Weezer - Weezer (The Red Album)

'Weezer', their sixth full length cd, came out in 2008 and was produced by Rick Rubin. The first song on it is 'Troublemaker' is a typical catchy short song with silly rhymes which is about rebellion and self-belief. 'The Greatest Man that ever lived' is a much stranger proposition with a mix of styles throughout the song including a piano intro, hip hop singing, harmonies and marching band music with a choral group, falsetto voiced big rock parts and spoken word vocals. It is an ambitious mess which almost but doesn't quite work.
'Pork and Beans' was the first single off the cd and it wouldn't be out of place on most of Weezer's earlier cds. It feels a bit like 'Buddy Holly' crossed with 'Beverly Hills' but isn't quite as good as either of those earlier singles.
'Heart songs' is an average ballad about the love of music, whether it be cheesy love songs or metal tunes or Nirvana. 'Everybody get dangerous' is dull. 'Dreamin' buzzes along happily. 'Thought I knew' and 'Cold Dark World' and 'Automatic' don't make leave me with any lasting impressions one way or the other. 'The Angel and the One' starts out sounding like a bruised plea to a lover and builds into something rather special fading away with gentle instrumentation for the final minute of the song. 'The Weight' is an unecessary cover of a great song not really improved by their version of it. 'Life is what you make it' is a Talk Talk cover which I never want to hear again as it ruined the song for me - it isn't terrible but it doesn't touch the original in any way.
Weezer is a band of contradictions-they sometimes write cynical songs and sometimes focus on sincere heartfelt lyrics. Their music veers between harder rock, pop and experimental music and their lyrics are often simple but their lead singer is an academic.
'Weezer' has its moments but there is quite a few weak songs. Weezer has always been a singles band as far as I'm concerned with their cds not being consistently engaging enough.