The sun’s out and so is Weezer’s 10th record, soon to be known by fans as ‘The White Album’. It’s not crap. Honestly.
Producer Jake Sinclair cited the band’s first two albums, their classic ‘Blue Album’ and ‘Pinkerton’, as watermarks for this LP and he’s spot on. You’re 15 seconds in, past the twinkly Springsteen intro and California Kids suddenly sweeps you back to 1994. Rivers Cuomo’s cutesy/tortured tones, Beach Boys backing vocals and a meaty chorus riff that’s so unbelievably Say It Ain’t So all feature heavily. It’s massive, unabashedly gleeful pop music with a shit hot guitar solo that makes hot shit look like it’s been in the fridge for a week.
Do You Wanna Get High? and Summer Elaine And Drunk Dorie both exude ‘Pinkerton’ vibes. The former rocks that creaky, unhinged synth business the band were nailing on Tired Of Sex, while the latter bangs a chorus into the brain that’s joyful and solemn in equal measure.
This record isn’t just Weezer reminiscing around a campfire about ‘The Blue Album’ and ‘Pinkerton’, though.
Jacked Up and L.A. Girlz feature that flailing falsetto Cuomo utilised on Hash Pipe, from ‘The Green Album’, with L.A. Girlz’s final refrain - “Does anybody love anybody as much as I love you, baby?” - proving that he can make the simplest phrases sound just as beautiful as his trademark, hyper-specific lyrical waxworks.
A Weezer album’s success can hang on how angular Cuomo’s lyrics are, and he straddles the line between The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and rom-com screenplay perfectly on ‘The White Album’.
If this dropped straight after ‘Pinkerton’, could Cuomo have convincingly spat out the opening lines of Thank God For Girls? Seeing as he became a recluse, painted his bedroom walls black and disconnected his phone, probably not. The Rivers Cuomo of 2016 is still a nerd and he’s certainly not trying to be cool, but that experimentation with geekish swagger on 2005’s Beverly Hills and Everybody Get Dangerous from 2008’s ‘The Red Album’ has really paid off here. Cuomo’s vocal versatility is astounding, basically.
Right, so it’s not quite up there with ‘The Blue Album’ or ‘Pinkerton’, but this record comfortably squeezes into bed next to ‘The Green Album’. There’s nothing as catchy as Buddy Holly, nothing as caustic as Tired Of Sex, but still. Ten tracks. Thirty-four minutes. All the fun.
And you are being lied to. This is not a Weezer comeback. There is nothing to come back from. They’re 22 years and 10 albums in. Granted, there have been some (‘Raditude’-shaped) missteps along the way but they’ve ended up at ‘The White Album’ and it is an absolute treat. Sit back, crank it up and thank God for Weezer.
Weezer Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Tue April 05 2016 - LONDON O2 Academy Brixton
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