Sold Date:
September 4, 2014
Start Date:
August 25, 2014
Final Price:
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WEEZER ** THE BLUE ALBUM ** Geffen Records ** NEW & SEALED VINYL LP
Germany/Holland 2009 repressing - original cover
James Dean Record Store ** Marion, Indiana
shipped in a reinforced LP mailer
: MY NAME IS JONAS NO ONE ELSE THE WORLD HAS TURNED BUDDY HOLLY UNDONE - THE SWEATER SONG SURF WAX AMERICA HOLIDAY SAY IT AINT SO IN THE GARAGE ONLY IN DREAMS Even if you lived through it, it's hard to fathom exactly why were disliked, even loathed, when they released their debut album in the spring of 1994. If you grew up in the years after the heyday of grunge, it may even seem absurd that the band were considered poseurs, hair metal refugees passing themselves off as alt-rock by adapting a few tricks from and songbooks and sold to with stylish videos. Nevertheless, during alt-rock's heyday of 1994, was second only to as an object of scorn, bashed by the rock critics and hipsters alike. Time has a way of healing, even erasing, all wounds, and time has been nothing but kind to 's eponymous debut album (which would later be dubbed , due to the blue background of the cover art). At the time of its release, the group's influences were discussed endlessly -- the dynamics of , the polished production reminiscent of , the willful outsider vibe borrowed from indie rock -- but few noted how the group, under the direction of singer/songwriter , synthesized alt-rock with a strong '70s trash-rock predilection and an unwitting gift for power pop, resulting in something quite distinctive. Although the group wears its influences on its sleeve, pulls it together in a strikingly original fashion, thanks to 's urgent melodicism, a fondness for heavy, heavy guitars, a sly sense of humor, and damaged vulnerability, all driven home at a maximum volume. While contemporaries like were willfully, even gleefully obscure, and skewed toward a more selective audience, 's insecurities were laid bare, and the band's pop culture obsessions tended to be universal, not exclusive. Plus, wrote killer hooks and had a band that rocked hard -- albeit in an uptight, nerdy fashion -- winding up with direct, immediate music that connects on more than one level. It's both clever and vulnerable, but those sensibilities are hidden beneath the loud guitars and catchy hooks. That's why the band had hits with this album -- and not just hits, but era-defining singles like the deliberate dissonant crawl of the postironic love song of the surging -- but could still seem like a cult band to the dedicated fans; it sounded like the group was speaking to an in-crowd, not the mass audience it wound up with. If, as said, a good movie consists of three great scenes and no bad ones, it could be extrapolated that a good record contains three great songs and no bad ones -- in that case, is a record with at least six or seven great songs and no bad ones. That makes for a great record, but more than that, it's a great record emblematic of its time, standing as one of the defining albums of the '90s. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi -