Reflecting Pool - Weezer - Weezer (Black Album)

 

Weezer - Weezer (Black Album) - 2019

Weezer keeps threatening to rock hard. These are the guys who named a comp record Death to False Metal. But, do they "rock"? 

They have an upcoming record called Van Weezer and I worry that its another threat that won't pay off.

This one is...well, look at that cover. They really want you to think this is the one. The dark rocking Weezer rekkid we've been waiting for.

But they don't. The anachronistic cover with the music inside is...confusing. 

It opens with a...somewhat Arabic rhythm and sound and...gleeps and glicks. (Green Day did this better on "Peacemaker") But you can't knock the earworm. 

Who is buying Weezer records at this point? Uber Weezer fans? Are they called something? Weezheads? I wanna call them Weezheads. 

"High As a Kite" is the kind of laconic and melodic Raspberries tune we've come to expect from Rivers. It's lovely.

"Piece of Cake". "I'm Just Being Honest". Straight out of the Cuomo machine. "Too Many Thoughts in My Head". Cookie cutter. But I like cookies and these cookies aren't bad.

It's nice that Laura Grace co-wrote "Byzantine". I like Laura Grace. 

Grade: C+

ASide: Can't Knock the Hustle, High As a Kite

BlindSide: Zombie Bastards, Living in LA

Reflecting Pool = Weezer - Weezer (Teal)

Weezer - Teal Album - 2019

I really hated this when it came out. I kind of didn't understand it. It's full of keyboards and Weezer isn't a keyboard band. Plus, I really really reallllllllly hate Tribute Albums by individual bands. Remember that terrible Thank You record by Duran Duran? Or Spaghetti Incident? 

Ugh.

This one starts off really weird with "Africa"? I get why they did it but...it's not all that. It reminds you that the original is better. 

And from there it just plays like a jukebox of songs Rivers liked growing up. And that's great when it gets to Sabbath and A-Ha and ELO.

But then we get "No Scrubs" and an earnest but useless version of "Billie Jean". 

Much of this is unnecessary but would be fine to walk to on the treadmill in the gym.

Grade: C

 

Reflecting Pool - Weezer - Pacific Daydream

Weezer - Pacific Daydream - 2017

On that opener, "Mexican Fender", is Weezer biting on "Baba O'Reilly"?? Sure sounds like it. 

Man, this is a crunchy record. If the previous one was light and airy and full of summer this one is...bigger, more expansive and...darker. 

And that album cover might be my favorite in their entire catalog. Surpassing Everything Will Be Alright as my favorite Weezer album cover. 

A lot of this makes sense, sonically, since it's produced by Butch Walker. He's magic on the knobs. 

But it's really much ado about nothing cuz the songs are distractingly uninteresting. Songs like "Sweet Mary" and "Out There" really require LESS production, guys. 

I revisited this record today and, honestly, I think I was a little harsh. I recall that I felt like I HAD to review it to complete the saga but, I didn't give it the patient listen it deserved. It's really something to wade through all of Rivers' music while thinking about Weezer's relationship to Generation X. They are really OUR band. I'm not sure if anyone will recognize that in the end but...

Go to Genius.com and read Cuomo's lyrics. He finds melody and choruses in his own life's observations and banalities. And writes a mean hook. 

Grade: B-

A Side: Mexican Fender, Weekend Woman, Feels Like Summer

BlindSide: Sweet Mary, Out There, Beach Boys

 

Reflecting Pool - Weezer - White Album

 

Weezer - Weezer (White) - 2016

Is this Weezer's "Beach Album"? It sure starts off like that. But it also starts off in trad Qeez fashion, with a four on the floor beat and a staccato 1/16th strum on the guitar ala Ramones without the meth. 

And Brian Bell is a better lead guitarist than the Ramones ever had. 

Let's note that the opener, which a perfect Cali PCH riding son, was co-written by the guy from Semisonic who wrote "Closing Time", so it's bound to be hooky.

From there we approximate Beach Boys choruses via Cuomo and the boys. 

"Thank God for Girls" is what I expect from them as a single. Mid-Tempo "Beverly Hills" redux that touches the harpstrings of Hip Hop and doesn't 100% succeed in that. But that don't make it not good. It's just not bad. 

The highlight of side one is that "Islands in the Sun" beach tune, "Girl We Got a Good Thing", which is a Power Pop Glam Rock Beach Boys amalgam. Wilson is pounding that quarter note beat and I just realized....Wilson! There's a Wilson in Weezer!

Perfect. 

"Do You Wanna Get High" is a prime example of proof that Cuomo is a perfect songsmith for his own band. He knows how to do it, he does it well and they come along for the ride. 

Song Exploder featured Cuomo and "Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori" where Rivers explained his very meticulous, spreadsheet oriented way of songwriting. And I love that story, the song and especially the chorus.

This album is terrific. Well, a terrific Weezer album. 

Grade: A

A Side: California Kids, Do You Wanna Get High?, Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori

Blind Side: (Girl We Got a) Good Thing, King of the World, Jacked Up, Endless Bummer

Reflecting Pool - Weezer - Everything Will Be Alright in the End

Weezer - Everything Will Be Alright in the End - 2014

Wow does this album explode. And explode with self-reflection and...guilt?

"Back to the Shack" attacks not only American Idol and those garbage pop idol machines but also Rivers' own foray into radio friendly pap.

And it doesn't let up.

Rivers is still teaming up with other songwriters like Justin Hawkins and Bethany Cosento (!!!), who lend him a nice glam Power Rock hand and Indie Surf Pop cred respectively but that doesn't diminish anything here. In fact, it just makes the record more enjoyable.  And it's the uber-weird songs like "The British Are Coming" and The Futurescope Trilogy that are the real standouts.

I even enjoy the earnest pop rock Aggr0-Raspberries "Foolish Father". 

Grade: A

A Side: Ain't Got Nobody, Back to the Shack

Blind Side: Eulogy For a Rock Band, The British Are Coming, Da Vinci, Go Away, Foolish Father

 

Reflecting Pool - Weezer - Hurley

 

Weezer - Hurley - 2010

One thing that caught me off guard as I listened to this album for the 1st time in 11 years is that it starts off with a fucking banger. "Memories" is a helluvan opener and I could see it leading off a concert. If I were them I would open the show with this and then go into a bank of retro hits before returning to the album.

Turning 30 seems to have had an influence on Rivers as he starts to look back on his life but refuses to let go of his desire to rock. He's always been a nerd rocker. But he has always wished he was cooler and that creates this bizarre Beta Hard Rock Power Pop that, dammit, it works. 

Maybe it's that I'm 11 years older and I've come around to lower my expectations or maybe the 11 years ago me was so full of judgment that he couldn't see this album for what it is: a collection of heavier than they need to be Power Pop songs and that Weezer really claims to want to be a cock rock band but, at their core, they want to be Cheap Trick. 

Gread: B+

ASide: Memories, Ruling Me, Unspoken, Where's My Sex

BlindSide: Trainwrecks, Hang On