ARTIST: Weezer
TITLE: “The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations On A Shaker Hymn)”
WEB DEBUT: May 7, 2008
ONE-LISTEN VERDICT: It’s a six-minute song that opens with a cheering crowd and a piano plonking out the old Shaker hymn “Simple Gifts”–and as the title suggests, the rest of the song is sort of based on that melody, although along the way it incorporates a Fred Durst imitation, a military drum-beat, some falsetto (actually, this part is pretty good, and would probably sound great as its own song), and a spoken-word break. Did I mention that it’s six minutes long? This is really not shaking my feeling that their forthcoming red album is just going to be a great big Harvard semantics project/giant middle finger to the world.
WHERE TO HEAR IT: The Hype Machine. Please, someone, click over there and explain to me what’s happening before I dare click the other Weezer song that’s made its way to the Hype servers.
I heard the whole record minus the final two tracks this morning and, as a staunch defender of “Make Believe,” I have to say I was embarrassed to be listening to it. “Heart Songs,” particularly. Just plain stupid.
I dunno, maybe it’s all a prank or some lesson in Jeff Koons-y banality. Terrible, terrible record.
Hmm. Weezer has decided to not suck this time around. Good for them.
…although this six-minute thing could really end around 2:10.
Wait, Dickey Betts is in Weezer now?
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@GhostOfDuane: hahaha, that’s exactly what I was thinking!
Weezer just gets continually worse. I agree that the falsetto part is the best, by far. The military drum part just pushed every coherent thought out of my head, though, so that’s all I have to say.
Is it possible to be so bad that it all spins back around? This song plays on so many ridiculous stereotypes (both of Weezer and others), that it’s almost aweosme. Almost…
Will say, “Pork and Beans” and “Dreamin’” are almost not embarrassing…
note to curious listeners: “based on that melody” apparently means Rivers faux-rapping over tuneless power chord crunches while a piano tinkles the melody way the fuck down in the mix, with two or three other half-songs (that were probably the “good parts” *shudder* of songs he threw away) stapled on to the end of it, one after the other.
Wow, someone who liked Make Believe thinks this bad. Not a good indication. “Trouble Maker” is a lot better, but not necessarily good.
Man, I had high hopes after hearing “Pork & Beans,” but this is no good.
What’s with Rivers and singing about underwear? He mentions it in this and in “Pork & Beans.”
Way to look like the sex offender version of the Hold Steady, guys.
@El-Zilcho: concept album?
where are the guitar solos rivers? i need to listen to these songs multiple times for a good review… I don’t know if I like brian bell’s voice.
Weezer are basically the Duran Duran of the grunge years - more releases people passionately hate than actually like, and what was liked was shockingly average in the first place, but for some reason people can’t give up on them.
If a band consistently disappoints you and you keep buying their records anyway, then is it their fault for sucking, or your fault for being a undemanding consumer?
@HomefrontRadio: While your math is about right–3 to 2, so far, with the latest as-yet-undecided–the first two records are legitimately great. Let’s fight.
Oh, Pinkerton.
Man alive…Pinkerton is one of my favorite albums of all time and
these new songs SUCK.
WHY…RIVERS, WHY?