The Continental - Hamilton College

musictop pick: weezer10 YearsDivisionrelease date:may 13things to know: 10Years will be doingsome serious touringon Projekt Revolutionthis year, so it may bea good idea to checkout the new albumbefore it explodes andyou’re left behind thebandwagon.talk of the townScarlettJohanssonAnywhere I LayMy Headrelease date:may 20things to know:She’s an actress. Canshe sing? I’m not suremy ears have properlyprepared themselvesfor this.Dresden DollsNo, Virginiarelease date:may 20things to know: Asthe follow up to Yes,Virginia, the DresdenDolls once againoffer up prayers to thepunk-cabaret gods forthis release, which willhopefully live longerthan Amanda Palmer’ssolo project.release date: june 24Remember the good old days of Weezer when it was allabout hash pipes, sweaters and pink triangles? Well, hopefully,with the band’s return to their traditional album-naming (TheBlue Album, The Green Album), their sixth studio album, TheRed Album, will make us forgive Weezer for Make Believe andmake us forget Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo alltogether.Weezer has had a lot of difficulty as a band. Ignoring the factthat Rivers Cuomo is apparently hell-bent on remaining mysteriousand separating himself from the rest of the members of theband, Weezer has had a tumultuous experience in the limelight.The Blue Album, Weezer’s first album was so well receivedin 1994 at the height of the emo movement (these days, it’s allabout post-emo) that when the darker Pinkerton was released afew years later, fans were thrown into a crazed fit. Ultimately, thealbum was deemed one of Rolling Stone’s worst albums of 1996,but ironically is one of Weezer’s best-selling albums. Oh, thefinicky ways of fans.After a bit of a hiatus, Weezer released the extremely successfulGreen Album (home to “Hash Pipe” and “Island in theSun”) and their worst album to date, Maladroit. In 2005, Weezerreleased Make Believe, which can be summed up with a ‘meh.’The only memorable song off the entire album, “Beverly Hills”was vaguely reminiscent of earlier Weezer material, but with lessedge. It did, however, earn the band its first Grammy nomination,so it’s hard to completely hate the album.While fans have been waiting for Weezer’s new material, frontman Rivers Cuomo has graduated from Harvard, gotten marriedand supposedly become a father. How will this affect The RedAlbum? No one knows for sure yet, since Cuomo is extremelysecretive, but the album was produced by Rick Rubin (Red HotChili Peppers, Beastie Boys, Justin Timberlake). Cuomo, has,however, announced two song titles: “Ms. Sweeney” and “I’m theGreatest Man That Ever Lived.” The first single from the album,“Pork and Beans,” has premiered on California’s KROQ and isnow streaming from Weezer’s official site.If “Pork and Beans” is any indication, The Red Album hasdefinite kick backs to the early days of Blue and Green, whileincorporating the good parts of Pinkerton and Make Believe. Itsounds like Weezer is ready to deliver.- nicole dietsche ’09JourneyRevelationrelease date:june 3things to know: It’sJourney. That’s aboutit.UsherHere I Standrelease date:may 27things to know:It’s Usher, and it’s unlikelyhe’ll disappoint,especially if he’s beendoing lots of push upsand sit ups in his timeoff.Queen & PaulRogersTitle TBArelease date:september 1things to know:IT’S NOT QUEENWITHOUT FRED-DIE! That said, itcould be good.the continental | spring 2008 23