The 1996 release of Weezer’s Pinkerton was a surprising flop for the band. The album’s sales were low and it was hammered by Rolling Stone as one of the worst albums of the year. Despite the auspicious start, word of mouth spread and the album became a cult hit. Since then, the album is acclaimed as a monument of ’90s alternative rock.
The re-release is obviously as good as ever but the lo-fi nature of it’s original recording means that it wasn’t really due for a remastering.
The value lies in disc two — a collection of live recordings and previously unreleased B-sides. The second disc is strong, shedding new light on a band at its peak, but including three different live versions of “El Scorcho” was a little unnecessary and some of the aforementioned B-sides are quite rough.
Though the band has seemingly lost its way — putting the face of Hurley from Lost on their latest album cover was just one of a string of strange and confusing decisions — the recent release of Pinkerton helps remind fans why they fell in love with Weezer in the first place and at the same time points out how far they’ve fallen.