New Weezer - "Heart Songs," "Troublemaker," & "Dreamin'"
For better or for worse (ok, mostly worse), tracks from Weezer's LP6 are swishing around the web. This could explain why Interscope has pushed up the album's release date a few weeks, from 6/24 to 6/3. Or maybe it's just because you guys have pretty much hated what you've heard so far. Anyway, when we posted up that last batch of four Red Album tunes, we got the track titles messed up, thought we posted songs we didn't, etc. So we fixed it over there, and now present you some new listens. "Heart Songs" starts today's programming, and it reminds us of LFO's "Summer Girls," just with references to Springsteen and a cat named Stevens instead of girls of the summer and Abercrombie & Fitch. This isn't a good thing.
"Heart Songs"
"These are my heart songs"? These songs are breaking our heart, Rivers. Thankfully, these next two are more in that "Pork & Beans" vein of being passably good.
"Dreamin'"
"Troublemaker"
Now that's more like it, guys. Makes us wanna whip out that =w=. Expect a "Beverly Hills"-styled MTV push around "Troublemaker." So the tracks are ranging from insufferably misguided to so-much-better-than-the-last-record. Maybe it'll be enough to wash away some of Make Believe's aftertaste (it won't).
As mentioned, Weezer's next one is out 6/3, via Interscope.
Posted at 12:13 PM
Tags: Weezer
The Dandy Warhols - when they were pretty great - used to cover "the wreck of the ed fitzgerald" live. and show tits. and stuff. "The captain wired in he had water coming in /
And the good ship and crew was in peril."
Score = -5
".. .I'm a troublemaker / never been a faker"... ?
".. books [are for] petty crooks?"
is this album demographic the 12 - 15 age bracket of thisspace™ generation?
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if so, then it sounds like its right up your alley given your uber-defensiveness 20 zillion times for mates of state yesterday lol
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I like it. It's nostalgic and fun -- thats all I could ever want from Weezer
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"Eddie Rabbit sang about how much he loved a rainy night"
LOLZ.
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I just know I'm going to make a mistake and buy this album. I think it's time for me to officially let go of this band.
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Rivers is watching too much Opera and reading too much Mattie Stepanek
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*Oprah. dammit.
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Wow, that first song is incredibly bad.
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any one else out there think this sounds a little SPOONesque? or is it just me..
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Spoonesque? Nope, Spoon sounds good.
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Pork and beans, dreamin, and greatest man who ever lived are all great! plus pig, which is on the deluxe edition is really fantastic. at this point, i'll take 4 good weezer songs per album.
Score = 2
"Heart Songs" was a lot better and (much) more subtle when Built to Spill sang it (see: "You Were Right.")
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With all respect, the two aren't similar at all. Cuomo's song is just about "here are some songs I liked. They are my HEART songs. I heart them." Built to Spill's appropriates the overwhelming optimism of the 60s through the lyrics, but recontextualizes them, re-invents them to push toward the grand disillusionment that followed that era. It's more about the way we see the past through the lens of the present than some whiny panagyric to 60s and 70s classic rock.
In other words, it's the difference between art and crap.
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see - now *that* is witty. Noel - if you read Marcus heres comment, try to be more like him.
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Cuomo must have turned into the laziest lyricist on the planet. Point in case, any two lines from Troublemaker.
And the whole arrested development thing was endearing when Rivers was in his 20s -- but now that they're all pushing 40, lyrics like "father says i got to pay some bills" or "teacher says i got to learn some facts" just seem like self-parody.
Yes, Weezer's music has evolved - but in all the wrong ways.
Score = 2
"Teacher says I've got to learn some facts/So I can make it in the Widener stacks."
Widener is a library at Harvard where Rivers went to school. This is actually a self reflective moment rather than lazy lyrics.
Also, while a bit unconventional, the lyrics, "Marryin' a bi-atch, having seven ki-ads/ Giving up and growing up and hoping there's a God" rather succinctly sums up the life path of most people in 2 lines in that quirky weezer way.
Score = 0
Okay, so I'm still refusing to listen to anymore tracks before the album's release, but I have heard Troublemaker, so I can at least comment on that.
I enjoy Troublemaker. It's fun and it's autobiographical, something Rivers has never really attempted in a song before. Yes, he does go for some lazy and childish rhymes, but I think that's just where he is right now, for whatever reason. It's forgivable. Silly lyrics have always had a place in Rivers' repertoire, even during Blue and Pinkerton. If this was anyone else but Weezer, we'd be much less harsh on it.
And "Heart Songs"? What. The. Fuck. Can we please make a new rule, Rivers? No more songs with "heart" in the title, okay? We want to hear you write about sex and being an outcast and a weird kid and such. Please?
Score = 0
Did no one in the band not say "Hey Rivers, "Heart Songs" make me want to quit the band it is so bad?"
I like the concept of paying homage to your favourite musicians, but this was so over the top and heartfelt it seemed silly.
Clearly Rivers has talent. He has written many great songs over the past 15 years but sadly all too many have ended up as bsides.
"Lover in the Snow" off of his solo album (weez bside) is better then anything I have heard off of this disc.
I wonder if anyone questions this guy at all?
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Cut Rivers some slack, he is an eHarmony reject after all!
(see: http://www.pinoy.ca/eharmony/38)
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troublemaker is reason enough not to give up hope on weezer
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"Heart Songs" would actually be a pretty good song if it was called anything other than "Heart Songs".
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Bowel Songs?
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Bowel Songs?
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o. my. god. this is horrible. wow.
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Heart songs is absolutely awful.
The others are alright.
This album could turn out OK.
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Heart songs is absolutely awful.
The others are alright.
This album could turn out OK.
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Ok, what makes Heart Songs bad? Honestly...you people have no taste (probably not true but I feel like saying it)
Score = -2
Heart Songs isn't bad. Some cool people hate it (and the rest of the album) because it pounds away on all the tropes and emotions that are currently verboten in polite company. Play it for them again in 10 years. I'm not saying it'll be a classic, just that nobody who hates it now will hate it then.
Score = -3
hooray! you get the gross generalization award, as well as the unwarranted speculation prize.
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I for one enjoy Heart Songs. It has a really catchy verse.
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So far I like what I'm hearing from this new CD. Heart Songs isn't great, but it certainly doesn't feel out of place in a Weezer catalog full of nonsense lyrics.
=w=
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As I said earlier in the thread, I think Heart Songs is cheesy. I think it's cool paying homage to his influences, but I just wish it was done using a different song. I find it so over-the-top and corny. I am a huge Weezer fan, who has enjoyed all their albums (Make Believe would have been good if you took a few songs out, but I really don't like what I am hearing with this new one.
"Pork and Beans" is good and so is "the Greatest", but I have not liked the other songs. Sure, they have always have relied on cornball lyrics, but there is a huge difference between intentionally corny lyrics and simply lazy ones. It seems like Rivers doesn't even try anymore.
Score = 0
witless pap
not unlike most of the comments it's provoked
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For those who don't like Heartsong, I think you don't really have a clue. Weezer is a great band: they know melody and song structure, they've been able to stay true to themselves even after making it big, their lyrics are smarter than most people give them credit for, and they are incredibly consistent in their ability to make a great rock song. Heartsong is no exception. I don't really understand the negative vibe here. These songs sound as good as anything Weezer has put out since 1992. Maybe the kids in this post are too young to get the song, I don't know. Or maybe I am too old to understand the kids in this post.
The Spoon comment... totally stupid.
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pooop
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Heart Songs is silly. It is over sentimental. It is lame in parts. But, despite all that - it's in my head, and when it hits the Nirvana part I do get a bit of a shiver (a good shiver). If they'd have scrapped the song up until there, and developed it from there as a starting point, and changed the name, then I think it would have been a great song. As it is it's an average song and a likely hit, a big hit. People heart that schlock. The unwarranted speculation award is MINE!
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If you are still a Weezer fan after their last three albums, you apparently will never learn your lesson.
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So the new bad songs make the old good songs sound different when you play them on a CD and hear them at a concert?
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I've only heard "Greatest Man" and "Pork and Beans", but I'm in love with those two songs. "Pork" is such a satirical look at the rock star life, but puts in intelligence in place of "Beverly Hills". "Greatest Man" is more from that cliche rock star's point of view, and is a sweet song. While they took down the clip, I would imagine "Heart Songs" is in that mocking vein, given "Pork" and "Greatest".
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You have to understand that this album has also been written by Patrick, Brian and Scott, so it's bound to be different to classic Weezer.
Weezer really are a band that you have to listen to a few times before you actually understand what they are trying to portray.
p.s. Weezer have been the most consistent band i have ever known, they have only let us down with a few songs from the latest albums. Can you think of any other bands that have even been close to Weezer for sheer great song writing?
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