Weezer (The Green Album)
What do you like about it?
What do you not like about it?
I like all of its songs, it's one of my favorite albums.
If I could change one thing, I would have the guitar solos do a little more; be a little more experimental.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Scott's Dope Nose on -
It's part of the reason the album is great.
Jordan said:I have always liked that part about Green's solos.
Scott Alan Perkins said:You can sing a verse on "Smile" while solo is going and it end when the chorus starts up. That's genius all in itself.
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Permalink Reply by Mike Elliott on -
The Green Album is perfect. After Pinkerton didn't resonate initially with critics or the public, Rivers probably felt as if his career was on the line. He proceeded to focus on writing concise and catchy tunes while not selling out. It was the baseball equivalent of a home run. The Green Album is exhilarating and just pure power pop perfection. I can understand that people might have wanted more creative guitar solos but it seemed that there was just an attempt to make a perfect album without a note out of place. In my opinion, they did it.
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Permalink Reply by Jordan on -
Stated perfectly.
We can't forget about how Rivers was feeling when he wrote TGA.
Mike Elliott said:The Green Album is perfect. After Pinkerton didn't resonate initially with critics or the public, Rivers probably felt as if his career was on the line. He proceeded to focus on writing concise and catchy tunes while not selling out. It was the baseball equivalent of a home run. The Green Album is exhilarating and just pure power pop perfection. I can understand that people might have wanted more creative guitar solos but it seemed that there was just an attempt to make a perfect album without a note out of place. In my opinion, they did it.
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Permalink Reply by Mike Elliott on
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You are certainly entitled to your opinion. I was quite taken back that you find it a "boring listen". If something was boring to me I would not listen to it hundreds of times....I'd be....Bored.
johnny rockets said:I've listened to the Green album hundreds of times and unfortunately it's still, for the most part, a boring listen. Sarah, you said that it sounds like Blue meets Pinkerton. I'm sorry, I don't hear this at all. If anything, they took the Blue sound and regressed it to a basic pop formula . Not necessarily terrible or anything, just not a fulfilling listen in my opinion. The Beatles wrote songs like this in their early releases, and The Strokes have been known to be pretty redundant in their song structures as well.
I was just as excited as anyone that this album was coming out. I was 3 years into my fandom and could not believe Weezer was finally releasing a new album in the first place. But after I got through it, I was just sort of empty, like "that was it?". And back then, I wasn't alone in this reaction either. Weezer had changed, and while some of it was good, there was a lot missing.
Cons:
-Rivers monotone nasally emotionless singing
-Rivers doing all of the background vocals
-Guitar solos are just the verse melody
-A lack of variety in song structure (verse, chorus, verse, chorus, solo, chorus and/or verse)
-A lack of dynamics in the production
-Tracks 5-10 basically use all of the same chords and sound nearly identical
-Lack of clever, interesting, autobiographical, and thoughtful lyrics in majority of the songs (Rivers admitted he doesn't even know what some of the words mean, for instance, in Don't Let Go)
Pros:
-The melodies and hooks
-Photograph, Island in the Sun, Smile, O Girlfriend (and on some days Hash Pipe)
I like the Green album enough, and can appreciate the simplicity of the pop-rock occasionally. But whereas some deem it Weezer's 3rd or 4th best, I just don't hear it. If these songs come on individually on my ipod, they're a fun listen. But together, they almost appear generic. Honestly, if Rivers wanted to rerecord this album, in the vein of Don't Let Go 2005 or Smile on piano (or like the Japanese tribute version which is the quintessential version of that song), I'd be all for it. The melodies are solid (some even great), but the songs themselves though are just a bit undercooked.
If you were a fan prior to the Green album's release, what was your reaction to the album then, and what are your feelings today 10 years later?
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Permalink Reply by Jordan on
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Haha, well put again, Mike.
Mike Elliott said:If something was boring to me I would not listen to it hundreds of times....I'd be....Bored.
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Permalink Reply by Jordan on
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Ah, I forgot about the bass lines. They definitely rock!
And you can't go wrong with Karl backing on Don't Let Go!
Hugh Lovric said:it's definetly my favourite album and i love the bass riffs especially in hash pipe and island in the sun and i also love the backign vocals aswell
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Permalink Reply by Xavier on -
I don't know why everyone's obsession with the 2005 version of Don't Let Go.
I think the original version is perfection and that AOL one just seems empty...
Though I definitely agree that the live version of O Girlfriend w/ the new solo is epic.
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Permalink Reply by Schnerk on -
I appreciate all of the 2- and 3-part vocal harmonies throughout the album, it makes the album sound almost Beatles-like in a lot of ways. However, it is a pretty short album, and it would have been nice if the songs were made longer, but I think Rivers intentionally wanted to make a short, "easily digestible" record so it wouldn't be a "flop" like Pinkerton was. He talks about that in that recent interview from DirecTV 101.
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Permalink Reply by bleedgoldandwhite21 on -
The fact that the solos ARE like the chorus is a BAD thing. Their boring solos that lack creativity and yes, also passion. When you listen to TBA solos you know Rivers actually spent time writing the solos. For TGA, Rivers basically had the solo's written after he wrote the song, because its all the same. Also, bringing up Led Zeppelin even makes my point more. Comparing TBA and Pinkerton's solos to Led Zeppelin is a compliment. Jimmy Page is easily one of the top 10 guitarists of all time. Look at a song like Only In Dreams(which putting two and two together, Jimmy Page actually listed as one of the greatest guitar songs of all time). Yeah, other bands have used the same concept(listen to any pop album and you'll find TGA type solos, so that argument is dead), but it shows actual composition skill to write a solo like OID and it actually takes skill to play it.
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Permalink Reply by johnny rockets on -
Just curious, because hey it's your opinion, but what's perfect about the original Don't Let Go? To me Rivers isn't even trying to sing with any kind of emotion whatsoever. The guitars are driving, and that's cool, but there's nothing special there. Personally it sounds like a very compressed and "going through the motions" kind of recording. The 2005 version, however, just enhances the song in every way. Despite Rivers saying the lyrics don't mean anything, in the 2005 version it sounds like they do because of the way he's singing it. Also there's that synth, the bridge, just a lot of fantastic things going on.
Aus Untoured Since '96 said:
I don't know why everyone's obsession with the 2005 version of Don't Let Go.
I think the original version is perfection and that AOL one just seems empty...
Though I definitely agree that the live version of O Girlfriend w/ the new solo is epic.
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Permalink Reply by johnny rockets on
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Yes listening to a record where tracks 5-10 sound almost exactly the same (amongst all of the other cons I listed) makes for a boring listen. But the melodies and pure catchiness of it all makes it enjoyable at least to that extent, especially when the songs are listened to individually as opposed to in succession. That's why I neither hate it nor love it, it is what it is. To me it's Rivers settling - trying just enough to make it accessible, but holding a lot back from creating a true classic album.
So why have I, and still listen to a "boring" record 10 years later? Because Weezer is my favorite band and despite all of their flaws I can enjoy every single one of their albums.
Look, it's like Rivers heard Sugar Ray's song "Rivers" (which was created as an ode to Weezer) and designed an album (sans Hash Pipe and Island) in a similar vein (simply taking all the things people generalize a Weezer song to be and there it is). We all know Rivers was trying to hone his perfect pop-rock song craft during this era, and while I can respect that, I don't necessarily think making an entire album in that fashion was the best way to go about it. I'm not bashing Green, I'm just saying there's so much more that could have been done. Take for instance, as I previously mentioned, the Japanese cover of Smile. See what they did with that arrangement there, and the solos. I know Rivers and co are capable of that, and it just bothers me that they settled for the most basic of pop-rock formulas. To me, the only songs that get a pass for using the "perfect pop song" formula are Photograph, Hash Pipe, Island, and O Girlfriend.
Mike Elliott said:
You are certainly entitled to your opinion. I was quite taken back that you find it a "boring listen". If something was boring to me I would not listen to it hundreds of times....I'd be....Bored.
johnny rockets said:I've listened to the Green album hundreds of times and unfortunately it's still, for the most part, a boring listen. Sarah, you said that it sounds like Blue meets Pinkerton. I'm sorry, I don't hear this at all. If anything, they took the Blue sound and regressed it to a basic pop formula . Not necessarily terrible or anything, just not a fulfilling listen in my opinion. The Beatles wrote songs like this in their early releases, and The Strokes have been known to be pretty redundant in their song structures as well.
I was just as excited as anyone that this album was coming out. I was 3 years into my fandom and could not believe Weezer was finally releasing a new album in the first place. But after I got through it, I was just sort of empty, like "that was it?". And back then, I wasn't alone in this reaction either. Weezer had changed, and while some of it was good, there was a lot missing.
Cons:
-Rivers monotone nasally emotionless singing
-Rivers doing all of the background vocals
-Guitar solos are just the verse melody
-A lack of variety in song structure (verse, chorus, verse, chorus, solo, chorus and/or verse)
-A lack of dynamics in the production
-Tracks 5-10 basically use all of the same chords and sound nearly identical
-Lack of clever, interesting, autobiographical, and thoughtful lyrics in majority of the songs (Rivers admitted he doesn't even know what some of the words mean, for instance, in Don't Let Go)
Pros:
-The melodies and hooks
-Photograph, Island in the Sun, Smile, O Girlfriend (and on some days Hash Pipe)
I like the Green album enough, and can appreciate the simplicity of the pop-rock occasionally. But whereas some deem it Weezer's 3rd or 4th best, I just don't hear it. If these songs come on individually on my ipod, they're a fun listen. But together, they almost appear generic. Honestly, if Rivers wanted to rerecord this album, in the vein of Don't Let Go 2005 or Smile on piano (or like the Japanese tribute version which is the quintessential version of that song), I'd be all for it. The melodies are solid (some even great), but the songs themselves though are just a bit undercooked.
If you were a fan prior to the Green album's release, what was your reaction to the album then, and what are your feelings today 10 years later?
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Permalink Reply by Scott's Dope Nose on
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I'm not saying TGA solos are better than Blue's or Pinkerton. I'm saying I enjoy for them for these reasons and are only missing a few elements from being just as good, though I don't think creativity is one the elements missing. I would put Rivers in the list with Jimmy Paige as one of the best guitarest. OID is Weezer's Stairway to Heaven, and the lesser known Led Zeppelin still have killer guitar's, the same as TGA.
bleedgoldandwhite21 said:The fact that the solos ARE like the chorus is a BAD thing. Their boring solos that lack creativity and yes, also passion. When you listen to TBA solos you know Rivers actually spent time writing the solos. For TGA, Rivers basically had the solo's written after he wrote the song, because its all the same. Also, bringing up Led Zeppelin even makes my point more. Comparing TBA and Pinkerton's solos to Led Zeppelin is a compliment. Jimmy Page is easily one of the top 10 guitarists of all time. Look at a song like Only In Dreams(which putting two and two together, Jimmy Page actually listed as one of the greatest guitar songs of all time). Yeah, other bands have used the same concept(listen to any pop album and you'll find TGA type solos, so that argument is dead), but it shows actual composition skill to write a solo like OID and it actually takes skill to play it.
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