer was in the works, and that it would take the band "back to big guitars". He remarked that when the band would perform "Beverly Hills" live in concert, he would perform a guitar solo that was not present on the recorded version of the song. "We noticed that, recently, the crowd just goes crazy when I do that. So it feels like maybe the audience is ready for some shredding again."
The album has been compared to their fourth studio album Maladroit (2002), and is inspired by 1970s and 1980s hard rock and heavy metal bands such as Kiss, Black Sabbath, Metallica and Van Halen (the last of whom inspired the album's title). Cuomo would also state that the album is "Blue Album-ish, but a little more riffy."
Release
On September 10, 2019, the first single from Van Weezer, "The End of the Game" was released along with an announcement that the album would be released on May 15, 2020. The announcement coincided with the revelation of the Hella Mega Tour, a 2020 concert tour featuring Weezer, Green Day, and Fall Out Boy. On May 6, 2020, the second single "Hero" was released onto streaming services; while Weezer announced that the album release would be delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, stating that despite this fans would receive "surprises" within the next week. A short snippet of "Blue Dream" debuted on The Simpsons episode "The Hateful Eight-Year-Olds", on which Weezer guest starred as themselves. On August 14, 2020, the band announced that the album had been delayed to May 2021 in order to coincide with the rescheduled Hella Mega Tour. That same day, the third single, "Beginning of the End" was released as a part of the soundtrack for Bill & Ted Face the Music.
On October 6, 2020, after Eddie Van Halen died, the album was dedicated to him. The track listing was announced on April 20, 2021, and the fourth single, "I Need Some of That" was released the following day.
User Album Review
Scratch the plaid veneer of most American alt-rockers and you’ll likely uncover a sliver of spandex; ‘80s MTV hair rock is so deeply embedded in the US teen rocker experience that most decent grunge, emo and desert rock bands made their early albums while still encased in the faint after-scent of hairspray and rubber codpieces.
Weezer, it seems, are no exception. Their riffs have always had a hint of the lapping tongue between devil horns about them, and their 15th album sees the mask drop completely. Following their subtle and sophisticated orchestral album ‘OK Human’, released in January, they go as unsubtle and unsophisticated as possible on ‘Van Weezer’, in as sharp a stylistic U-turn as any since 1982 Neil Young decided it was time to get on board with vocoder synth-pop.
Unfortunately, after the classical treatments of ‘OK Human’ gelled so well with Rivers Cuomo’s songwriting, the bull-snorting hellchords and squealing solos of ‘Van Weezer’ clash so hard with his style that the retro metal elements often just feel like slapped-on gimmickry. While heavy ‘80s rock riffs might often suit Weezer songs, Weezer songs – rarely strutting battle-cries of sex, sacrifice and boulder-eating testosterone – are generally too sensitive, smart and surf friendly to carry them.
“Plugging into a Marshall stack, I can be anything I want,” Cuomo declares amid the Leppard-spotted rock of ‘I Need Some Of That’, admitting to his power rock pretence in a nostalgic flurry of teenage rock fandom; ‘Beginning Of The End’ is a pomp-rock anthem about crippling pre-gig stage fright, as far from “Hello Cleveland!” as riff rock has ever got. The air of cock-rock cosplay hangs pretty heavily.
At its best (the crunching ‘Hero’ boasts one of Weezer’s greatest ever choruses), ‘Van Weezer’ marries soft metal and melodic geek culture to stupendous, festival-slaying effect. At its most frustrating (‘All The Good Ones’), it makes otherwise marvellous Cuomo songs sound like boy band rock pastiche. And at its absolute worst (‘1 More Hit’, ‘Blue Dream’ – most of the album’s second half, basically) the tokenistic thunder-chord segments, motorbike noises and Iron Maiden riffs distract from great songs.
Gorgeous acoustic closer ‘Precious Metal Girl’ proves that Weezer are more effective when singing about metal, rather than trying to emulate it. There’s a stone-cold classic Weezer album hidden beneath the fretboard flam – let’s have a whip round to get ‘Van Weezer’ an Albini remix.
External Album Reviews
None...
User Comments
Available in:
Van Weezer is the fifteenth studio album by American rock band Weezer, released on May 7, 2021 by Crush Music and Atlantic Records. Featuring a classic rock and hard rock inspired sound, the album was announced in September 2019 with an original release date of May 2020, coinciding with announcement of the band's participation in the Hella Mega Tour alongside Green Day and Fall Out Boy. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tour was delayed indefinitely and Van Weezer's release was delayed until May 2021.
Four singles were released ahead of the album's release; "The End of the Game", "Hero", "Beginning of the End" and "I Need Some of That". The album received generally positive reviews from critics.
Background
In February 2019, Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo began working on new songs with a hard rock influence, in contrast to the pop rock and electropop sound that had been featured on the band's previous albums Pacific Daydream, the Teal Album, and the then-upcoming Black Album. In an interview that month with Entertainment Weekly, Cuomo mentioned that an album tentatively titled Van Weezer was in the works, and that it would take the band "back to big guitars". He remarked that when the band would perform "Beverly Hills" live in concert, he would perform a guitar solo that was not present on the recorded version of the song. "We noticed that, recently, the crowd just goes crazy when I do that. So it feels like maybe the audience is ready for some shredding again."
The album has been compared to their fourth studio album Maladroit (2002), and is inspired by 1970s and 1980s hard rock and heavy metal bands such as Kiss, Black Sabbath, Metallica and Van Halen (the last of whom inspired the album's title). Cuomo would also state that the album is "Blue Album-ish, but a little more riffy."
Release
On September 10, 2019, the first single from Van Weezer, "The End of the Game" was released along with an announcement that the album would be released on May 15, 2020. The announcement coincided with the revelation of the Hella Mega Tour, a 2020 concert tour featuring Weezer, Green Day, and Fall Out Boy. On May 6, 2020, the second single "Hero" was released onto streaming services; while Weezer announced that the album release would be delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, stating that despite this fans would receive "surprises" within the next week. A short snippet of "Blue Dream" debuted on The Simpsons episode "The Hateful Eight-Year-Olds", on which Weezer guest starred as themselves. On August 14, 2020, the band announced that the album had been delayed to May 2021 in order to coincide with the rescheduled Hella Mega Tour. That same day, the third single, "Beginning of the End" was released as a part of the soundtrack for Bill & Ted Face the Music.
On October 6, 2020, after Eddie Van Halen died, the album was dedicated to him. The track listing was announced on April 20, 2021, and the fourth single, "I Need Some of That" was released the following day.
User Album Review
Scratch the plaid veneer of most American alt-rockers and you’ll likely uncover a sliver of spandex; ‘80s MTV hair rock is so deeply embedded in the US teen rocker experience that most decent grunge, emo and desert rock bands made their early albums while still encased in the faint after-scent of hairspray and rubber codpieces.
Weezer, it seems, are no exception. Their riffs have always had a hint of the lapping tongue between devil horns about them, and their 15th album sees the mask drop completely. Following their subtle and sophisticated orchestral album ‘OK Human’, released in January, they go as unsubtle and unsophisticated as possible on ‘Van Weezer’, in as sharp a stylistic U-turn as any since 1982 Neil Young decided it was time to get on board with vocoder synth-pop.
Unfortunately, after the classical treatments of ‘OK Human’ gelled so well with Rivers Cuomo’s songwriting, the bull-snorting hellchords and squealing solos of ‘Van Weezer’ clash so hard with his style that the retro metal elements often just feel like slapped-on gimmickry. While heavy ‘80s rock riffs might often suit Weezer songs, Weezer songs – rarely strutting battle-cries of sex, sacrifice and boulder-eating testosterone – are generally too sensitive, smart and surf friendly to carry them.
“Plugging into a Marshall stack, I can be anything I want,” Cuomo declares amid the Leppard-spotted rock of ‘I Need Some Of That’, admitting to his power rock pretence in a nostalgic flurry of teenage rock fandom; ‘Beginning Of The End’ is a pomp-rock anthem about crippling pre-gig stage fright, as far from “Hello Cleveland!” as riff rock has ever got. The air of cock-rock cosplay hangs pretty heavily.
At its best (the crunching ‘Hero’ boasts one of Weezer’s greatest ever choruses), ‘Van Weezer’ marries soft metal and melodic geek culture to stupendous, festival-slaying effect. At its most frustrating (‘All The Good Ones’), it makes otherwise marvellous Cuomo songs sound like boy band rock pastiche. And at its absolute worst (‘1 More Hit’, ‘Blue Dream’ – most of the album’s second half, basically) the tokenistic thunder-chord segments, motorbike noises and Iron Maiden riffs distract from great songs.
Gorgeous acoustic closer ‘Precious Metal Girl’ proves that Weezer are more effective when singing about metal, rather than trying to emulate it. There’s a stone-cold classic Weezer album hidden beneath the fretboard flam – let’s have a whip round to get ‘Van Weezer’ an Albini remix.
External Album Reviews
None...
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