Island in the Sun

by

Weezer

Edit

the leading track here, "island in the sun", is one of the better green tracks, and the moment I heard it it screamed "single". You've probably heard it a million times on the radio even if you don't have the album though, and I'm assuming most people thinking of buying this would be doing it for the other unreleased stuff, so I'll spend more time on that. "o lisa", like most of the green album b-sides, seems like it was probably a leftover for a reason. It's relatively fast tempo is kind of a nice change of pace from the other, mostly midtempo, green era tracks, but it's also just not a very good song. Then there's "always", probably the main reason to get this. In theory the just rivers with an acoustic guitar and string backing arrangment should make it sound like a cheesy attempt at a weezer version of "time of your life" by green day or something, but somehow it works as something a bit more timeless sounding, more akin to "here comes the sun" by the beatles. Ok, that's partially because they kind of [borrow] the opening chords to that song, but it's still a really pretty ballad. And finally there's a remix of "hash pipe" by jimmy pop from the blood hound gang. I'm not really sure if this is the effect he was going for, but if you've ever wondered what it would sound like if Weezer had a dance club hit in the 80's, this remix will answer your question. It's kind of fun to listen to, but the amusing surreality of rivers cuomo singing about pot-addicted prostitutes over pet shop boys music wears off after a few listens.

So, to sum up, buy it if you're a collector, or if you really like "island in the sun" and don't feel like paying 15 dollars for a 28 minute cd, but otherwise just download "always" off someone. The band had an mp3 of an extended version of the song on their site, and while it's not there anymore, if you know anyone who's a major weezer fan they will more likely than not have it on their computer to share with you. There's definitely better weezer singles to throw your money at, like "el scorcho" and "the good life".