Just another manic Monday

At risk of sounding like a broken record (oh the great British cliche, how I love thee), I am going to talk briefly about the new Weezer album, which I've listened to now about 4 times since receiving a copy on Saturday. Some brief bullet points will suffice for now:

• Some of the songs are the best things Rivers has written since 1997. Cases in point: The Greatest Man That Ever Lived, Pork and Beans, The Angel and The One
• The bracketed title of The Greatest Man That Ever Lived is (Variations on a Shaker Hymn). The Red Album should have the bracketed title (Variations on a Weezer Record). By this I mean, it is incredibly inconsistent. Songs by Brian and Pat sound great, but in context, particularly with the majestic turn Rivers' songwriting takes on the record, don't seem to fit.
• A lot of the songs seem to be about how awesome Rivers is. This is brilliant and valid subject matter.
• Some of the songs are wonderfully ridiculous. Case in point: Everbody Get Dangerous
• However, this is at the expense of that window into Rivers' soul that we all miss so much. Red is an album with a front - shrouded in ironic bravado and intended idiocy it does not relive the highs of Weezer of old.
• Regardless, it's Weezer you fool. A super fun listen that doesn't even warrant all this stupid over-analyis rubbish what i've just done. Sorry.

In other news, the European Championships are off to a lukewarm start with the noticeable absence of the home nations. I'd enjoy seeing the Dutch or the Spanish to do well but, as usual, I think they'll probably fall short. Portugal play too much like Arsenal. The only competition winners in it seem to be France and Italy, and maybe Germany. I guess we'll see how it goes.

I have to drive back to Norwich this afternoon, in the space of which my opinion on the aforementioned Weezer rekkid will probably change. Boo fucking hoo.

J x