The Top 20 Albums of 2010 #8 Weezer: Pinkerton - Deluxe Edition

The Top 20 Albums of 2010

#8 Weezer: Pinkerton - Deluxe Edition

Words by Dirk Calloway
 

Preface: this was meant to be a daily series. I failed in that around Easter and then got writer's block for this review. Hopefully I can get back on the horse again! Sorry y'all.

So, I was going to write a review about The Kings of Leon's album Come Around Sundown, but I realised that, at best, it's a nice album to listen to late at night. At worst, it's cringe-worthy and reminds me of U2. This is not a good thing. Enter Weezer, with a re-release of an album from 1996...

Today's review will focus on a record that's part of the 'Deluxe Edition series' of Universal's. It's a collection that's been growing for some time now. Usually, the label re-releases an album in its entirety, accompanied by B-sides and rarities on a second disc that's packaged along with it. Sometimes, if you're lucky, the album is remastered so it blasts out of your stereo like never before. Pinkerton's Deluxe Edition has had its volume juiced up to 11, and is stuffed to the gills with extras. Its packaging is something to hold and treasure; crisp, thick card encases a wonderful book and the two discs, with the cover art seemingly also benefiting from a 'remaster' too. Perhaps it's just a case of printing techniques improving, and the shock of seeing the cover without 14 years of fading. 

I've owned a copy of Pinkerton for a long time now. I remember being told about its underground resurgence while I was at school. A guy from my class said that his favourite band was Weezer, and I was greatly intrigued. At this point, they'd not released anything for 3 years. Rumour had it they'd split up but not bothered to announce it. My memory of the band included the riff of El Scorcho and the fantastic video for Buddy Holly I remember watching over and over when it got bundled in with Windows 95. But now it was 1999 and this cool dude in my class was adamant they were the best band in the world. He was first-hand proof of the Pinkerton phenomenon that resurrected Weezer. At some inexact point, it had begun selling thousands of units per week, all over the globe. Met with apathy on its first release, the tide had turned and kids everywhere were paying $30 for an album that was four years old. Record stores were perpetually ordering it in, because stock was flying off the shelves whenever it arrived again. A massive groundswell of belief in this album surged the band onwards to their 'Green' album a wee while later, and the rest is history. Pinkerton destroyed the band, but resurrected it too. It's as stranger rock 'n roll tale as anything I've ever heard.

So, 14 years on, the record is now widely regarded as a classic. Rolling Stone retrospectively changed its original review from a '3 star' rating to a '5 star' one. Emo culture was born, proclaiming Pinkerton as the inspiration for tortured and sexually repressed white rock music over the course of an entire generation. Nearly a million copies later, it's therefore fitting that it's finally got the release it deserves. And it sounds great now. 

As mentioned earlier, Pinkerton's been remastered. These days a 'remaster' can either be a godsend or a dirty word. Many remastered albums have been so thoroughly compressed that though they sound 'louder' they also blow out the dynamic range available between 'quiet' and 'loud.' We need that range to hear nuance in music, so many afficiandos will complain that a 'digital remaster' ruins the soul of an album. Thankfully though, this is not the case for Pinkerton!

The above image shows you a sound-wave comparison between a few split seconds of music: the remastered version is on top and the original version is beneath. To explain what you're looking at, the yellow bumps represent the sound of the record in visual form. The higher the bump, the more noise you hear. The red box indicates the gap between 'maximum volume' and 'actual volume.' This is all just a long way of saying "the remastered version is louder, but not in an aggressive way." There's still plenty of room for this record to breathe. It often sounds like they've just cranked the low-end up a bit, so the bass growls and the vocals have a bit of extra punch. None of this has changed the way the album has crunchy guitars aplenty and heavy-hitting drums from Patrick Wilson. It's the most sensitive remaster I've heard since The Beatles' 2009 releases, so you'll find your old copy will go unplayed from this point forwards.

The extra tracks included are quite varied. There's the sublime You Gave Your Love To Me Softly, and the even better I Just Threw Out The Love Of My Dreams. The latter is a castaway from the abandoned concept album the band had been planning, called Songs From The Blackhole. If its quality is anything to go by, that record would have been a sure-fire classic. In my opinion, its inclusion on this release justified the entire purchase. The female vocalist adds a sincerity to Rivers' lyrics that is almost childlike, and it's a nice fit for the sing-songy melody he's concocted. To be sure, it sounds like something from later in the band's career than the Pinkerton-era it was recorded in, but it's a breath of fresh air into their back catalogue and I'm glad it has an official home now. I'd had a fairly dodgy copy of it for many years, and it's relieving to have it in perfect condition now. Check it out:

Nice huh? The rest of the collection is of similar levels of quality. Whether they realised it or not, this was a band who was at the peak of their powers, and Pinkerton Deluxe Edition makes sure their live concerts, demos, B-sides and others document this legendary act forever more.

So why is this not higher up in the list? Hell, it was the highest ranked album of 2010 according to Metacritic. Simply put, I'm gonna give newer releases a fair chance by stashing this album lower down. If I didn't, Pinkerton would have taken top-slot. It's a corker. Get it by any means necessary!

Tomorrow we're reviewing a weird clash between a ruler of the rap world and Rastafari royalty.