Albums you've been listening to lately

[Spam]

I've been listening to Texas Is The Reason's first, and only album. This album excellently defines 90's emotional music to the max. The title track is definitely one of the highlights of the album. The whole song just feels very powerful and moving, like a butter knife straight to your emotions. It feels good though. Every single time I listen to it, and every time it ends, I just wish it would repeat itself. But then I go and listen through the entire album again, just to make it to that point in the album where that song plays again. Don't get me wrong, the entire album is excellent. Listen to it if you get a chance. The only thing that bugs me, and it's not even about the album, is these guys lasted approximately two to three years. Then they split. They made an EP, I think a split with another band, and this album. Then they had a reunion show... maybe like, a year ago... dang it!

Links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_Cb2gsoN1E (about 20 seconds in is the title track. the song after this one, is the song after this song on the album... if that makes sense.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02h3Zd-g8mk&feature=related (better quality of the next song)

[zuludelta]

Color It Red - Hand-Painted Sky: 1994's Hand-Painted Sky is generally considered as one of the albums that jump-started the Philippine independent rock scene in the 1990s, along with the Eraserheads' 1993 release UltraElectroMagneticPop!, Yano's 1994 self-titled debut record, and a smattering of other, smaller commercial hits. Color It Red's main selling point among the predominantly male audience at the time was vocalist Cooky Chua, who had something of a reputation as a hard-partying Catholic schoolgirl at the time of the album's release. The backing band members were no slouches, however. Lead guitarist Mike Villegas, primary songwriter and rhythm guitarist Barbi Cristi, keyboardist Maricar Florendo, bassist Hank Palenzuela, and drummer Edison Javellano brought a polished and professional sound to what was basically a D-I-Y music scene. I always thought they were heavily influenced by the stripped down pop rock of the Texas-based Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians, but Chua's distinct alto and the band's occasional incursions into jazzy inflections gives their music an identity of its own. The album went on to spawn a couple of minor hits, among them the excellently jazzy title track, the obligatory tearjerkers "Paglisan (Departure)" and "I Need You Here," and the New Wave-tinged teen anthem "Na Naman (Again)."

I managed to catch the band live several times during the late 1990s when I lived in Manila (my old apartment was only a few blocks from a bar they played regularly in). By that time, Chua's dulcet voice had developed the range of the sultry, smoky, whiskey-tinged rasp of a club circuit veteran, perfect for doing Janis Joplin and (1970s folk group) Asin covers. She apparently hadn't lost any of her wild child ways, though, I remember seeing her regularly nip from a bottle of Jack Daniel's in-between (and during!) songs.

Anyways, a nice solid album if you can find it (a quick Google search only turned up a couple of cassettes on eBay), but I think it's mostly of interest to those on a nostalgia trip or those looking to document 1990s Asian pop music.       

Media Links:
I Need You Here
Hand-Painted Sky (live)
Na Naman (Again)
Paglisan (Departure)

a video of a much, much older Cooky Chua singing the jazz standard "'s Wonderful".

[zuludelta]

Sino Sikat? - self-titled: An excellently polished nu-jazz/neo-soul/trip-hop outfit, although the tongue-in-cheek name ("Sino Sikat?" literally translates into English as "Who's Famous?") might make those unfamiliar with their music think that they're a cheeky college radio band. It's also a pun on singer Kat Agarrado's name ("Sino Sikat?" can be read as "Sino Si Kat?" which means "Who is Kat?").

Great production that rightfully showcases vocalist Agarrado's powerful pipes and the solid musicianship of the band's instrumentalists. No gimmicks here, just solidly written and soulful pop hooks played with excellent virtuosity, although there are a couple of clunkers (the cumbersome "Praning (Paranoid)" and "Telepono (Telephone)"). Half of the songs are sung in English and the other half in their native Tagalog/Filipino, and there isn't a noticeable shift in quality either way... these guys are definitely comfortable writing and performing in both languages (although it's apparent that they're looking for an international audience, since most of their videos so far have been of their English-language singles). They are excellent live as well, which is always a very big thing with me.

Media Links:
Turning My Safety Off
So Blue
Magic
A short interview/documentary on the band (it's mostly in Tagalog, though)

[zuludelta]

Rainbow - Rising: Talking on ow_tiobe_sb's prog rock and metal thread made me feel like digging up this classic 1976 album by Ritchie Blackmore's band (featuring Black Sabbath's Ronnie James Dio on vocals). Not prog rock, of course, but I've always felt that Blackmore was a direct influence on modern prog guitarists like Dream Theater's John Petrucci, particularly his use of exotic scales and a predisposition towards multiple chord inversions.

The highlights of this landmark album are the eight-and-a-half minute long "Stargazer," the eight minute epic "A Light in the Black," and the opening track "Tarot Woman." It is on these three songs that Blackmore pretty much crystallized his guitar sound and technique and installed himself as one of the most influential guitar technicians of the late 20th century (you can hear strains of Blackmore in everything from Iron Maiden to Yngwie Malmsteen to Steve Vai to Metallica to Dream Theater).

Media Links:
Tarot Woman
Stargazer
A Light In the Black

[zuludelta]

Brown Beat All-Stars - self-titled: The Brown Beat All-Stars feature former members of Put3ska, who scored a minor international ska hit over a decade ago with "Manila Girl" (well, as much as a ska song can actually become a hit, anyway). While BBAS still sticks to the punky, third wave ska sound of Put3ska, they've incorporated more of a big band and retro-swing feel and even go into calypso-sounding excursions on a couple of tracks. I've heard many people who have heard BBAS for the first time say that they're a more traditional ska sounding version of No Doubt (although BBAS, in one incarnation or another, predates any mainstream recordings made by Gwen Stefani's pop ska group by a couple of years). That comparison is most probably due to vocalist Myra Ruaro (a.k.a. "Skarlet"), who really has the ska inflections nailed down. As an aside, Ruaro is also an accomplished jazz singer, and she released a solo jazz album a year ago (I'll probably do a "mini-review" of it in this thread one of these days).

If the name of the band sounds familiar, it might be because you've heard them before despite being a largely regional phenomenon. Their song "Hunger" was bundled-in for free with Creative-branded mp3 players a few years ago.

Media Links:
Hunger
The Way That You Do

[zuludelta]

Cheech & Chong - Cheech & Chong's Greatest Hit: A comedy classic from 1981. This record collects material from the comedy duo's various LPs from the 1970s (every one of their albums is represented here with a track or two, except for 1976's Sleeping Beauty). The irony of this album's success is that "stoners" ate it up like so many brownies, when they were ostensibly the punchline for many of their jokes.

Found on this album are their most famous skits, including "Dave," "Sister Mary Elephant," and the "Pedro de Pacas and Man" series of skits. Ostensibly missing are the hilarious/disturbing "Championship Wrestling" from The Wedding Album and "White World of Sports" from Los Cochinos. You can also find the song "Earache My Eye" on this album, which features Tommy Chong's vastly underrated skills as a guitarist (Chong was a pro musician, playing guitar for the Motown-styled group Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers, before going into comedy), as well as the minor hit "Basketball Jones" (which features ex-Beatle George Harrison on lead guitar and legendary songwriter Carole King on backing vocals).

Obviously, this type of humour isn't for everybody, many of the jokes are based on drug references and racial stereotypes, but for those who are into South Park type shenanigans, this will serve up more than a few laughs (although there is a way to make the jokes even funnier if you get my drift  :lol:).

Media Links:
Basketball Jones
Earache My Eye
Blind Melon Chitlin

[Spam]

Let's see... according to iTunes, I've listened to...

The Promise Ring - "Very Emergency"

The Promise Ring's third album, is more pop influenced than their earlier work. It's still fun to listen to, but it's not my favorite. Still good, though.

Emergency! Emergency!

Nine Inch Nails - "The Slip"

It sounds like Year Zero. Thus, I like it. But jeez, two albums in 2008, is he gonna make any more?

Maritime - "We, the Vehicles"

It's got the frontman from The Promise Ring, but these guys are more indie rather than pop/emo. A great group with a great album.

Tearing Up the Oxygen

Shout Out Louds - "Our Ill Wills"

An excellent indie pop group. These guys are from Sweden, but they make better indie pop than some Americans... now that's saying something.

Tonight I Have to Leave It

[style]

Kanye West - Graduation

Lupe Fiasco - The Cool

Jay-Z - The Blueprint

Nas - Stillmatic

[Protomorph]

The Beatles
  Hate and Hell.

They are remix projects by a fan, avaliable for FREE online from their respective sites:
www.thebeatleshate.com and www.thebeatleshell.com

Interesting stuff. Not as happy as Love, of course (or professional). But not bad at all.

[zuludelta]

Continuing with my near obsessive-compulsive need to catalogue obscure Philippine independent music, here are a bunch of records I've been listening to lately:

Joey Ayala at ang Bagong Lumad - Mga Awit ni Tanod-Lupa and Lumad sa Syudad: Joey Ayala spearheaded the "ethnic rock" renaissance of the late 1980s and early 1990s in the Philippines. Ayala and his band Bagong Lumad ("The New Natives") fused traditional Philippine and Javanese/Timorese music with Western song structure, with surprisingly commercially successful results. 1991's Mga Awit ni Tanod-Lupa ("Songs of the Earth-Guardian") is by far Ayala's most successful album, and established him as a relevant voice in the new/popular music scene. The follow-up album, 1992's Lumad sa Syudad ("Native in the City") was critically well-received but didn't spawn any radio hits, unlike its predecessor. Ayala continues to put out records (although no longer with his band) and write music for commercial and public service purposes (he's written a couple of musical scores and has penned promotional music for numerous public advocacy groups), but he's nowhere near as popular as he used to be in the early-to-mid 1990s.

Some of the distinct features of Ayala's music is the prominent use of the hegalong (a 2-stringed plucked instrument somewhat similar to the Japanese shamisen), the bandurria (a 14-stringed cittern adapted from those brought by the Spanish occupation). the kulintang (Southern Philippine brass gong ensemble), and the kubing (Philippine/Indonesian mouth harp). He also makes use of more modern Western instruments such as guitar and electric bass.

Ayala's lyrics generally trend towards environmental advocacy and the promotion of indigenous Philippine culture, and his songs have become the de facto anthem of many an environmentalist movement.

Highly recommended for people who want to expand their "world music" vocabulary beyond Manu Chao's "euro-reggae" and the latest bhangra hit from the UK.

Media Links:
Dapithapon ("Twilight") - a classical rondalla ensemble piece written by Ayala for guitar, bandurria, octavina, and laud, performed in this video by a group out of Cornell University.
Agila ("Eagle")
Karaniwang Tao ("Common Man") - Ayala's most popular song, features prominent use of the hegalong for those who are curious as to what it sounds like. 

Fatal Posporos - Paper View: The Fatal Posporos ("Fatal Matches") are an all-girl group that burst onto the Philippine indie rock scene during the late 1990s. I don't know if they've ever publicly acknowledged Japanese girl-punk pioneers Shonen Knife as one of their influences, but that's really who they remind me of. They've got the same penchant for fusing silly puns, occasionally non-sensical stream-of-consciousness and sometimes bilingual but always fun lyrics, and a refreshing wide-eyed naivety with a garage band sound and the occasional stylistic nod to 1960s pop music. They never really hit it big outside of the college crowd, and they disbanded soon after releasing their only album in 1999, although they did a brief reunion-ish club tour a couple of years ago.

Media Links:
Sili Song
Hidden Mitsurugi (not on the album... it's just a couple of former Fatal Posporos doing a song built around a manga/anime pun ("Hidden Mitsurugi" is a reference to the Hiten-Mitsurugi school of swordsmanship from the "Samurai X" anime/manga... the band is a fan of comics in general, they even have a song entitled "Harvey Dent") 

[Spam]

Thrice - "Vheissu"

I've been listening to this recently. I bought it when it first came out, thinking that the whole album would sound like "Image of the Invisible", but I was wrong in thinking that. As the whole album is very different, at least Thrice wise. If you didn't know, Thrice was a post-hardcore screaming band, and for them to go more experimental was really... different. At first I was disappointed, but three years later after it's release I'm starting to love it. They've also recently released two new albums, which was actually supposed to be a four part EP series, but they changed their minds and made them into two albums. Good stuff.

"Red Sky"

And one of my favorite songs off of their newer album...

"A Song For Milly Michaelson"

Silversun Pickups - "Carnavas"

Another album I recently listened to. Good stuff, but I don't know how to describe it. If you like soothing, but still rather grungy stuff, you should check these guys out. They might surprise you, though. At least, I was. their music style is somewhat unique, as it sounds very distorted, but at the same time somewhat dreamy. It's weird, but it's good.

"Little Lover's So Polite"

[zuludelta]

Spam, have you tried listening to the Soma FM internet radio station? Sounds like the "Digitalis" and "Indie Pop Rocks" channels are right up your alley, judging by the bands you've been posting about. It's a great way to find similar-sounding artists.

[BWPS]

The Beatles
  Hate and Hell.

They are remix projects by a fan, avaliable for FREE online from their respective sites:
www.thebeatleshate.com and www.thebeatleshell.com

Interesting stuff. Not as happy as Love, of course (or professional). But not bad at all.

LOVE - It's the only album I listen to lately. The Beatles sound great, but now not as crusty as they do on oldies stations, and you don't have to listen to all the other terrible old people music!

[zuludelta]

André "Gypsy" Gerard- André: André is the name of a homeless street musician who works in downtown Vancouver. He generally works the area around the Granville train station. I used to see him a lot on the way to school and work. Rain or shine, chances are he'd be there playing original folk music and covering Bob Dylan and Jim Croce songs. He always has a good word for people getting off the train station, whether or not they give him change or pay him any mind. I've had the privilege of speaking with him a couple of times and he's one of the nicest, most inspiring artists I've ever met. Not to say that he isn't without his own personal demons, but he plays music so earnestly and he genuinely loves brightening up people's days with his music. One time I saw him playing but didn't have any change to give him myself, so I just went up to him and shook his hand and he said "that's the best I've gotten all day."

At some point, a bunch of locals decided to record him in a studio and press a few hundred CD copies of his music. André started selling his CDs on the sidewalk to supplement his earnings as a street musician.

A couple of months ago, I saw André outside the Granville station, looking absolutely depressed and downtrodden and without his guitar. Turns out some bastard stole it. I was absolutely heartbroken to see him in such a state and if I could have bought him a new guitar right there and then I would have but the best I could do was buy his CD for $10. I haven't seen him in while so I hope he's okay.

Anyway, if you're ever in downtown Vancouver and see a smiling, bearded, sixty-something street musician, maybe he's hawking his CDs, or hopefully with a guitar, stick around and listen for a few minutes. Maybe put off buying the new X-Men or Batman and give him some change. Better yet, buy the CD... it's got 8 original songs (folksy tunes reminiscent of Bob Dylan) and a cover of Jeff Walker's "Mr. Bojangles" and Jim Croce's "I Got A Name."     

Media Links:
A mini-documentary about André Gerard
André Gerard singing Wild World and an original song

[zuludelta]

Barbie's Cradle - Playing In The Fields: Barbie's Cradle started out in 1997 as the alterna-pop trio with the queasily pretentious name of Hungry Young Poets (no relation to the Fine Young Cannibals or Strapping Young Lad), and they managed to make minor ripples in the Philippine music scene with their lone album released that same year. When HYP broke up over creative differences slightly over a year later, guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Barbie Almabis and drummer/percussionist Franklin Benitez went and formed a new band, Barbie's Cradle, recruiting Rommel dela Cruz to take over the bass-playing duties (apparently, HYP's bassist, Ricci Gurango, held the rights to the HYP name).

Playing In The Fields is Barbie's Cradle's third and final album (Barbie Almabis embarked on a solo career soon after the album's release in 2003), and in my opinion, their best, most fully-realized work. Almabis has a penchant for writing laid-back, but nonetheless tightly-arranged, minor scale pop numbers but she mixes things up this time around with some well-executed upbeat songs, including her version of National Artist Ryan Cayabyab's classic "Limang Dipang Tao" (Five Peoples' Breadth). Almabis' guitar-playing has really improved and come a long way from her Poets days, getting jazzy and bossa nova-esque on the song "Dragon Flies" and maintaining a harder edge on "Independence Day."

I guess the best parallel I can come up with to describe the music here is The Cardigans-meets-Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians, but that does a disservice to the band, since they draw on a much more colourful sonic palette.

Media Links:
Everyday
Money For Food
Independence Day
Limang Dipang Tao 

[Protomorph]

Patton Oswalt's two CDs, Feeling Kinda Patton, and Werewolves and Lollipops

Patton is a gifted visual comedian/comic book and sci-fi geek. These cds are truly hilarious (but not for kids)

Ok, it's not music, but the thread title does just say 'Albums'.

[zuludelta]

Eric Johnson - Ah Via Musicom: One of my favourite guitar-oriented records of all-time, right up there with Steve Vai's Passion and Warfare and Joe Satriani's Surfing With The Alien. Ah Via Musicom was released during the peak of the Ibanez-wielding speed merchant guitar craze during the 1990s, so it was sort of buried beneath the glut of similar sounding, million notes-per-minute axe pyrotechnics records of the time, although two songs off the album ("Trademark" and "Cliffs of Dover") still managed to gain international popularity, if not with the general music-listening population, then at least with many serious guitarists the world over.

Johnson coaxes a very warm sound from his guitar, a stark contrast to the over-engineered, super compressed sounds of his contemporaries, and it's that warmth that gives his tone a very distinct character.

The neat thing about Johnson is that a whole new generation of kids are listening to his music because of the inclusion of "Cliffs of Dover" on the Guitar Hero 3 track list.

Media Links:
Cliffs of Dover
Trademark
Song For George
High Landrons

[docdelorean88]

The Beatles-Love

Ausome remixes and editing

[zuludelta]

Cambio - CambioMatic: This is the second full-length album by Cambio, a group comprised mostly of former members of pioneering Philippine indie pop/rock act the Eraserheads (Buddy Zabala on bass, Raimund Marasigan on drums, and ex-Fatal Posporos member Kris Gorra-Dancel on vocals/guitars, who replaced legendary Eraserheads frontman Ely Buendia in the band's final incarnation).

This is way better than their debut LP Derby Light, which sounded like a collection of half-formed Eraserheads and Fatal Posporos cast-off singles passed through a Broken Social Scene/Stars filter. While the album, as a whole, doesn't reach the creative heights of the best Eraserheads records (or even the Fatal Posporos' Paper View), it doesn't really disappoint either. Zabala, Marasigan, and Gorra-Dancel may not have Buendia's songwriting chops, but they've been making music long enough to know what goes into a tight pop number: catchy hooks, toe-tapping rhythms, and more catchy hooks. The band has gained something of a following across Asia with their single "Call Center," a song about life working in the tech-support/customer support business (a growing job market in the Philippines, India, and Malaysia, where American companies can hire competent English-speaking locals but pay them with relatively low wages compared to their State-side counterparts). They've also been well-received in Japan (in fact, the only places on the net that I can find their CD is on Yahoo!Japan's auction site and Amazon.co.jp... the only other online merchant that offers their CD on sale is on Google's list of sites that install third-party cookies/malware).

Highlights of the album include the aforementioned "Call Center," the infectious "Shopaholica," and the disco-themed "Shake Your Pants."

Media Links:
Call Center (the video looks like it was shot in my old neighbourhood!)
Shopaholica
Pasaway

[zuludelta]

The Mongols - Buddha's Pest: The Mongols were a one-off band formed by former Eraserheads frontman/guitarist Ely Buendia after he left the 'heads over creative differences. Joining Buendia (who went by the nom d'artiste Jesus "Dizzy" Ventura to bypass contractual restrictions) was guitarist J. Astro of pop-punk band The Teeth, and bassist Yan Yuzon and drummer Bogs Jugo of Daydream Cycle. They released a limited edition EP in 2003 entitled "A Fraction of a Second" (something I'm still looking for and is something of a holy grail for me right now... the discs were printed off of Buendia's home PC on CD-R media).

Buddha's Pest is the full-length album based on that EP. It's a solid album featuring Buendia at his song-writing best, reminiscent of his earlier work with the Eraserheads (in fact, if I hadn't known who the band was, I'd just have assumed that the songs were by the Eraserheads just by listening to them). Seeing as how it was just a project that bridged Buendia's Eraserheads work with his later stuff with his current band Pupil (a decent group, but whose work is nowhere near as interesting as the Eraserheads' or The Mongols'), the band didn't really have any sort of commercial success. No videos either, outside of one for their single "Keeper" (said video released after the band had been dissolved) and a live clip I managed to find on YouTube.

Media Links:
Keeper
Bakit Nga Ba? (Why Is It Again?)

[zuludelta]

Dahong Palay - Kapatiran ng Bakal at Apoy (Brotherhood of Steel and Flame): Dahong Palay is a heavy metal trio that came from the early 1990s Manila metal scene. They gained popularity when their demo got heavy rotation on the now-defunct LA105.9 rock, punk, and metal station. I guess its easiest to describe their music as "epic" metal along the lines of Iron Maiden, Dio, and post-Ozzy Black Sabbath. They're technically solid all-around, guitarist Booths Oca does a great job of doing Randy Rhoads and Zakk Wylde-esque solos and singer/bassist Eurd de la Hostria pumps out enough low-end to give babies chest hair. And boy, those lyrics... after listening to the album, I felt like laying waste to the town armed with a battle-ax and dressed in nothing but a loincloth  :lol:

I don't know if the original band is still together, last I heard was that they were playing Japan's yearly Metalfest (with a different line-up), and that was back in 2003. 

Media Links:
Kapatiran ng Bakal at Apoy (Brotherhood of Steel and Flame)
Imortal (Immortal)
At Muling Sumikat ang Araw (And the Sun Did Again Shine)
Panginoon ng Hangin (God of the Wind)

[Spam]

Just got The Velvet Underground & Nico, listened to the first few tracks. Sounds good so far.

Also, Weezer's The Red Album is coming out soon... that's going to be awesome.

FORIAMSPAM!

[Spam]

Weezer's new album came out today. I must say, that I am indeed a big Weezer fan, but this release is... different. The album cover is good ol' classic Weezer where they just stand in front of a colored screen, exactly like their first and third albums entitled The Blue Album, and The Green Album... well, this one is called The Red Album, probably because it has the band standing in front of a red backdrop. But this album is still different... different like how Rivers Cuomo, the lead singer, grew out a mustache just for the album cover. But anyways, down to the album review.

These guys have always had solid releases, IMO. The website Pitchfork gave their last few albums (especially Make Believe) pretty bad scores. I have no idea why, I personally think their just a bunch of jerks... sorta like how The Rolling Stone gives new releases solid 3 out of 5's nowadays. But anyway, The Red Album sounds sorta like The Blue Album and Pinkerton combined, except with different influences. They take different genres and sounds of music, and blend them together to make... this. "Pork & Beans" takes Weezer's power pop guitar rock sound, which was previously and mainly established on their first few releases, and it sounds like Weezer can still make the same exact type of music they did ten, fifteen years ago. This song sounds like it could have been a Blue Album outtake, it's like it came straight from that album. Except with maybe the addition of piano in the song, but other then that, it's good Weezer.

The album also has the whole band contributing as lead songwriters, and vocalists, instead of Rivers playing the front man. Now the whole band contributes to the songs, and they even switch instruments through the album.

If you like Weezer, you might like this album, you just have to give it a try. It may sound like Weezer has done a 180 degrees trying to sound like they did before, but at the same time it feels like they've gone the whole 360, and made something different. Make Believe was good, but it was also sort of an experiment. It was way poppier and alternative then any other Weezer album, but with this it's like they've done the splits... they tried to take a step back, and a step forward at the same time. Will it succeed? Maybe. All's what I know, is that Weezer still kicks arse. And that's that.

Pork & Beans

(Another album highlight. It's weird when it starts off, but it's catchy as all hell) The Greatest Man That Ever Lived

(One of my favorite Weezer songs ever... I know it's not on this album, but hey. It's still good. :) ) Only In Dreams

[zuludelta]

Thanks for the links Spam. I was a big Weezer fan when I was in high school, which was around the time that The Blue Album and Pinkerton came out. I guess I sort of stopped listening to them by the time The Green Album came out because I felt I had grown up (or at least grown older) while their music and lyrics still catered to the younger set (or at least tot he younger version of me). I might have to give this new album a thorough listen and see if they've grown older with me and see if it's a worthy purchase (not that I need any more CDs... I'm running out of storage space for my CDs and cassettes).

[Protomorph]

I've listened to the new Disturbed album a few times today.  :lol:

[Cdub]

Recently I dusted off my giant collection of four Billy Joel Cd's and I can't stop listening to "The Stranger".

[Placebo]

I've listened to the new Disturbed album a few times today.  :lol:

It was up on itunes on the 30th, I couldnt wait for the CD :) I wouldnt say it was their best album, but it's good, It's about on par with the 2nd album, not quite the level of the 1st or 3rd

[Protomorph]

I've listened to the new Disturbed album a few times today.  :lol:

It was up on itunes on the 30th, I couldnt wait for the CD :) I wouldnt say it was their best album, but it's good, It's about on par with the 2nd album, not quite the level of the 1st or 3rd

I'd agree with that.

[The Hitman]

Weezer's new album came out today. I must say, that I am indeed a big Weezer fan, but this release is... different. The album cover is good ol' classic Weezer where they just stand in front of a colored screen, exactly like their first and third albums entitled The Blue Album, and The Green Album... well, this one is called The Red Album, probably because it has the band standing in front of a red backdrop. But this album is still different... different like how Rivers Cuomo, the lead singer, grew out a mustache just for the album cover. But anyways, down to the album review.

These guys have always had solid releases, IMO. The website Pitchfork gave their last few albums (especially Make Believe) pretty bad scores. I have no idea why, I personally think their just a bunch of jerks... sorta like how The Rolling Stone gives new releases solid 3 out of 5's nowadays. But anyway, The Red Album sounds sorta like The Blue Album and Pinkerton combined, except with different influences. They take different genres and sounds of music, and blend them together to make... this. "Pork & Beans" takes Weezer's power pop guitar rock sound, which was previously and mainly established on their first few releases, and it sounds like Weezer can still make the same exact type of music they did ten, fifteen years ago. This song sounds like it could have been a Blue Album outtake, it's like it came straight from that album. Except with maybe the addition of piano in the song, but other then that, it's good Weezer.

The album also has the whole band contributing as lead songwriters, and vocalists, instead of Rivers playing the front man. Now the whole band contributes to the songs, and they even switch instruments through the album.

If you like Weezer, you might like this album, you just have to give it a try. It may sound like Weezer has done a 180 degrees trying to sound like they did before, but at the same time it feels like they've gone the whole 360, and made something different. Make Believe was good, but it was also sort of an experiment. It was way poppier and alternative then any other Weezer album, but with this it's like they've done the splits... they tried to take a step back, and a step forward at the same time. Will it succeed? Maybe. All's what I know, is that Weezer still kicks arse. And that's that.

Pork & Beans

(Another album highlight. It's weird when it starts off, but it's catchy as all hell) The Greatest Man That Ever Lived

(One of my favorite Weezer songs ever... I know it's not on this album, but hey. It's still good. :) ) Only In Dreams

Spammy, being a huge Weezer guy myself, I agree with this review 100%. Bought it yesterday, was about to do a review... and promptly fell asleep last night.

"Greatest Man" definitely has Pinkerton tones to it, as opposed to "Pork & Beans," which could've been lifted directly from Blue (or Green) Album.

I think the main reason it sound different, is because, instead of having a specific sound, like they attempted (and achieved) on all their previous albums, this one sets out to mimic those styles on each individual song.

If you're going to get this album, do yourself a favor and spring for the Deluxe Edition. "Miss Sweeny" is weird, awkward, and quirky... just like the best of Weezer. "And "King" is the first Weezer song not sung by Rivers (sung by Scott Shriner [bassist #3])

(And "Only In Dreams" is my favorite of their non- quirky song as well, but nothing beats "Undone - The Sweater Song." Youtube it. It's good stuff.)

[MJB]

Nothing I'm going to say is going to change anyone's opinion. Hell, nothing I could say hasn't been said before.

Weezer: The Red Album is a good CD. The band has slipped from overly "poppy" to "trying to be artsy" and back again. This album has such an eclectic group of songs and sounds. The tracks where Rivers doesn't sing are refreshing. The Greatest Man In The World is something that must be heard to understand.

This album is ironic to it's core. It's catchy at times and almost touching at others (Heart Songs for one).

If you have ever been a fan of Weezer do yourself a favor and at least listen to a friends copy.

I love this album.

-MJB