Christmas CD
| Christmas CD (aka Winter Weezerland) | |||||
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| EP by Weezer | |||||
| Released | December 7, 2000 (radio promo) January 1, 2001 ("official" release) |
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| Recorded | N/A | ||||
| Genre | Alternative | ||||
| Length | 5:30 | ||||
| Label | DGC | ||||
| Producer(s) | Weezer | ||||
| Weezer chronology | |||||
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| Alternate Cover | |||||
 Winter Weezerland cover |
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- Not to be confused with Christmas with Weezer.
The Christmas CD, later re-released as Weezer Winterland, is a two-song promotional EP of original Christmas songs released by Weezer in 2000.
Overview
The Christmas CD was recorded in November 2000 at Rivers Cuomo's home studio, dubbed "Mocha Fusion Studios", with additional work done later at Cello Studios (shortly before the band headed into the studio to record The Green Album). The song "The Christmas Song" was originally recorded for KROQ's annual Christmas compilation album Kevin and Bean: The Real Slim Santa, and was edited and partially re-recorded (at Ric Ocasek's urging)[citation needed] for its inclusion on the Christmas CD. According to Karl Koch, the promo was released by Geffen in an attempt to capitalize on potential nationwide interest in the song which would not have been reached solely through its inclusion on the KROQ album, as well as in promotion for the then-upcoming Green Album.[1]
The CD was sent to radio stations in December, with fan reports on Karl's Corner indicating that it began receiving airplay on December 7.[2] Additionally, approximately 1000 copies were sent to members of the original Weezer Fan Club.[1] The songs were uploaded as MP3s onto the short-lived "W.F.O." section on weezer.net around the time of the promo's release, and later onto the A/V section of weezer.com around December 2003.[3][4] January 1, 2001 is considered to be "official" release date of the CD.[1]
In 2005, the tracks were released through the iTunes music store under the title Winter Weezerland with new album art. Reportedly, the release received some backlash from fans due to the fact that the songs were previously available for free on the Weezer website.[citation needed] The EP was removed from iTunes around 2008.[5]
Cover art
In a post on the Weezer Facebook page which recounts the history of the Christmas CD, Koch states:[1]
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The cover art of the CD has an odd story. The band had been essentially estranged from their label Geffen for so long by 2000 that they were doing most of their own artwork and promotion, (via the rapidly expanding weezer.com). So the plan was to create the artwork for the EP and send it over to Geffen, bypassing their art dept. Back in the summer of 2000, Rivers handed Karl a DV videocamera and told him to start filming. Then, the discovery was made of software that allowed one to capture stills from the video - at the time a revelation, as it seemingly solved the issue of needing a digital camera, which the band did not have and were not yet ubiquitous and easy to manage. On 11/15/00, Karl went and rented Santa suits and the band did a "photo shoot" with Karl filming them to capture stills from later. (The infamous Yahoo Tour webisode promos were shot on this day as well). (The actual Christmas songs themselves were finished up at Cello Studios on 11/15 and 11/16). When it was realized that the stills looked like crap, and that still capturing technology was awful at the time, Karl was finally authorized to buy a digital camera, the 3MP Olympus c-3000. The Santa suits were re-rented and a new shoot was done on 11/31, in the same locations, in front of Rivers' fireplace, and on Rivers' roof. Due to beginners' ignorance of digital camera file management, and subsequent bungling at the label, this 11/31 set of original photos is almost entirely lost or poorly sized today. The black and white shot used on the disc is totally gone, and the front and back cover photos only exist as the final photoshopped versions with text. 2 shots of Pat and Mikey clowning were resized tiny for the web but the originals were not preserved. No other shots from that day are extant today. |
The photo used in the album art for Winter Weezerland is the same one that is featured on the back of the Christmas CD.
Track listing
- "The Christmas Song" – 3:08
- "Christmas Celebration" – 2:22
Personnel
- Rivers Cuomo – lead guitar, lead vocals
- Patrick Wilson – drums
- Brian Bell – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
- Mikey Welsh – bass guitar, backing vocals
Gallery
Front cover
Back Cover
Disc
Winter Weezerland cover
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Historic event: 01/01/2001
- ↑ Koch, K. (2000, December 8). 12/08/2000. weezer.net. Archived December 11, 2000. https://web.archive.org/web/20001211140600/http://weezer.net:80/karl/karlscorner.htm.
- ↑ RWA: Weezer fanclub online (beta edition). weezer.net. (2000). Archived January 7, 2001. https://web.archive.org/web/20010107200500/http://www.weezer.net:80/wfo/index.htm.
- ↑ weezer mp3s - straight from the band! weezer.com. (2003). Archived December 6, 2003. https://web.archive.org/web/20031206100829/http://www.weezer.com/news/.
- ↑ Wikimedia Foundation. (2008, February 23). Christmas CD (older revision). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christmas_CD&oldid=193502130.
