“Weezer (Red Album)”
Weezer, $13.98

I’m a Blue Album girl.

There are the music snobs who say “Pinkerton” was the most ambitious Weezer record. There are the next-gen Weezer fans who think Weezer’s career begins and ends with the Green Album. And then there are us, the W33z3r g33k5 (leetspeak for “Weezer geeks”) who have been around since the beginning, who don’t judge the band when it stumbles, who own all the rarities, who stand up for and support vocalist-guitarist Rivers Cuomo even during his “artistic episodes” … We are the Blue Album crew.

It’s the best Weezer album because you can remember where you were the first time you heard “Undone (The Sweater Song)” and you totally remember that one party in high school when you slow danced with your crush to “Say It Ain’t So.” My personal teenage anthem, “In the Garage,” made me feel connected, while “Surf Wax America” and “Holiday” indulged my escapist fantasies. The track list is, for lack of a better word, flawless.

Regardless, every new release day is a day for celebration. For me, nothing else Weezer does will probably ever outrank the band’s 1994 debut, but I still almost fell over myself clamoring to get my hands on 2005’s “Make Believe” and, because I love Weezer so much, it would have been worth the pain if I had.

On Tuesday, Weezer’s third self-titled record (the aforementioned Blue and Green Albums being the preceding two) — dubbed the Red Album so it can be told apart from the rest — hit store shelves. I made my weekly post-work visit to Target and picked up a deluxe edition of the band’s sixth full-length studio release, which includes 10 tracks with an additional four bonus songs. And I am quite pleased with the results.

However, I’ll be honest. If you’re not already a Weezer fan, there’s probably little chance there’s anything in this album that’ll interest you. The music remains pretty true-to-form for the power-pop group. If you are a Weezer fan, I probably don’t have to tell you to buy or not to buy this album. You already have it, regardless. This leaves us to those who are unfamiliar with Weezer (if such a phenomenon even exists). You’re the one group that will probably find an album review for this release at all useful.

Do yourself a favor and check out the group’s music video for “Pork and Beans,” the first single from the Red Album. How much you’ll like the album relies rather heavily on how much you like this song (unless you are a sucker for viral videos, in which case you might have to decide whether you enjoy the song for what it is, or for the video that goes along with it). “Pork and Beans” is classic Weezer: light, fun and entirely without pretension. The guys don’t take themselves too seriously, but they care about their craft. They’re like the William Shatner of music.

For the most part, the Red Album’s lyrics are nothing to shout about, but that probably won’t keep people from shouting along with them. Those catchy hooks take hold, and you really have no choice but to sing them. They will stick in your head, too. After giving the entire album a once-around, I was still bopping my head to “Troublemaker,” the opening track. “Troublemaker’s” rhythm reminds me of that old-school baseball taunt, “We want a pitcher, not a belly itcher!”

There are some low points on the record. “Heart Songs,” though it pays homage to the rock veterans who inspired Cuomo to become a rock veteran, comes off sounding boring and amateur. It doesn’t pop like a good Weezer song. Even the group’s slower, simpler tracks generally manage to engage my eardrums, but this song had them scanning the room for other, more stimulating sounds. “Thought I Knew” doesn’t even belong on a Weezer album. It’s got the feel of something punched from the late ’90s alt-rock template, and was written and sung by rhythm guitarist Brian Bell. This isn’t the only song where Cuomo relinquishes vocal duties on this record.

On “Cold Dark World,” bassist Scott Shriner takes the lead. Ideally, Cuomo would be singing this song. As the title suggests, it’s a bit darker than what we usually hear from Weezer, but it’s one of my favorites. Other standout tracks on the Red Album include the bouncy “Dreamin’” and the much-hyped, multi-genre “The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn).” The latter is one of those songs that won’t grab you immediately, but give it a couple listens and it could grow on you. It’s far from the epic that it strives to be, but it’s not nearly as schizophrenic as you’d expect a six-minute-long compilation of about 10 musical styles to be.

The bonus tracks are a little treat (though “King,” another Shriner-sung tune, wouldn’t be missed if it were removed from the list). “Miss Sweeney” is especially beautiful, with a refrain that reminds me of “Susanne,” a much older Weezer song.

Overall, this is a good, solid trip down Weezer Lane. It’s no Blue Album, but I’d never expect it to be. After all, you can’t beat perfection.