Feel the Teal

I've mentioned teal before; when you talk about Weezer's various colour coded albums it's hard not to. What I didn't explain last time was how the colour was named. It's no great mystery - it's actually named after the Eurasian Teal duck - with its flash of green/blue on its head. The first mention of it as a colour, however, is relatively recent (1917); the Teal itself goes back a lot further, obviously, and was first scientifically named in 1758. 

As you know I love a flag, and if you study the back issues of Are We There Far you'll see numerous specimens. An interesting example with teal in its make up is the Mozambique flag. I'm very taken with it and in particular the five pointed star/book/hoe/AK-47 machine gun combo; a heady mix, I think you'll agree.

Teal is also the colour of many of the world's oceans, the predominant colour of the Northern Lights, Quaker parrots, Blue Racer snakes and the main identifier of Blue Bottle flies.

In addition to Weezer you'll also find it on a whole host of album covers including Nirvana's Nevermind, Tommy by the Who and AC/DC's Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. It's also the colour of my watch.

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...