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
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