Weezer - Only in DreamsFinal track from “Weezer” (1994)
There came a time when I realized I’m not so much a fan of Weezer as I’m a fan of the Blue Album. But oh, what an album that is. Perfect from start to finish and that finish just might be the greatest eight or so minutes of music ever recorded. Or at least in the top ten.
The Blue Album is one of those rare beasts that are delicious from the first note to the last. While the rest of the songs are your standard garage-band length of between two and four minutes, Only in Dreams clocks in at 8:04. Not a second of that is wasted on anything extraneous. From the opening bass line to the final fade out, Dreams is a sweeping, melodic piece of wistfulness. It’s a heartbreaking tale of unrequited love but, oddly enough, it’s not the earnest yearnings in River Cuomo’s voice or the sweetness of the backing vocals that breaks your heart; instead the final, instrumental five minutes or so of the song carry you away on alternating waves of build ups and let downs that really kick you in the gut.
This is Weezer’s finest - and deepest - piece of music. It succeeds in that it makes you want to start the album over again just to build up to its finish once more.
Amen.
