Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A fantastic debut album!, 19 Nov 2003
Weezer's self titled 1994 debut was a refreshing change from the somewhat dull alternative rock of the time; this album was the closest you could get to the breezy, carefree attitude of punk rock without actually entering the punk rock ball park! Weezer proved that you didn't have to treat music as seriously as a heart attack to make an outstanding album, demonstrated by songs such as 'Surf Wax America' and 'No One Else'.The entire "geek rock" image was quirky and marketable, and singer/songwriter Rivers Cuomo shamelessly used this angle throughout the album, singing about his own resemblance to Buddy Holly, using the destruction of his sweater as a metaphor for a dissintegrating relationship, surfing to work, and the somewhat pathetic but painfully real desire to have a girlfriend that doesn't laugh at anybody else's jokes. The album has it's darker moments, too, however. Perhaps the most serious song, "Say It Ain't So" (incidentally, perhaps the best song) is nothing short of breathtaking, and the epic "Only In Dreams" is hauntingly beautiful. Combining influences from opposite areas of the musical spectrum (80s heavy metal and 60s Beatles/Beach Boys/bubblegum pop), "Weezer" is one of the greatest debut albums of all time. We've all heard "Buddy Holly", but there's so much more to "Weezer" the album, and Weezer the band than that.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
underestimated, 12 Oct 2005
By A Customer
Some reviewers are right in pointing out how weezer in certain songs such as 'only in dreams' and 'say it aint so' take on a 'darker', more moving aspect.
Completely true for these songs, but also for the others. Song lyrics have being labelled quirky, as well as the songs being called carefree and a breath of fresh air in the atmosphere they were released.
Point is almost none of these songs are competely what they seem. Buddy Holly, when listened in the knowledge that Rivers Cuomo described it a 'sick', takes on a slightly different aspect, when you realise he seems to be mocking a vulnerable girl he has left. All the other songs are personal too, and carefully thought out, as for example 'surf wax', is where the content seems to be about wishing to live an unconventional lifestyle ('of rats that run around and round in the cage'), by using the metaphor for surfing. However the more moving, personal moment is when Rivers sings 'all along the undertow is strengthening its hold, i never though it'd come to this now i can never go home',to represent how he can't escape what he calls in another song as a life with a 'low mileage wife'(lullaby for wayne).
This is all simply to say that Weezer because of 'quirky lyrics', and 'poppy songs', are misinterpreted. They are a far more interesting band than most would give credit. The lyrics (something i despair of in many pop songs becasue their often so pretentious)are worthy of someone who is studying english at harvard. Unlike many pop songs the lyrics really are moving, and they really are well though out.
Of course lyrics are only half the story. The songs are awesome as well. Infact they complement the lyrics very well (especially in 'only in dreams', with the crescendo at the end communicating the emotion of the lyrics almost as if you were experiencing what Rivers sings about). The songs are also however excellent pop songs, a pleasure to listen to.
Buddy Holly may have a darker side, but the song itslef is just so much fun to listen to.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Where it all began.........., 12 Nov 2002
"Weezer" is easily the best album I have ever bought. Originally, I had only ever heard "Buddy Holly", and sheerly bought the album to complete a "3 for £20" sale. However, when I returned home and played the album, I was absolutely amazed......The album kicks off with "My Name Is Jonas", certainally not the best tune on the album but a great way to start things off, with a great acoustic intro before kicking into the (now) familiar "weezer-esque" riffs. Wonderfully immature and catchy, with its "the workers are going home" chorus, this song grabs your attention to the album straight away. Every track on the album is a stormer (with the slight exception of "surf wax america", a little on the bland side), with "no one else" colliding a chirpy tune with some really quite dark lyrics, "the world has turned" with its brilliant lyrics and plinky acoustic riffs, "buddy holly", easily the most catchy song of all time, "undone", another immature and in some ways quite bizzare track, "say it aint so", a suprisingly laid back start to a tune which turns into an emotionally brilliant masterpiece, "in the garage", a song in which rivers sings about his own little hideaway, which im sure we all have, "holiday", a hugely optimistic and head-banging track, before the oh-so-perfect 8-minute stormer "only in dreams", which is perhaps the most beautiful and moving song i have ever heard. Those willing to turn away from the sum 41s of the world and get an album which truely is "all killer" must do themselves a huge musical favour and buy this album.
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