The rock band Weezer released an album called Teal that covers ten popular songs from the 60’s to the 90’s. Included are songs by Michael Jackson, Toto, The Turtles, Black Sabbath and more. I enjoyed the album; however, there are many things that could have been done differently and more effectively.
There have been a lot discussions as to how the covers compare to the originals, and I would like to provide my opinion on the matter.
Interestingly, with the exception of some rock addition, Weezer copied the original vocals almost exactly to the note. Instead of putting their own spin on it, they copied the songs and just made some changes in the instrumentation.
After listening to the entire album as well as all originals, I believe that overall the originals are superior to the covers. Weezer, being a relatively hard rock band, is stylistically different from the originals, and add in harder instrumentation which doesn’t always sound great with their songs of choice. Additionally, the hard vocals of Rivers Cuomo, Weezer’s lead singer, don’t always fit the themes of the songs.
Cuomo, however, does an excellent job of modeling the vocals of the originals, which was his intent when creating this album.
Some examples of songs on Teal that couldn’t outdo the originals are “Africa” by Toto, “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson, and “No Scrubs” by TLC.
In “Africa”, Weezer’s addition of electric guitar and heavier drums combined with the harder vocals of Cuomo gives it a completely different sound than the original. The song was written by a man who was trying to emulate the feelings of someone suffering in Africa; the tone of such a song should be soft and quiet, not hard and loud like Weezer make it.
“Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson is simply impossible to outshine. Jackson’s voice is so unique and nearly impossible to emulate. Cuomo said it took him seven hours to sing the song, using around 75 tracks of vocals.
Secondly, “Billie Jean” is as pop a song as you’ll get, and making it rock didn’t work with the tune. Weezer do as good as one can do on a Jackson song, but it falls significantly short of the original.
Finally, “No Scrubs” wasn’t a smart song choice. It doesn’t translate well to a male voice, especially a rock voice. Simple as that.
Nonetheless, some tracks on Teal that I prefer over the originals include “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears For Fears and “Happy Together” by The Turtles.
Weezer did an amazing job on “Everybody Wants To Rule The World”. The two versions are almost identical, making it very hard to give one the edge over the other.
The central difference between Weezer’s rendition and Tears for Fears, like the rest of the album, is heavier drums and guitar. They essentially played the same exact guitar riffs, only louder and heavier. In my opinion, Cuomo has a better voice than Roland Orzabal, the lead singer of Tears For Fears, which was the deciding factor.
“Happy Together” is my favorite cover on the album. The electric guitar is a strong addition and really changed the tone of the song in a positive way. The continuous single drum beat combined with a single guitar strum throughout the entire song makes it increasingly upbeat.
The song talks about being “Happy Together” and is a genuinely happy song; the drum beat does nothing but bring that out even more. To top it all off, there is a very fitting drum solo at the end which brings the song to a close in nice fashion, leaving the listener on a positive note.
Sounding exactly like The Turtles, Cuomo’s vocals are perfect for the song: rather than being detrimental towards it, they actually enhance it. It seems Weezer’s main adjustment was substituting the original’s trumpets with electric guitar and bass.
It adequately emphasizes the tone of the song while sounding pleasant at the same time. Their few changes were simple yet very effective and just put it over the top of the original.
In conclusion, Weezer did a solid job. They definitely achieved their goal of trying to emulate the vocals of the originals, but there aren’t many aspects of the songs that stand out.