Like many Weezer fans, I found the group's surprise 2019 covers album, "Weezer (Teal Album)" pretty underwhelming, with its predictable song selection, straightforward arrangements and just-competent production. Still, it wasn't necessarily the idea of a Weezer covers collection that sank the project though, as the band has done plenty of inspired, deeply "Weezer-y" covers through their history that have found them stretching in new (or future) directions, or paying tribute to their smaller-profile influences. Thinking about this while listening to some classic Beach Boys bootlegs, I got the itch to try my hand at making my own boot: an collection of loosie covers to serve as an evil twin to "Teal Album." Thus, this "Orange Album" was born.

For the tracklist, I limited myself to non-live, non-Rivers recordings, as well as leaving off anything on a studio album proper. Further, despite the hodgepodge nature of these recordings/variable sound quality, I wanted this boot to feel as close to a real "Weezer album" as possible, especially in terms of flow/cohesion/length/variety/eccentricity (which is why, say, "Like A Good Neighbor" made the cut and "Love My Way," a personal fav, didn't). In terms of polish, I did a quick overall master pass on everything so there's no extreme peaks and valleys in volumes between tracks, and tightened things so songs flow seamlessly into one another. A few of the tracks required more extensive tweaking to work for this record; this is most noticeable on tracks 1 and 6, which I did full remix/edits on as they were from lower quality sources with cuts that made for awkward album placement. Lastly, I tried to sequencing for ideal pacing and threw together the gorgeous album art you see before you; a triumphant, idiotic mirror image of Teal.

Anyway, all of which is to say, I'm pretty proud of how this Orange Album hangs together. If nothing else, it proves for the umpteenth time that there was no reason a sub-par latter-day Weezer record had to be that way given their ability and the kind of material left on the shelf. But regardless, I've had a lot of fun curating and then spinning this collection, so I figured I'd share 'cause I thought y'all might too. Peace!
—SGE