What's Everyone Listening to?

[dime in the gutter]

ny and crazy horse/fukuoka, japan
3/8/1976

free....courtesy of aquarium drunkard. check it.

http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2012/09/24/neil-young-crazy-horse-fukuoka-japan-march-8-1976/#more-31223

“I’d like to do this song for Rodan the Flying Monster,” announces Neil Young towards the end of the opening acoustic set on this excellent audience tape. The song that follows is a mellow rendition of the chart-topping “Heart of Gold“. But Neil obviously had Japanese monsters in mind this evening: he returns for the second set with Crazy Horse and proceeds to lay waste to the concert hall like Godzilla.

[UncleFrank23]

[Iowan]

The more shitty albums they release, the better these middle period albums start to sound.

i'm a bigger latter day weezer apologist than most, but ive always included green and maladroit in the "classic" run. Neither one is anywhere near bad. green is just a nice breezy pop album and maladroit is a (mostly) successful heavy metal tribute. blue and pinkerton are significantly better than both, but the drop off isnt as big as some might say. or at least not yet

make believe is the real point where it gets rough, but i still find good stuff in their new releases. the red album is pretty solid overall, with some experiments that worked and some admirable failures, and there's a great album hidden among make believe, hurley and raditude. but that doesnt mean there arent total embarrassments too.

im obviously clouded a bit by nostalgia, but i havent written the band off yet.

Make Believe is where I stopped caring about Weezer, but I've found at least one or two songs on all of the recent albums that was good to great. "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To" is a damn near perfect throwaway pop song.

There's just so much complete and utter shit on those albums that I can't too excited about a new Weezer release, or even contemplate paying to see them live. A rousing rendition of "In The Mall" just isn't gonna cut it.

[Duke Silver]

The more shitty albums they release, the better these middle period albums start to sound.

i'm a bigger latter day weezer apologist than most, but ive always included green and maladroit in the "classic" run. Neither one is anywhere near bad. green is just a nice breezy pop album and maladroit is a (mostly) successful heavy metal tribute. blue and pinkerton are significantly better than both, but the drop off isnt as big as some might say. or at least not yet

make believe is the real point where it gets rough, but i still find good stuff in their new releases. the red album is pretty solid overall, with some experiments that worked and some admirable failures, and there's a great album hidden among make believe, hurley and raditude. but that doesnt mean there arent total embarrassments too.

im obviously clouded a bit by nostalgia, but i havent written the band off yet.

i think you're more than a bit clouded... green and maladroit have aged well, but i remember them being HUGE let downs at the time. obviously in hindsight it was a mistake to expect another blue album or pinkerton part 2, but i don't think i was alone in hoping for that at the time.

[UncleFrank23]

[Duke Silver]

A lot of Greg Dulli this week. Afghan Whigs, Twilight Singers, Gutter Twins, etc.

[Shakespeare]

The more shitty albums they release, the better these middle period albums start to sound.

i'm a bigger latter day weezer apologist than most, but ive always included green and maladroit in the "classic" run. Neither one is anywhere near bad. green is just a nice breezy pop album and maladroit is a (mostly) successful heavy metal tribute. blue and pinkerton are significantly better than both, but the drop off isnt as big as some might say. or at least not yet

make believe is the real point where it gets rough, but i still find good stuff in their new releases. the red album is pretty solid overall, with some experiments that worked and some admirable failures, and there's a great album hidden among make believe, hurley and raditude. but that doesnt mean there arent total embarrassments too.

im obviously clouded a bit by nostalgia, but i havent written the band off yet.

Make Believe is where I stopped caring about Weezer, but I've found at least one or two songs on all of the recent albums that was good to great. "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To" is a damn near perfect throwaway pop song.

There's just so much complete and utter shit on those albums that I can't too excited about a new Weezer release, or even contemplate paying to see them live. A rousing rendition of "In The Mall" just isn't gonna cut it.

this is fair. i just get a bit peeved when people write off the entirety of their post maladroit catalogue. a few songs in there ("the angel and the one" comes to mind immediately. i wish it had an even bigger "only in dreams" style climax, but it's a hell of a song) are among my all time weezer favorites.

the other thing i dont quite get about modern day weezer criticism is that they've always written "throwaway pop songs," and theres always been fairly ridiculous and juvenile content. the older dumb pop songs are objectively better, but its not like rivers suddenly flipped a switch and decided to write stuff about malls or whatever geek culture thing he'll sing about next. i think a lot of it is that the older weezer fanbase grew up, but rivers' writing kinda didn't, and the endearing charm of stuff like buddy holly and the sweater song wore off. or it's just less genuine coming from a 40 year old than a 20 year old. i dont know, their/his career arc is really interesting to me for some reason. probably why i still get at least a bit excited to sort through the inevitable turds to find the good songs.

at this point im probably most interested in getting a few more volumes of rivers' alone series. those have had some really great stuff.

@ Duke: i wasn't listening to weezer when green/maladroit came out, but i did hear them after having and loving blue and pinkerton for a while, and i just didn't see the huge drop in quality. i can understand being disappointed (especially the insanely simple green album coming out after the emotional heaviness of pinkerton) but i wasnt. one of the benefits of being a few years behind, i guess.

and seconded on the greg dulli binge. i'll be seeing the afghan whigs on friday and i haven't played those records in a while. cant wait to see them!

[Kudzu Guillotine]

A lot of Greg Dulli this week. Afghan Whigs, Twilight Singers, Gutter Twins, etc.

I'm not sure if you've ever frequented the fabled alt-country.org message board but there was a person over there known as "Elevator Lady" that was a huge fan of those bands. I don't check that board very much anymore as it's a virtual ghost town these days but I when I stopped by about a month ago someone had posted that she had passed away. Of course, with that board you never know if someone is yanking everyone's chain or not (yes, even when it comes to reporting the death of a board member) but unfortunately, it was all too true. I'm still not sure what the cause of death was but I guess that's not really important. She seemed to be a really cool person and was apparently very active in getting the word out about her favorite bands, especially the Twilight Singers. So much so that Greg Dulli dedicated a song to her (her real name was apparently Renee) a few days after she passed away during an Afghan Whigs show in London.



From a review of that concert:

Postscript. And a personal reminiscence.

When the band played When We Two Parted, Greg dedicated the song to Renee – someone who will be well-known to anyone who has frequented the messageboards at Onewhiskey, Rekords Rekords and especially Scott Ford Radio. The dedication and the cheer that went up made me think that she was in the audience, and it wasn’t until I returned to where I was staying in London last night that I found out that she had passed away two days ago.

I didn’t know her too well – there was a bit of a misunderstanding late one evening on the OW board that escalated a bit strangely (and, hopefully for my part – as it was indeed my fault – resolved amicably) and we later chatted in a sort of professional capacity (if swapping moderating tips on a mutually-annoying member can be considered a profession by any stretch of the imagination!), but what I do remember of her is her passion for the artists she supported and the humour that she exuded with each post. As with most people I ran into during my time there, she was always more than mere text on a screen and I can only imagine how much it hurts right now for those who knew her much better, as I know how upset I am for our brief acquaintances over the past six years or so, and how fondly I remember her. She will be missed by many, worldwide, and for a very long time.

[dime in the gutter]

[dime in the gutter]

with regard to weezer. i only have 4 lps and i dig them all.

blue
pinkerton
green
red

have never really heard any of the other stuff.

i love all the overly blown drama and juvenile shit and self indulgent shredding....i think rivers dude writes like a motherfucker. full of self-loating, faux ego and far away stalkerish longing.

and they can rip thru power chord, chocker block full hooks all day long.

maybe it belongs in the brilliantly, bad cheese thread, but whatever......i am a deep digger of what i hear.

or some shit like that.

[Iowan]

I got into Weezer via Pinkerton when I was 16 and not getting laid enough.

Pretty much sums up my disinterest in the post Maladroit stuff. There's a Klosterman article that hits it really well. Rivers just writes what goes through his head, period. When his life is fucked up, that's what comes out. When his life is a laid-back, worry free joke, that's whats comes out.

I love the ridiculousness and cheese-whiz of stuff like Surfwax America, In the Garage, most of the Green Album, the metal on Maladroit, etc. For some reason that seemed legitimately inspired and clearly dudes having fun, where the recent stuff has sounded stiff and forced. Cheese can't be cheesy when its brittle.

[lajakesdad]

[LuthierJustin]

How is that? My brother was a huge fan when Tragic Kingdom came out

[UncleFrank23]

[dime in the gutter]

headphone masterpiece.

[RMD]

One of my favorite discs to play loud while driving for some reason.

[StevieRay]

Saw Will Johnson & Anders Parker last night at a living room show. Can't say enough about how fantastic these guys are. Spent a bunch of time talking with them & hearing about their grueling schedule of 17 straight shows in 17 nights. Absolutely fantastic hosts in Montpelier, VT.

Will sang a few numbers from this:


This was hit pretty hard:


Anders sang "Tell It To The Dust"


Listened to this on the way home:

[UncleFrank23]

[UncleFrank23]

[Flying Rabbit]

x 2 x 4

[UncleFrank23]

Again

[Kudzu Guillotine]

I dove straight into the second disc which is a concert from Holland recorded on the Work tour back in '87. Good stuff. Unfortunately, it's not the complete show though.

[UncleFrank23]

[StevieRay]

[UncleFrank23]

[bnzz]

Can't put down the latest Lucero Album Women and Work.

[UncleFrank23]

[StevieRay]

[Penny Lane]

I got into Weezer via Pinkerton when I was 16 and not getting laid enough.

Pretty much sums up my disinterest in the post Maladroit stuff. There's a Klosterman article that hits it really well. Rivers just writes what goes through his head, period. When his life is fucked up, that's what comes out. When his life is a laid-back, worry free joke, that's whats comes out.

I love the ridiculousness and cheese-whiz of stuff like Surfwax America, In the Garage, most of the Green Album, the metal on Maladroit, etc. For some reason that seemed legitimately inspired and clearly dudes having fun, where the recent stuff has sounded stiff and forced. Cheese can't be cheesy when its brittle.

absolutely hate Weezer....

[Penny Lane]

First impression: first half of he album is a snoozefest, but around track 6, it suddenly turns great. Time to see if the first half grows on me