1. The Blue Van Shuttle
2. The Blue Van Tour
3. The Blue Van Album Cover
4. The Blue Van Albums
5. The Blue Van Man Up Album
6. The Blue Van Album Download

Weezer (often referred to as The Blue Album) is the debut studio album by Weezer. It was released on May 10, 1994 by Geffen Records. The album was produced by former Cars frontman Ric Ocasek and recorded in Electric Lady Studios in New York City. Weezer spawned the popular singles 'Undone - The Sweater Song' and 'Buddy Holly', both of which were responsible for launching Weezer into mainstream success with the aid of music videos directed by Spike Jonze.

• 4Reception
  • 4.1Critics

Pre-recording

After recording The Kitchen Tape in hopes of creating interest in L.A., Weezer eventually attracted attention from major-label A&R reps looking for alternative rock bands while performing on the same bill as the band that dog. They were then signed to DGC Records on June 26, 1993, by Todd Sullivan, an A&R rep from Geffen. While prepping for the forthcoming studio sessions, the band focused on their vocal interplay by practicing barbershop quartet-styled songs, which helped both lead singer Rivers Cuomo and bassist Matt Sharp achieve a newfound collaborative comfort during rehearsals. Sharp, who never sang before joining Weezer, gained his falsetto background vocal abilities. 'I had to sing an octave higher than Rivers. After a lot of practice, I started to get it down.'

• Studio Update from The Blue Van, Febuary 2012.
• The Blue Van Album 2006 12 songs.
• Equal parts blue-eyed soul shouter and wild-eyed poet-sorcerer, Van Morrison is among popular music’s true innovators, a restless seeker whose incantatory vocals and alchemical fusion of R&B, jazz, blues, and Celtic folk produced perhaps the most spiritually transcendent body of work in the rock & roll canon.

Blue has moved up from number 30 to number 3 on Rolling Stones 'Top 500 Albums of all time'! Willy Kelly on 2019-Feb-19 at 15:33:07 GMT-5: One of my favorite albums since the day I heard it.

Fifteen songs were rehearsed for the album during early practice sessions in New York in preparation for the Electric Lady Studios album recording. Ten of the songs appear on the album, but four of the songs were cut: 'Lullaby for Wayne', 'I Swear It's True', 'Getting Up and Leaving', and a reprise version of 'In The Garage.' The other song, 'Mykel and Carli', was attempted during the Electric Lady sessions, but was also abandoned. It would be recorded a year later and became a popular B-side, and eventually get a proper release on the 'Undone - The Sweater Song' single.

Recording process

The band briefly considered self-producing, but were pressured by Geffen to choose a producer. They ultimately decided on Ric Ocasek. Cuomo explained his choice: 'I'd always admired The Cars and Ric Ocasek's songwriting and production skills.' During production, Ocasek convinced the band to change their guitar pickup from the neck pick-up to the bridge pick-up, resulting in a brighter sound.

During these sessions, founding guitarist Jason Cropper left the band and was replaced by current guitarist Brian Bell, leading to some speculation about how much Bell contributes to the album. While Bell's vocals are clearly audible on some tracks, Cuomo re-recorded all of Cropper's guitar parts. According to Ocasek, all ten tracks were laid down by Cuomo in one day, each in one take. Cropper's writing credit on 'My Name Is Jonas' is earned by his coming up with the intro to the song. Most of the album was written by Rivers Cuomo. Exceptions are 'My Name Is Jonas', which was co-written with Jason Cropper and Patrick Wilson and 'The World Has Turned and Left Me Here' and 'Surf Wax America', which both were composed and written by Cuomo and Wilson. Weezer touches upon various life experiences of Cuomo, including subjects such as his brother's car accident, heartbreak, jealousy, alcohol and former girlfriends.

The single 'Undone - The Sweater Song' was described by Cuomo as 'the feeling you get when the train stops and the little guy comes knockin' on your door. It was supposed to be a sad song, but everyone thinks it's hilarious.' The video marks one of the early directorial efforts of Spike Jonze, whose pitch was simply 'A blue stage, a steadicam, a pack of wild dogs.' The video became an instant hit on MTV.

Both 'No One Else' and 'The World Has Turned and Left Me Here' are lyrically connected, with Cuomo describing the narrator of 'No One Else' as 'the jealous-obsessive asshole in me freaking out on my girlfriend' and claiming that 'The World has Turned and Left Me Here' is the same asshole wondering why she's gone.'

The second single from the Blue Album was 'Buddy Holly', whose music video was also directed by Spike Jonze. It portrayed the band performing at the original Arnold's Drive-In diner from the popular '70s television show, Happy Days. The video combined contemporary footage of the band with clips from the show. Happy Days cast member Al Molinaro]] made a cameo appearance in the video. The video was met with great popularity and heavy rotation on MTV. The video scored four awards at the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards, including prizes for Breakthrough Video and Best Alternative Video.

'My Name is Jonas', deals with Cuomo's brother Leaves who had been seriously injured in a car accident while a student at Oberlin College, and was having problem with his insurance. Jason Cropper earned co-writing credit for coming up with the intro to the song.

The final single, 'Say it Ain't So', was inspired by Cuomo (incorrectly but sincerely) believing (as a child) that his stepfather was becoming an alcoholic, which fed Rivers' fear about losing his stepfather the same way he lost contact with his dad. The music video, which was directed by Sophie Muller, was less successful than the previous two Spike Jonze-directed videos. It featured the band performing in the garage of their former house, and the bandmates playing hacky sack in the backyard.

Artwork

The album artwork, designed by Karl Koch based on Rivers' ideas and photographed by 60's glamour photographer Peter Gowland, features Patrick Wilson, Rivers Cuomo, Matt Sharp, and Brian Bell standing left to right in front of a plain, blue background.

During an interview for the iTunes Originals compilation Cuomo said, 'I remember having a very strong vision for the first album, The Blue Album, what that cover was gonna look like. I never anticipated people would call it The Blue Album, or even Weezer. I just thought of it as an untitled album. It was like the year later that we noticed that everyone was calling it The Blue Album.' In 2020, Cuomo gave some additional insight on the choice of blue: 'When I was 7, my family built a house. My parents said I could paint my room any color I wanted. I painted it my favorite color, a specific shade of blue. When I was thinking about a cover for the first Weezer album, I wanted it to be that same shade of blue. This mode of nostalgia for the lost innocence of childhood was the same source of my 'look' in the Blue album era--the glasses frames, bowl cut, dickies, blue t-shirt, and windbreaker from my childhood photos.'

The simple image would be used prominently in the advertising of the album. The cover received many comparisons to the Feelies' album Crazy Rhythms. On some vinyl pressings of the album, the cover does not crop off their feet. On the Deluxe Edition case, the feet are presented on the back cover, and the band sold an official t-shirt with a shot of the band's feet after the deluxe edition release. Inside the album booklet, Rivers Cuomo pays tribute to his past metal influences with a photo taken in the group's garage on Amherst (this same garage would be featured in the 'Say It Ain't So' music video). A poster of Judas Priest's album British Steel is featured on the left side of the photo, while on the right a Quiet Riot concert poster is displayed. The Deluxe Edition features additional photographs of the band, and hand-written lyrics for each song.

Karl Koch recalled the album art's creation in a post from 2002:

The guys actually went out and found 4 matching striped button down shirts, and in fact in late 1993 played at least one show wearing them, much to the contempt of the LA scenesters of the era. Noted 60's fashion photographer Peter Gowland was contacted to do the shoot, as his mellow pastel colored shots of girls in bikinis and guys out golfing had the exact 'anti-90's' feeling we needed. To Peters sprawling Lloyd Wright-esqe 50's house we went, which was complete with a near-clone of 'Alice' from Brady Bunch manning the kitchen. The guys started the shoot in the striped shirts, but everyone later concluded that the photos looked better with everyone wearing regular clothes.

Reception

The album was well-received by critics on its release. Allmusic gave the album 5 stars explaining 'What makes the band so enjoyable is their charming geekiness; instead of singing about despair, they sing about love, which is kind of refreshing in the gloom-drenched world of '90s guitar-pop.' Rolling Stone praised the album saying 'Weezer's Rivers Cuomo is great at sketching vignettes (the Dungeons and Dragons games and Kiss posters that inspire the hapless daydreamer of 'In the Garage'), and with sweet inspiration like the waltz tempo of 'My Name Is Jonas' and the self-deprecating humor of lines like 'I look just like Buddy Holly/And you're Mary Tyler Moore', his songs easily ingratiate.'

In the years since its release, The Blue Album has risen in stature to become one of the most highly-regarded albums of the 1990s, appearing on many 'Best-of' lists. In 2003, Rolling Stone named the album number 297 in their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Blender named the Blue Album among the '500 CDs You Must Own', calling the album 'Absolute geek-rock, out and proud.' Non-U.S. publications have acclaimed the album as well: New Zealand's The Movement placed it at number 39 on a list of 'The 101 Best Albums of the 90s', and Visions of Germany ranked it number 32 on a list of 'The Most Important Albums of the 90s.' Reviews of the deluxe edition of the album have also been positive. In 2004, Popmatters gave the album a very positive review and saying 'I’d go so far to declare the 'Blue Album' one of the greatest records of the last 20 years.'

In naming Weezer one of the 50 best albums of the 1990s, Pitchfork Media summed up the album's critical recognition. Brent DiCrescenzo wrote: 'An album so substantial the band misguidedly attempted to tap into its resonance through cover graphics a mere two releases later. In 1994, 70s rock had come to mean either a bastardized version of Led Zeppelin or a bullshit reconstruction of punk rock. As guitar nerds, Weezer sought influence there but found true inspiration in forgotten bubblegum power-pop like Cheap Trick, The Raspberries, 20/20, and The Quick. Most impressively, Rivers Cuomo rescued the thrilling guitar solo from finger-tapping metal and disregarding grunge/punk. A decade later air-guitaring to the album feels far less embarrassing than singing along. With the help of Spike Jonze, Weezer kept joy alive in arena rock, making the critical repositioning of Weezer as some emo touchstone even more absentminded. They called themselves Weezer, knowingly, for chrissakes.'

Weezer was certified gold in just under seven months after its release on December 1, 1994. It was certified platinum on January 1, 1995; since then it has gone three times multi-platinum in the United States. As of December 2007, the album had sold 3,146,000 copies in the US (Weezer's best-selling album to date), peaking at #16 on the Billboard 200. In 2003, the album was ranked number 297 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. A 2-CD deluxe edition was released in 2004. Also in 2003, Pitchfork Media named The Blue Album the 26th best album of the 1990s.

Critics

Individual songs

The Blue Van Shuttle

Track listing

Personnel

• Rivers Cuomo – guitars, lead vocals
• Patrick Wilson – drums (backing vocals - not credited)
• Brian Bell – backing vocals (credited with rhythm guitars although is said to have not played on the album)
• Matt Sharp – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Ric Ocasek – production
• Chris Shaw - engineering, mixing

The Blue Van Tour

See also

The Blue Van Album Cover

The Blue Van is a blues rock band from Denmark consisting of Steffen Westmark (vocals and guitar), Søren Christensen (keyboard, vocals and guitar), Allan Villadsen (bass), and Per Jørgensen (drums and vocals).

History[edit]

The Blue Van was founded in Brønderslev, Denmark when the members were in the 6th grade at school. The group soon moved to Copenhagen, where they first recorded two EPs, and in April 2005 they released their first full-length album—The Art Of Rolling. The band is also known in the United States, due mainly to numerous shows in and around New York City preceding the release of The Art of Rolling, as well as their participation in events such as the Austin City Limits Music Festival and the Village Voice's hip Siren Festival. Their second album, Dear Independence, was released in October 2006. The band toured extensively with Australian band Jet to promote Dear Independence. Fans were treated to early renditions of 'Rico', 'The Odyssey', and 'Don't Leave Me Blue'. In the first quarter of 2007, the band announced that they would be going into a recluse state in a farm house to write material for their 3rd album. 'Silly Boy', the lead single from their third album Man Up, was featured in a 2008 US commercial for the Samsung Behold cell phone. It was the first of many syncs from the band's catalog using 'Man Up', ' Silly Boy' and 'I'm a Man'. Those and others have been featured in various TV series, including Beverly Hills 90210, Call Me Fritz, Revenge, Shameless, Free Radio, Private Practice, the German series Countdown-Die Jagd beginnt, CSI: NY, NCIS, Entourage, Mercy, Dallas, Lie to Me, and numerous commercials including Scrubs, Red Lobster, Samsung, Common Law, Telus, Time Warner Cable, and NFL football. 'Silly Boy' was used in the movie The First Time, starring Dylan O'Brien. 'Man Up' has also been used in the MLB 09: The Show video game. Their song 'Independence' was used as the theme for USA Network's new show, Royal Pains. 'There Goes My Love', a single, was used in a debut Apple iPad commercial that first aired during the 2010 Oscars.^[1]

The title track from their 2010 album Love Shot appears in the 2012 male-stripper film Magic Mike which stars Channing Tatum and Matthew McConaughey, and in an episode of The Hard Times of RJ Berger. 'I'm a Man' was used in the American Pie film American Reuniob and also appears on the soundtrack. 'Man Up' as well was used in the trailer for Adam Sandler's That's My Boy and soundtrack. 'I'm a Man' was also used for the trailer for Fright Night starring Colin Farrell.

In 2013 the band released their 5th album entitled 'Would You Change Your Life?' (WYCYL), recorded in Copenhagen and produced by Joshua (Kent, Mew, Carpark North, etc.). It was followed by an American tour in March/April same year and a full Danish tour, plus a tour in the German speaking countries.

To try something new, rather than just release a 6th album, they began recording a string of singles in Copenhagen, with old producer team Mark Wills and Dan Hougesen (who also worked with the band on 'The Art Of Rolling', 'Man Up' and 'Love Shot'. From mid 2014 'till late 2015, 10 singles including videos (all directed by Daniel Buchwald) was released, digital only. Outside the project a collaboration between TBV and support act, Velvet Volume resulted in a single called 'Better Together'. In December 2015 a huge box set, called 'Letters', consisting of 2 vinyl records, a book, a CD and a DVD plus the 10 single covers on thick cardboard. Vinyl 1 has the 10 singles on it and on vinyl 2 is previously unreleased material, dating back to 2006 and forward.Also included is a ticket for The Blue Van 20th anniversary show @ Pumpehuset in Copenhagen on April 21, 2016.

Facts[edit]

• In February 2011 a musical named 'Product of DK' based solely on the music of the Blue Van, was written and performed by students at Tørring Gymnasium, Denmark.
• Christensen and his wife appeared in an episode of House Hunters International that debuted on November 30, 2012, in which they searched for a home in Copenhagen.

Name[edit]

The band name is derived from the 'Den blå vogn' - a van that collected mentally ill people in Denmark.^[2]Others believe the name may be a tribute to a band from near the Deutschtown neighborhood of Pittsburgh who had a hit 'song' of the same name in the late 1990s. The song Don't Leave Me Blue from the Album Dear Independence was featured on the MTV Danmark show Smacking New, which showcases new and upcoming bands.

Discography[edit]

The Blue Van Albums

References[edit]

1. ^'iPad commercial / The Blue Van's 'There Goes My Love''. Musicforants.com. 2010-03-08. Archived from the original on 2012-06-04. Retrieved 2012-06-23.
2. ^Jaffe, Sarah (2005) Blue Van - Turning Hillbillies into Classic Guys in Kaffine Buzz (Accessed: 7 February 2017)

The Blue Van Man Up Album

External links[edit]

The Blue Van Album Download