Teal?

Was there a Yellow Album?

Weezer. Weezer by name, Weezer by album title. Between 1994 and 2019 the Los Angeles band have, thus far, released thirteen studio albums - six of which are, quite simply, called Weezer.

That's right, half a dozen albums all with the same title. Their record company must love them.

But wait, help is at hand; providing you're not colour blind, that is. Their first, third, sixth, tenth, twelfth and thirteenth releases are colour coded. Here's a sample:

Weezer (1994) Blue Album

Weezer (2001) Green Album

Weezer (2008) Red Album

Weezer (2019) Teal Album

Not pictured are their Black and White albums, but I'm sure you get the picture. I latched onto the band quite late and remember buying the Red Album when it came out. Phill Jupitus and, I think, Tom Robinson were playing the hell out of them on 6 Music. I became very attached to Heart Songs. It's a song about, er, songs: songs and artists that influenced the band. What's not to like? I'm particularly fond of it, not least as it name-checks Grover Washington. Nice.

Weezer - Heart Songs (1996)

And so to Teal. Teal? That's turquoise to you and me. In 2018 the band recorded a cover version of Rosanna by Toto. Why? I'll tell you why. Some internet trend picked up by Twitter users and fans of Weezer (one in particular - see the story here) was pushing for them to cover Africa -Toto's monster hit and now a global/viral behemoth generating memes and everything. But the band resisted; instead covering Toto's least popular hit. As you do.

However, it did lead to them doing an album of covers. And, what do you think is on there? That's right - a joint venture with someone I'm sure a few of you out there will remember. Weird.

Weezer - Africa (2018)

As a footnote to the story, and to prove Toto have a sense of humour too, when Weezer took Africa to #1 in the US Billboard Alternative Singles Chart, a couple of days later Toto released their version of Hash Pipe - a song Weezer released in 2001 from their Weezer album. Which, if you've been keeping up, is their Green Album. Till next time...

Then and Now

If yesterday's selection was a (strong, I think) contender to kick-off a soul infused, late night, bluesy, jazzy mixtape, then today's choice would, almost certainly, bookend it.

Grover Washington is a big noise in this house; although anything from 1980's Winelight, surely the benchmark for all smooth jazz, would have been the bookies favourite, Stolen Moments, from his 1988 Then and Now album, shows Grover really was a contender. And this stylish Oliver Nelson cover is a perfect way to end proceedings.

So there you go - the lazy arse way to putting together a compilation album - the beginning and the end. What happens in between would only get messy. A bit like life, really.

Stolen Moments

Saxomophones

Grover Washington Jr

Gerry Mulligan

Here's a delicious collaboration between two of my favourite sax players; although Gerry Mulligan and Grover Washington are no longer with us we were lucky enough to see both these jazzers live. In fact we even met Gerry Mulligan – he was staying in the same hotel as us while we were at the Brecon Jazz Festival in 1991. Grover Washington we saw in the summer of 1998 (the year before he died) - he was playing The Concord Festival in a stunning amphitheatre in California; the only part of the world where smooth jazz really works.