WEEZER – Van Weezer [Deluxe Edition +3] (2021) *0dayrox EXCLUSIVE*

While born in the alt rock era, WEEZER are not afraid to show their formative origins, and the band’s fifteenth studio album is titled ”Van Weezer”, a reference to the band Van Halen, as the record features a focus on heavy guitars and more arena-rock styled songs. This is the Deluxe Edition includes bonus tracks, a picture disc, a cassette, a patch & more in a clear homage to the ’80s too.
Not only tracks like “End of the Game” opens emulating Eddie Van Halen fretwork (Weezer’s frontman Rivers Cuomo idol) but others feature writing credits to the likes of BOC’s Donald Roeser for “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper”, Ozzy Osbourne, Randy Rhoads, Bob Daisley for “Crazy Train”, etc due to these tracks having heavy inspiration and/or interpolation of these artist’s work.
”Van Weezer” is a tribute to their Eighties metal roots, an it’s a lot of fun.

“Summertime/I press rewind and go back to a simpler place,” Cumo sings on “I Need Some of That,” before going on to reminisce about listening to Aerosmith and riding his 10-speed.
Van Weezer has what you’d expect from such a project: “End of the Game” opens by aping Eddie Van Halen’ ‘Eruption’ era guitar work; “1 More Hit” starts off with Metallica riffs; “Blue Dream” is a straight homage to Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train.”

Most of these sonic and lyrical allusions immediately give way to the kind of crisp, automatically catchy power-pop you’d hear on any Weezer album.
But that isn’t a betrayal of the metal-love theme, just Cuomo showing us how hard rock fits in with the Beach Boys, the Cars, and Loverboy in the morass of music from that era. Unsurprisingly, it’s the bright, smiling, spandex-y pop side of metal he loves, not the macho misanthrope side — there’s a reason the record is called ‘Van Weezer’, not Weezer Bloody Weezer.

That sensitivity comes through in songs like “Hero,” in which triumphal arena flash gives way to an anthem of vulnerability and aloneness, as well as the closing acoustic ballad, “Precious Metal Girl,” an ode to a rock chick who isn’t some video vixen teen-boy fantasy but a “best friend in the world.”
More references to the glam metal era comes with the bonus track ”Beginning Of The End (Wyld Stallyns Mix)” inspired by the 1989’s movie Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, while the first line of other bonus song ”I’ve Thrown It All Away”is lifted from the Beach Boys’ I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times.
Fun stuff from beginning to end.

 

01 – Hero
02 – All the Good Ones
03 – The End of the Game
04 – I Need Some of That
05 – Beginning of the End
06 – Blue Dream
07 – 1 More Hit
08 – Sheila Can Do It
09 – She Needs Me
10 – Precious Metal Girl
BONUS TRACKS:
11 – Beginning Of The End (Wyld Stallyns Mix)
12 – Hero (Remix)
13 – I’ve Thrown It All Away

Rivers Cuomo – lead vocals, guitars, keyboards, backing vocals
Patrick Wilson – drums
Brian Bell – guitars, backing vocals
Scott Shriner – bass, backing vocals

 

BUY IT
weezerwebstore.com/products/van-weezer-box-set