Ooh-wee-ooh, Weezer are celebrating the 30th anniversary of their landmark debut album with an expanded reissue. With Blue Album (30th Anniversary Edition) arriving today through Geffen/uME, the whole set is available to stream now.
The reissue naturally kicks off with the 10 classic songs of the original album — all of them sublime slices of crunchy power pop, informed by the squall of '90s alt-rock, the feisty fun of pop-punk, and the harmony-drenched sweetness of the Beach Boys. They've been newly remastered for this 2024 reissue.
After that comes some celebrated early recordings — a BBC radio session from 1995 featuring live performances of a number of album tracks, plus 1992's The Kitchen Tape Demo, including songs like "Paperface," "Let's Sew Our Pants Together" and "Thief, You've Taken All That Was Me," which ended up cut from the band's debut album.
Thankfully, Weezer were impeccable archivists even in the earliest days of their band. Included here are various practice recordings, including a few songs from their third-ever rehearsal. There are demos and live recordings from throughout their first couple of years as a band, with rare pre-LP cuts including "I Can't Forget This Way," "Windows Down," "Superman," "Dawn Sets Upon Us" and "Lullaby for Wayne."
Anyone who follows Weezer closely knows that many of frontman Rivers Cuomo's best songs are his demos and B-sides, so this 50-song comp is an absolute treasure trove for the many devotees of the Blue Album. Listen below, and buy the box set here.