I had really hoped that the Jameson would stack up. After all, it has made such a great appearance in many a Car Bomb. And I do love the Irish. However, the J just left me cold. It's an uninteresting Whiskey compared to the others. Sure, it had all the notes and flavors it's supposed to but they don't gel the way the Kentucky or Tennessee Whiskeys do. It's good to have around, especially if your listening to Flogging Molly and doing up some shots with Bailey's. That's about it, though. I wouldn't go out of my way to seek it out.
Well, now, that's the stuff. Jason at Bluegrass recommended this as well and when we went shopping at Ralphs I was surprised to see it on the shelf. I was going to grab a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label but as soon as I saw the WR I decided that was what was needed. After dinner, with Dora playing incessantly in the background, I poured myself 2 fingers of The Wood (as I call it) and relaxed into the mellow molasses notes. This was smoother than the Johnny Drum by far, but richer and much more satisfying. Light years ahead of the Jameson, this is the smell of sawdust and cowboys. After striking oil in the heart of the west, this would be how I'd unwind.
When it turned out that I was a Type 2 diabetic, diagnosed 4 days away from a certain coma, it took a while but a pall finally settled around me. Gone were just about every vice I had. I couldn't smoke, obviously. Cigars lead too easily back to cigarettes. I've never been one for drugs. Just being near people who are smoking pot can give me a contact high which results in 3 days of paranoia followed by a 2 day come down of anger. Coke is crazy bad on the arteries. Coffee is great, but not at 8 O'Clock at night. And the list goes on. Even my favorite tavern delicacy, Irish Car Bombs, are replete with carbohydrates between the Guinness and the Bailey's Irish Cream. The Diabetes took away that final, best vice: sugar. I love chocolate. I adore pie. I love to bake. And most of all, I love to eat. Sweets. Yummy, delicious sweets. So, with nothing left I decided, with my wife's full support, to take up drinking. There are no carbs in the hard liquors, vodka, gin and best of all, Whiskey. Vodka tastes like rubbing alcohol and Gin all tastes of tree sap. (and wine is boring, seriously) But there is an art to Whiskey. The blending, the aging, the tradition, the regions. So, what I will be doing here with this new column is reviewing every new Whiskey I toss down my gullet, to the best of my uneducated ability. Starting with last night. While waiting for our Indian food to be ready at Yeti Restaurant in Glen Ellen (Fantastic, by the way) I decided to hang out at the Bluegrass Bar in the same Jack London Shopping Square. As I sidled (a word I imagine I will be using a lot) up to the bar I asked Jason, the 20 something bartender if they had any Scotch. I've sort of become obsessed with Johnnie Walker ever since I saw "The Man Who Walked Around The World"
and was given a snort of Johnnie Walker Blue a few weeks back. "I've recently taken up drinking, as weird as that might sound." I said. "Not weird at all. But we don't really have much of a Scotch selection. However, our Bourbons are great." So, I asked him what he would recommend as he is a Bourbon drinker. A few seconds of prodding me about my palette's desires and we came up with a choice: Johnny Drum.
"It's about ten bucks a throw, though." He cautioned. But, if I'm going to start a new hobby, I certainly am not going to scrimp. This is going to be a fun adventure, I don't want to deprive myself, besides, I won't be doing this every day (I hope).
I chose "neat" because I feared that I might take too much time nursing the glass and the ice would melt and change the entire experience into a child's version of the beverage. I'm so glad I did. The first taste was familiar, but as the liquid danced on my tongue, the spices began their assault. Not too harsh, enough to know that they were there. For some reason on the next go I decided to swirl it around in my mouth keeping my lips together with a tight seal. This time, just the deep molasses flavor and the sweet textures made their presence known with barely a hint of the heat and spice. Jason told me this was normal and it only added to the enjoyment for me of this new hobby. I did, it turned out, take about 20 minutes to finish the drink. But not for reasons I used to drink so slowly. I wanted to savor this. It was well worth the time and every penny.
At 4 in the morning I woke up with the distinct spinning of drunkenness. During the evening I also had a little australian rum, banged my head on the low ceiling and handily took on a 6 player team (against just me) in a TV Trivia showdown. But at the wee hours I started dreaming about the drink and what to call this blog entry. For a minute it was Whiskey Rebellion. But that didn't cut it. Whiskeytown is too alt-country and I really hate Wilco and their ilk-o. So, I went for a more rock and roll name. It didn't hurt that my band played there once in 2003.
So, here we go. Watch. I'll probably get cirrhosis.
I'm on a Springsteen jag, lately. (Hmm...seems like twice a year I go through this.) After hearing the full album concerts he and the band have been doing to end their concert series (www.ickmusic.com has a bunch of them) I decided I needed some energetic, live Bruce. This is a great live concert. One I truly enjoy. It's street poet Bruce. Before he became "voice of the working man" Bruce.
Raditude, perhaps one of the worst titled album, with the most obnoxious cover, I've ever seen, opens with perhaps the most exciting, lacerating and deliberately radio friendly song Cuomo and the boys have ever foisted onto its fans and non-fans alike. Co-written by power/pop genius producer Butch Walker, If You're Wondering if I Want You To (I want You To) could also be the saddest and, in a strange way, most honest Rivers has been in a while. It chronicles a relationship from the beginning to complacency. It's terrific and, through it, the album holds a LOT of promise. Taking a page from previous Listening Post stars Aerosmith and Bon Jovi, Weezer has turned to outside writers for the first time, the aforementioned Walker, Jermaine Dupri, Li'l Wayne and others. And, in Rolling Stone, Cuomo alleged that he enjoyed the collaborative process so much that he sought out the outsiders. I doubt that. I think the songs needed a bit of sprucing up because a cute video and a hootenanny tour couldn't elevate Red to even Make Believe sales. (Red was also a pretty crappy record). Whatever the reasons be they honest or duplicitous, creative or mercenary, a bit of energy has been injected into the Weezer repertoire for the first time in a while. “I'm Your Daddy”'s pop sheen and soaring chorus had my toe tapping all the way and the Gary Glitter-stadium ready beat of “The Girl Got Hot” elevates a song that was already pretty great to begin with. Who hasn't know a girl from high school who blossomed and, well “got hot”? The single, “Can't Stop Partying”, featuring Li'l Wayne, rounds out the 1-2-3-4 salvo of this album (named by Rainn Wilson...god, please someone stop Rainn Wilson from doing more than Twittering.) While it's easy to listen to, Cuomo has said that he couldn't relate to the track until he added some changes to more solemn minor chords to the musical bed, but that doesn't change the fact that it's a weak excuse for a single. I have to admit, the music does add an ominous overtone to the song and brings an ironic tone to the entire affair. Tracks like “Put me Back Together”, “Tripping Down the Freeway”, are no better or worse than some of the pop offerings from Green Album. They may not have the resonance of the lesser songs on Pinkerton or the highs of, say, “Perfect Situation” but they're light years better than the lowlights of Red or Maladroit. Lyrically, for the first time I feel like Rivers is embracing his place in life. He's pushing forty, he's still a geek, likes rap, Kiss, etc, but now he has a kid and a wife, a college degree and maybe life isn't so anxious. It's anxious, yes, just not as desperate. There's, criminey, happiness in his world. He's let others in a bit. He's a rock elder statesman. Trapped by his musical limitations he's no longer trying to be something he's not, as on Maladroit, or clumsily retrospective, as on The Red Album. He still tries to experiment a bit, there some East Indian music and singing on “Love is the Answer” but that's okay, since India is, if nothing else, the land of Kama Sutric Love. (And at least it's not a trainwreck like “The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived”) The top-down convertible bombast of “Let It All Hang Out” was completely unexpected and takes that Weezer as 21st Century version of The Cars to the next level. “In the Mall”'s production and energy overcomes the weak songwriting. But just barely. The desperate and sad Beach Boys-ian “I Don't Want to Let You Go' is splendid.
I'm not sure where Weezer fits in the pantheon of rock history. They certainly aren't growing artistically, successfully stretching their wings like their 90s counterparts, Green Day. Their music is at best exhilarating power pop, at worst forgettable ephemera. But as long as they keep putting out records like Raditude they will have a fan in me.
Grade B+ A Side: The Girl Got Hot, If You're Wondering...., BlindSide: I'm Your Daddy, Let It All Hang Out, I Don't Want to Let You Go DownSide: Nothing really bogs this record down.
What? What is the Purple album? It's just a collection of B-Sides. I'm not even gonna wax on about it. Suffice to say songs like, "Velouria", "Mykel & Carli", "Jamie" & "I just Threw Out the Love of my Dreams" can be found on it. Take the songs you like. Get them all and read all about them on The Good, The Bad and the Unknown.
Red was my line in the sand with Weezer. Taking 3 years off from Make Believe, this is the one that made me almost write the band off. The guys from Sound Opinions LOVED this record. And I have no idea what they were thinking. At first it's deceptive. “Troublemaker” sounds like the Weezer I've come to love. The great hooks, the terrificly explosive choruses. It's good. But it's hard for me to concentrate on the song because I can't get past this horrible cover. Look at that poorly photoshopped crap. Why is Rivers dressed like a refugee from Village People? What is this? I might be the only person that hates hates hates, "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Theme) but I think it's just about as bad as anything I've ever heard committed to....okay, recorded. Green Day can do the epic suites. My Chemical Romance figured it out, too. But, Weezer! You are not up to this task. Shoving ten styles into one song is not songwriting. It's almost as though they listened to the second side of Abbey Road and decided to do the same thing but all within 6 minutes. Using a Shaker melody as a template. It's awful. The fact that Rivers calls this the greatest Weezer song ever shows just why this band has never really grown and should just sit nicely in the pantheon of really good power pop groups. The hit single, "Pork & Beans" is catchy enough. (I can't help but think the original lyric was "eat my candy with a fork and.....something" but they just decided they needed a rhyme for "Scene" and "Spoon" didn't work. Nothing, however, prepared for the horror show that is Heart Songs. After hearing some of the reviews of this song I figured it had to be one of the greatest songs ever. Rivers name checks all the songs that have special meaning to him. And the moment that he heard Nirvana for the first time propelled him to play his own songs. It's a nice enough trip down memory lane but it's so sugary and sweet that it hurts. And, to add insult to bad songsmithing, there's almost no melody. I could take this song if there was something to hold on to. But there isn't. It's as amateur as the local crap I once heard on Red Snerts "The Story of Gulcher Records." It's terrible. And should never be played again. This is also the album that sees Cuomo giving berth to songs by the other members of the band for the first time ever. Once we get through "Dreamin'", a predictable if not serviceable Cuomo tune, it's time for the rest of the guys to shine.
"Thought I Knew" by Brian Bell is piss poor sing-songy piece of forgettableness. "Cold Dark World" is written by Scott Shriner with an assist from Rivers. And, it's about as good a track as one could expect from the bass player. Wait, that's not fair to John Deacon. It's boring, awful and pedestrian. "Automatic" is from Patrick Wilson, the drummer. It's bad. We get one more for the road on Red, if you've made it past the horror show that was those three songs, the coda to the record is "The Angel and the One". Its a song as tired as it seems these guys are of making music. Unfathomingly, Red Album has gotten some pretty terrific reviews. I have to wonder what album those guys were listening to. Because this is one of the least likable albums I've ever heard.
Grade D A Side: Troublemaker, (I kind of like Everybody Get Dangerous) BlindSide: DownSide: Heart Songs, The Greatest Man That Ever Lived, The three songs by the other guys.
I don't know why the fans bristle so much about this record. Maybe they were hoping that the band would continue the cycle and label this with a rainbow color. What about “Red”? (Yes. What about “Red”???) When I first heard Make Believe I liked it. A lot. Let's liveblog it, yes?
1. Beverly Hills. Sludge pop. Catchy, sure. More importantly, Rivers has really caught the lazy, entitled usurpation of quality by the shallow with this hit. 2. Perfect Situation. Perhaps my favorite Weezer song of all time. “There's the pitch, slow and straight, all I have to do is swing and I'm a hero. But I'm a zero.” Lyrically, this is the most honest and forthright since Pinkerton. 3. This is Such a Pity. Taking a major cue from the 80s this song could fall flat. Except that, lyrically, it's dynamite. It's The Cars circa Heartbeat City run through the angst machine of Rivers Cuomo. 4. Hold Me. What is this?? It sounds like, dare I say it, something that belongs on the Blue Album. Yes, it's that old Weezer sound. 5. Peace. Where Weezer and latter day Green Day converge. Not great, but no where near as bad as one might have been led to believe. 6. We Are All On Drugs. Terrific songcrafting. Just a fine bit a pop rock. 7. The Damage in Your Heart. Middling album filler. But, with a massive chorus that RC can write in his sleep. 8.Pardon Me. Harmless. Useless. Forgettable. But harmless. 9. My Best Friend. I love this song. I don't know why. It's cloying and obnoxious and...happy. Too happy for Weezer. But, it's great. 10. The Other Way. See “Pardon Me”. 11. Freak Me Out. I don't know what to make of this song. It doesn't suck and I find my toe tapping, but it's kind of horrible and then I hate myself for singing along and then I like it again. Weezer as Sine Wave. 12. Haunt You Every Day. Piano. Huh? Other than that curious bit of instrumentation this song is Weezer-by-Numbers. You don't need to hear it. You won't be worse off if you do. But, there's no need.
Weezer – Maladroit – 2002 (iTunes – Amazon)
In 2002 the internet was all abuzz with word that a new album by Weezer was coming and it was coming fast on the heels of Green. In keeping with (what was now perceived to be a tradition), the album would have a name rather an eponymous colored record.
“If you hate this, I can't blame you. Cuz I'm hurting, so I'll flame you.”, Cuomo blasts on “American Gigolo”, the opening track of Maladroit. Good thing it's such a great song, cuz he was really opening himself up to attack here. From his fans. Who he seems to hate, yes?
Following it with the Arena sized, near souther rock, “Dope Nose” is a smart move. It's a gas. And it contains probably the best lead guitar solo Brian Bell has ever recorded. It's the most memorable. Has he ever been allowed to lay waste like this before? I can't recall. I don't think so. He has the chops. He should have been cut loose much much much earlier than this.
That big rock sound keeps pounding along on tracks like “Keep Fishin'” and “Take Control” (which reminds me of how much I love Raging Slab) where Bell's solo feels like it fell off the 70s classic rock truck.
It would be easy to see why Gen Xers who fell in love with Weezer might take slight umbrage to this record. After all there is some really difficult music and songs that are not fun (“Death and Destruction”) and some are just bad (“Slob”) and others are just...weird (“Burndt Jam” which is SO steeped in 70s nostalgia that it is almost good and “Space Rock” which...I have no words for.)
“Slave”, “Fall Together”, “Possibilities” come across more as unfulfilled song ideas than anything you would put on a playlist or mix tape. Mix Tape is much more apropos in this case. Maladroit is Weezer's attempt at a stylized retro thing. It doesn't work and it's easy to hate them for it. But fans would wait til the next album to really get angry.
The album abandons these barely-demos towards the end with “Love Explosion”, but I imagine that I like this song more for how honestly it wears it's glam/southern/classic rock on it's sleeve. It's the band's triumph. In spite of Rivers.
In 2001, without warning, all of a sudden, Weezer was back. Five years after Pinkerton. Rolling Stone said it was the first 5 star album of the new decade, the new century. At 29 minutes it's the shortest they had ever put out. And Pinkerton was 33 minutes. The thing about short albums (and those of you who read Septenary regularly know that if an album is more than 40 minutes, my feeling is, it better be worth it. More often than not, it's crammed with filler and would easily be a stronger record with 1/3 cut out), is that they better really bring it. If you're only gonna give us 30 minutes, every song needs to be strong, right? Green is a very different animal than Blue or Pinkerton. I don't think Blue was supposed to be called “Blue”. I think it was called “Weezer”. But with the need to reinvent himself, Cuomo, in a sense, was trying to wipe away the previous incarnation of his band and starting anew. Trouble with ignoring your past is that your fans have to do the same thing or else, well, you're spitting in the wind. And the fans loved Pinkerton. And they ADORED the debut. What would they make of Green? “Hash Pipe” is the first real sense that Rivers and the gang are more interested in hooks than substance. “I can't help my boogies, they get out of control, I know that you don't care but I want you to know.” is laid against a musical bedrock that calls to mind the theme to The Munsters. But it works. It works hard to work but it does the job. And, dammit, if you can't shake the song out of your head. It's like ear candy. You want to hear it again because it's at once familiar, aggressive, fun and snarky. “Island in the Sun” could be Weezer's “Kokomo”. Except that, unlike that song, you don't want to go back and burn all your Beach Boys records in contempt. That doesn't mean that “Island” couldn't also double as the music for a “Sandals Resorts” commercial. Which also doesn't mean it's bad. “Crab”, “Knock-Down, Drag Out”, “Smile” &”Simple Pages” could all easily have been crafted in the “Rivers Cuomo Song & Taffy Factory”, on some assembly line, but they're good. And they don't stick around long enough to crumble under the weight of their own disposability. At this point in time, groups like Bowling For Soup were doing this kind of stuff, and doing it better (see “Girls All The Bad Guys Want” & “Emily”) and having more fun. But Weezer's re-entry is by no means a failure. It's not one of the greatest albums of the decade, but, it'll do.
