More so than any other band, Weezer fans tend to be obsessive, strange, and temperamental people. I am no different.
So, it is with the double release of both their first DVD, “Video Capture Device”, and a re-release of their debut album “Weezer” (dubbed by fans as “The Blue Album”), that these same obsessive, strange, and temperamental fans can get their latest Weezer fix in high-caliber fashion.
First bursting on the music scene in 1994 with their Happy Days themed video for “Buddy Holly”, Weezer’s career path has been anything but normal: a huge debut album, a critically and financially disastrous sophomore record (which has since been heralded as one of the most important albums of the 90s), a three-year hiatus, and a surge back to popularity in 2001.
The Blue Album Deluxe, as it has come to be known, is a spiffy two-disc set. The first disc is simply a re-mastered version of the original album, but it is the second disc that provides a real look at the development of the album.
In addition to the album’s B-Sides, “Mykel and Carli”, “Susanne”, “My Evaline”, and “Jamie”, the second disc gives listeners several live versions of Blue Album songs and home demos of some of the songs in their earliest stages.
Many of these home demos are readily available on Weezer fan websites, but that’s hardly Weezer’s fault. There are three genuinely unreleased tracks on the second disc: the band’s pre-production recordings of “Lullabye for Wayne”, “I Swear, It’s True”, and “Undone – The Sweater Song”. The disc also includes songs like the angry, Nirvanaesque “Paperface” which never made the album cut.
The home demos for “Paperface”, “Undone – The Sweater Song”, and “Only In Dreams”, known to fans as The Kitchen Tapes because they were recorded in the band’s old kitchen, have a totally different vibe than their album versions. Their production values are superb, and it’s clear why Geffen was eager to sign the L.A. foursome.
Much like The Blue Album Deluxe, Weezer’s DVD is designed mostly for the band’s most hardcore fans. The DVD includes the standard fare – all of the band’s music videos are included and there are several live performances. The price of admission, however, is paid for the other two hours of the disc – countless home movies and videos of the band behind the scenes, shot by the band’s cult-hero roadie, Karl Koch.
It’s clear that Koch is incredibly devoted to the band. The sheer amount of footage on the DVD – and the content of the footage – gives fans of the band an unbelievably intimate look at Weezer. Fans get to see the band recording their first two classic albums, The Blue Album and “Pinkerton” respectively, and countless reels of the band just kicking back and goofing off.
We get to see the band’s eccentric front man, Rivers Cuomo, trying out tunes on the harpsichord between recording takes of The Blue Album, and drummer Patrick Wilson’s incredible skateboard antics.
The DVD also gives fans a chronological look at the development of the band, and even the first incarnations of what would eventually become Weezer. One of the most interesting chapters of the DVD is the raw nugget of the band “60 Wrong Sausages” from 1991, featuring Cuomo, Wilson, with Jason Cropper and Pat Finn performing the bizarre pseudo-metal anthem “The Answer Man”.
There’s a definite home-made vibe to the disc, which brings with it advantages and disadvantages. Any fans looking for an elaborate high quality production will likely be disappointed. Almost all shots on the disc are taken from Koch’s own home videos, wobbly and out of focus as ever. In fact, the disc includes three previously unreleased music videos directed by Koch on no budget at all: “Pink Triangle”, “Photograph”, and “Slob”.
Hardcore fans are not going to be disappointed. The DVD includes short clips of even the most rare Weezer songs, including two performances of the almost mythical unreleased song “Superfriend”, the backbone track of Weezer’s mostly unreleased space rock opera masterpiece “Songs from the Black Hole”. Another track from “Black Hole”, “I Just Through Out The Love of My Dreams”, is also featured on the disc with Cuomo on lead vocals, in an obvious nod to the most rabid of Weezer fans.
Both The Blue Album Deluxe and “Video Capture Device” are shining examples of Weezer’s complete commitment to their fans. Few bands are as interactive with their fans as Weezer, and that includes giving them as personal a look into their lives as both of these releases provide.
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