Weezer – Blue Album: Deluxe Edition
(DGC/Universal Chronicles)

Back in the early 90’s when flannel and long hair ruled the music world, an unlikely group of clean cut, short-haired guys quietly recorded a landmark rock album and unleashed it on the world. No one took much notice of them at first, but when their Happy Days spoof music video went into rotation on MTV they suddenly became a household name. The band of course was Weezer and the breakthrough song was Buddy Holly. Although they played loud with crunchy guitars, their Beach Boys-esque harmonies, cheerful demeanor and silly song topics were about as far from “grunge” as you could get. (Then again, if you’ve seen the early live footage on Weezer’s recently released DVD, you might disagree with that statement…)

A decade later, it’s interesting to note that Weezer are quite possibly more popular now than ever before. Unfortunately, they are also past their prime, playing without their original bass player and clinging desperately to their hits from the past. With that in mind, it seems like an appropriate time for them to revisit the album that first launched their career into the stratosphere so many years ago.

Okay, not THAT many years ago.

To be honest, Weezer seem a little out of place among the other bands that are a part of this “Chronicles Deluxe Edition” re-issue series. Legendary artists like James Brown, Bob Marley & The Wailers, and The Who are a little more time-honored and prestigious than “The Weez” — but then again Sonic Youth’s Dirty and Goo albums are getting the same treatment so maybe they’re in good company after all. Here’s the deal with the Deluxe Edition series: classic albums are remastered and repackaged with a second bonus disc containing previously unreleased material, then sold at a premium price. In the case of Weezer, fans have been waiting years for an official B-sides collection. Some of their best songs can be found scattered across soundtracks, EPs, and compilations, so a bonus disc containing most of these tracks would be seen by most Weezer fans as a godsend. On the other hand though, does the Blue Album really need to be “remastered and restored”?

Listening to the Blue Album nowadays, it still stands the test of time. Again, it is only 10 years old but unlike most of the disposable music from the early 90’s, these songs are inspiring and influencing a lot of bands even today. From the quietly picked opening of My Name Is Jonas to the closing crescendo of Only In Dreams, the Blue Album is fairly short and simple but infectious like no other album I’ve ever heard. And on the new remastered version it sounds… exactly the same! I have to be honest, I’m no sound engineer but I really can’t detect a difference. It’s possible that it wasn’t remastered at all (considering that there are no remastering credits in the liner notes, it seems even more likely) but the sticker on the front of the CD clearly states that it was.

At any rate, all I really cared about in buying this package was disc two, labelled “Dusty Gems and Raw Nuggets”. The collection of B-sides and outtakes on the second disc does indeed cover some of Weezer’s best-loved long lost gems, including “Susanne” (originally from the Mallrats soundtrack), and “Jamie” (previously available on the DGC Rarities compilation). Incidentally, the liner notes explain that these two “love songs” are actually about a record label A&R rep and the band’s lawyer respectively, which goes a long way to supporting Rivers’ reputation for being a loser with the ladies. The other essential song on this collection is “Mykel And Carli”, a tribute to close friends of the band who ran the Weezer fan club and were tragically killed in a car accident. Each of these songs are simple and catchy and fit in well with the Blue Album’s tendencies including killer vocal harmonies and (in the case of “Mykel and Carli”) even some harmonica.

Unfortunately, the rest of the disc is not quite as essential. “My Evaline” is a very short (45 seconds) barbershop quartet style song that the band used for vocal practice. “Paperface”, “Lullaby For Wayne” and “I Swear It’s True” are the only songs here that were truly previously unreleased, but having heard them I think I understand why they were left buried until now. “Paperface”, taken from some of the band’s earliest D.I.Y. Kitchen Tape recordings, is a little too rambunctious and more than a little rough around the edges, while “Lullaby” and “I Swear” are both pre-production recordings from the Blue Album sessions that never made the cut — probably because they don’t really have any hooks and don’t seem to go anywhere.

There are a number of live tracks and acoustic performances of songs from the Blue Album, but these were filler for the EPs on which they originally appeared, and they are still filler now on this collection. The acoustic version of “No One Else” is at least different enough to deserve inclusion, but for the most part these are not all that interesting.

The track listing for this second disc probably wouldn’t have been so disappointing if not for the fact that there are some glaring omissions here, most notably “You Gave Your Love To Me Softly” (originally from the Angus soundtrack), a hard-rocking song that they still play live to this day. There are many other good Weezer b-sides floating around on the internet as well, although I suppose they may have limited this collection to songs that came from the same time period as the Blue Album. Perhaps we will just have to wait for the Pinkerton, Green Album and Maladroit Deluxe Editions to get the full catalog. Boy, wouldn’t that just piss you off?

The package also comes with a 26 page booklet featuring photos, hand-written song lyrics and some short blurbs about the origins of the songs on disc two. Cool I guess, but nothing overly elaborate or insightful.

While the Deluxe Edition of Weezer’s Blue Album might be considered a must-have for some Weezer fans, it is not likely to be of interest to anyone else. The steep price of this double album ($40 Canadian) may even have hardcore fans thinking twice, and completists will likely be irked by the exclusion of some key B-sides. As far as listenability goes, I’m sure many fans would rather stick to their own home-made Weezer rare track listings anyways. If you already own the Blue Album, I have to admit it’s a pretty tough sell. Then again, if you don’t already own the Blue Album then you clearly have more important issues to be sorting out in your life right now! — Sean