First the "are you serious?" album cover, then the unlikely promise of 'Pork and Beans' and now this?

Eight tracks from the new "red" Weezer album have found their way on to the internet.

They're uh, interesting. If "Interesting" = "crushingly disappointing". But then disappointing isn't a new feeling when it comes to Weezer records. After essentially blazing their own genre with the classic "Blue" album and it's follow up "Pinkerton" in the 90s, the dysfunctional quartet have released a procession of albums that repeatedly punch their initial deserved reputation in the face.

'Troublemaker' starts promisingly in that it's something bold from the band. Crowd noises, a piano melody, a siren. Then a a half-time beat and Rivers doing his best RnB rhyming over the top. Turns out that's the tip of the car crash, as what follows is essentially all the worst half-finished riffs and bad late night ideas, laid end to end erroneously in Pro Tools and called a song. Key line: "I am the greatest man that ever lived / I was born to give". We give it back Rivers.

The other two tunes, the proto-grunge 'Everybody Get Dangerous', and the "not-Rivers" sung 'Thought I Knew' are equally embarrassing. In that "I can't believe these are the same guys who wrote 'My Name Is Jonas' and 'Pink Triangle' way". Or for the layman "How on Earth did they get so shit?"

I'll reserve complete judgement until the album is released. But until then...proof:


Weezer - 'Troublemaker'


Weezer - 'Everybody Get Dangerous'


Weezer - 'Thought I Knew'