Weezer (Red Album)
by Weezer
  • Record Label: Geffen
  • Release Date: Jun 3, 2008
User Score
6.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 191 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 126 out of 191
  2. Mixed: 36 out of 191
  3. Negative: 29 out of 191

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  1. Felix
    Jun 13, 2008
    5
    Mediocre at best, but it is an improvement over Make Believe. A couple stand out tracks, but many songs are forgettable, while others are just duds.
  2. MattK
    Jun 3, 2008
    6
    I just bought the album today ($6 at Wal-Mart, the same on Amazon.com for you bargain hunters) and listened to it three and a half times on the ride home from a road trip. It has a lot of decent tracks, but no great ones, and little flow. This is not the Weezer album I had hoped for after hearing "Pork and Beans" for the last month. "Troublemaker," while making it clear as day that Rivers I just bought the album today ($6 at Wal-Mart, the same on Amazon.com for you bargain hunters) and listened to it three and a half times on the ride home from a road trip. It has a lot of decent tracks, but no great ones, and little flow. This is not the Weezer album I had hoped for after hearing "Pork and Beans" for the last month. "Troublemaker," while making it clear as day that Rivers Cuomo is no longer a skillful lyricist, is still a fun song. It doesn't have any depth whatsoever, but who cares? It's a good Weezer song. The verse in "Everybody Get Dangerous" is Cuomo's best stab at anything hip-hop since the vocals of "El Scorcho." "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived" starts off as a pretty awesome song, but past the first three minutes, it becomes one great big black mark on the whole album. Rivers tried to make his own "Jesus of Suburbia," to a lesser extent, and it falls flat on its face. The jerky turn-arounds left and right in its six minute runtime completely throw (and in my case, turn) the listener off. "Dreamin'," while not as extreme, has some very awkward, uncomfortable structural issues (although I won't deny that it's kind of rockin'). "Thought I Knew" is a throwaway track and a disappointment for those looking forward to hear what the other members of Weezer are capable of. "Automatic" is a little better, but nothing great. I think Cuomo is better off going with the whole control freak thing. "The Red Album" is a great improvement over "Make Believe" and even a step or two above "Maladroit." If nothing else, it serves as a very interesting record to the band's fanbase. Sadly, instead of the triumphant return we've been hoping for, this is more so the final nail in the coffin---Weezer is never coming back. Few tracks can be identifiable to the band's crunchy pop-rock of the nineties, and Cuomo and Co. don't seem to be looking back. If this "different" music was better, I wouldn't be complaining.… Expand
  3. LarryC.
    Jun 5, 2008
    4
    I'm so disappointed by this album!! I'm afraid that I'll finally have to line up with the reviewers who claim they haven't made any great record since Pinkerton. Make believe at least gave some hopes!!
  4. JacobT.
    Jun 8, 2008
    5
    In short, Weezer has continued it's trend of making each new release worse than all their previous albums (Blue Album > Pinkerton > Green Album > Maladroit > Make Believe > Red Album). 1.Troublemaker - 2.5/5 2.The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn) - 2.5/5 3.Pork and Beans - 3/5 4.Heart Songs - 2/5 5.Everybody Get Dangerous 2/5 6.Dreamin' - 2.5/5 In short, Weezer has continued it's trend of making each new release worse than all their previous albums (Blue Album > Pinkerton > Green Album > Maladroit > Make Believe > Red Album). 1.Troublemaker - 2.5/5 2.The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn) - 2.5/5 3.Pork and Beans - 3/5 4.Heart Songs - 2/5 5.Everybody Get Dangerous 2/5 6.Dreamin' - 2.5/5 7.Thought I Knew - 1.5/5 8.Cold Dark World - 1.5/5 9.Automatic - 1.5/5 10.The Angel and the One 2/5.… Expand
  5. TMo
    Jun 10, 2008
    6
    Why are they pretending they're still in high school (troublemaker)? The tunes ain't bad (dreaming's the best), but the lyrics are so asinine and childish. Grow up, peoples. There's more to life than just doin' what you wanna do. Let's get past the "I'm me, if you don't like it, kiss my a**, rolling stone." Can't keep my attention when Why are they pretending they're still in high school (troublemaker)? The tunes ain't bad (dreaming's the best), but the lyrics are so asinine and childish. Grow up, peoples. There's more to life than just doin' what you wanna do. Let's get past the "I'm me, if you don't like it, kiss my a**, rolling stone." Can't keep my attention when you're singing about how cool and different you are.… Expand
  6. SteveO
    Jun 8, 2008
    5
    Weezer is Weezer. Always have been, always will be. I can't understand how people think they've changed. It's been the same distortion, the same Cuomo, and the same power chords for just about 15 years now. But giving this a 0? It sure doesn't deserve a zero I mean come on it's better than hip hop or rap. It's pop rock. Leave it at that.
  7. JoeB.
    Jun 11, 2008
    5
    This album is slightly better than their last two album combined; but it still plays to the masses a little too much. They seem to have lost their creative edge they had on Weezer (Blue) and Pinkerton.
  8. Nique
    Jun 12, 2008
    4
    without the bonus tracks on this cd the rating would be lower. There are exactly 4 songs on this cd worth a damn. The drummer song hasnt made it past 5 seconds after the 1st time I heard it. wow is it bad.
  9. Ricko
    Dec 22, 2014
    6
    The thing about Weezer albums is relativity. On its own, this record is quite decent, even very good in places (Old school Weezer fans will love "Pork and Beans"). However when stood next to the band at the peak of their powers, "Red" lacks the consistency of the bands early and best work.This is probably partly down to the sharing of the songwriting duties as well as vocal contributionsThe thing about Weezer albums is relativity. On its own, this record is quite decent, even very good in places (Old school Weezer fans will love "Pork and Beans"). However when stood next to the band at the peak of their powers, "Red" lacks the consistency of the bands early and best work.This is probably partly down to the sharing of the songwriting duties as well as vocal contributions of other band members - while in some ways this adds to the album, in other ways it detracts. This approach means that at times the band are unrecognisable and allows them to explore other stylistic directions. On the other hand it means the album can lack coherency and sounds a bit messy and all over place. One thing I would say - if your going to check this record out, get the deluxe version as the extra tracks really add to it and show some of the most adventurous and ambitious songwriting of the bands career. Overall, its probably the bands bravest record if not their best. A set of good ideas but the execution could have been better.… Collapse
  10. alecvl08
    Jan 30, 2015
    4
    This album flows in the vein of Make Believe with its hastily written lyrics that stretch to unbearable lengths to rhyme. For every decent track, there's a mediocre one. The instrumentals aren't bad, but they aren't anything spectacular. Overall, it's a step up from Make Believe, but two steps down from Weezer's next best album, 2001's Weezer.
  11. noorder
    Jan 5, 2016
    6
    An OK record, slightly better than Make Believe.
    Includes great songs like Pork and Beans, Pig, the catchy troublemaker, and a few more, but, in general, you feel like Weezer can give you so much more than this
  12. Mumbizz01
    Feb 2, 2018
    5
    This album honestly isn't really that bad. It's only the lyrics that ruins the album. However, the final song is hands down, one of the best songs Weezer has ever recorded.
  13. MysticManiac
    Apr 26, 2018
    4
    The second half of the album is better than the first. Although that's not saying much. Some of the tracks that the others take lead vocals on work on some level, and Angel and the One is a solid enough ending but even still, none of the songs are really worth getting too excited about.
  14. NolanLundgaard
    May 12, 2021
    6
    Weezer (Red Album) by Weezer: 5.63

    Troublemaker: 0.5 The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations On A Shaker Hymn): 1 Pork And Beans: 1 :) Heart Songs: 0.75 Everybody Get Dangerous: 0.75 Dreamin’: 0.5 Thought I Knew: 1 Cold Dark World: 0.75 Automatic: 0.75 The Angel And The One: 0.75 Miss Sweeney: 1 Pig: 0.75 The Spider: 0.25 King: 0.75 10.5/14 = .750 -> 5.63    Weezer (Red Album) by Weezer: 5.63

    Troublemaker: 0.5
    The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations On A Shaker Hymn): 1
    Pork And Beans: 1 :)
    Heart Songs: 0.75
    Everybody Get Dangerous: 0.75
    Dreamin’: 0.5
    Thought I Knew: 1
    Cold Dark World: 0.75
    Automatic: 0.75
    The Angel And The One: 0.75
    Miss Sweeney: 1
    Pig: 0.75
    The Spider: 0.25
    King: 0.75

    10.5/14 = .750 -> 5.63

    Weezer’s Red Album is so far the most wacky of their albums, and that isn’t necessarily a good thing. While I found that there are several problems with Weezer’s Red Album, perhaps the most critical issue of it was its lyrics. Even for Weezer, which always comes with sometimes corny lyrics, the words to many of the songs on here were just too weird. As for the music, while a few songs certainly did not disappoint with the “classic Weezer” sound, it got on my nerves that there were so many acoustic songs right in a row at the end. I guess I shouldn’t look too much into that specifically since those songs make up the deluxe version. That being said, Weezer really did like to use the acoustic guitar as a starting instrument, which got repetitive over time. The synths also could feel a little intrusive at times.

    Thanks to the character limit, I am unable to provide my song-by-song commentary, which would perhaps give people who don't agree with my rating more understanding as to why I gave this album what I gave it.

    In general, I had a rather mixed experience with this Weezer album. It just felt repetitive and low effort. While there were some good things about it, I found myself frowning at the music more often than I would have liked. The synths were hit-or-miss and the lyrics could also be rather disappointing. There are only a couple songs from this album I would listen to again, and compared to the Green Album I had a not-so-great experience. I will listen to the next Weezer album because I really hope that I will get another good one. That being said, I didn’t completely hate the Red Album, it was just not nearly as good as I would have hoped. In the excitement that the release of Van Weezer made, I was really looking forward to listening to more Weezer, though after this I should probably lower my expectations. Weezer fans may like this but it’s hard imagining that any non-fans will be won over to the band by this album alone. Highlights: The Greatest Man That Ever Lived, Pork And Beans, Thought I Knew, and Miss Sweeney.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

18
#18 Most Discussed Album of 2008
39
#39 Most Shared Album of 2008

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
64

Generally favorable reviews - based on 32 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 32
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 32
  3. Negative: 5 out of 32
  1. Billboard
    70
    Cuomo turns the mic over to the other three members of Weezer for a song each (the best: "Automatic," sung by drummer Pat Wilson), unironically salutes the influence of Nirvana ("Heart Songs") and marries fake crowd noise and piano to the thick power chords of "Greatest Man." Rock on.
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  2. Drowned In Sound
    50
    A number of plays through and it’s still not clear who, exactly, the band are taking the proverbial out of: themselves, playfully and absolutely intentionally, or us, fans who’ve become conditioned to not expecting the best from a band who, personally, have been a shadow of themselves since that first ‘sequel’ release.
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  3. Pitchfork
    47
    Like the YouTube culture the "Pork and Beans" video depicts so well, the song--and this album--relies on a high quantity of short-lived pretty good ideas to distract from a shortage of great ones.
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