Weezer - "Pacific Daydream"

Weezer, at one point, as far as I'm concerned was one of the best bands in the world.  If you really look at their early 90's output, we were really looking at something truly special.  Their 1994 debut "Weezer" (Aka "The Blue Album") is quite frankly nearly perfect.  This album was 10 tracks back to back that were incredible examples of Pop Rock and Power Pop.  Backed by gigantic singles like "Buddy Holly" and "Say It Ain't So", Weezer quickly became household names.   Weezer then went on to create another of the 90's most cherished albums, "Pinkerton".  This was a completely different album, focusing much more on frontman Rivers Cuomo's feelings and personal stories.  The result was an album that went on to do so much for the Emo genre.  It's an album that's beautiful and personal, all while remaining charming and catchy.  It was around that time that Weezer took some time off, and quite frankly things wouldn't be the same ever.  In 2001, they returned with their "Green Album", an album that quite frankly isn't a fraction of how incredible the band's early work was.  The material on this album wasn't nearly as catchy, and damn sure wasn't as well written.  Sure, there are some iconic singles ("Hash Pipe", "Island In The Sun"), and even some great deep cuts ("Glorious Day", "Don't Let Go").  But outside of that, this album is just so fake sounding.  Weezer's downward spiral continued on 2002's "Maladroit".  Once again, some of the singles were catchy.  But overall the magic of Weezer had worn off big time.  The material here was bland, boring, and not nearly as special as it once was.  2005 wasn't much better for Weezer as they released "Make Believe".  This album was basically hated by critics and fans alike.  And yea, there are like, 3 or 4 catchy tunes on here.  But overall, this is the most depressing album in Weezer's discography.  What made them once so lovable was just how human they are.  On "Make Believe", Weezer were lifeless.  Weezer returned a few years later with their self-titled "Red Album", and boy oh boy was this album bad.  I still enjoy "Pork and Beans", but everything else here is God awful.   But the thing was about all of these albums, was that time and time again they had moments of brilliance.  There were truly great Pop Rock tunes often sprinkled in throughout these seemingly endless amounts of awful tunes.  "Raditiude" in 2009 started off with "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To", which I thought was fun and solid.  But oh BOY, the next 9 songs, were Weezer's worst yet.  Now, call me absolutely nuts, but for the most part, I enjoy 2010's "Hurley".  It's a bizarre album and one that's far from perfect.  As a matter of fact, tracks like "Smart Girls" and "Trainwrecks" are easily some of Weezer's worst yet.  But tracks like "Memories" and "Unspoken" are the sort of carefree, jolly Weezer tracks I've always loved.   So now, I don't think this album is perfect, but it's an album that I feel like proved that Weezer still have plenty left to offer.  So after this very long strand of album's that were truly awful, Weezer was suddenly showing promise.  This promise transitioned nicely with 2014's "Everything Will Be Alright In The End", which once again was strangely VERY solid.  Tracks like "Cleopatra" and "Back To The Shack" seemed to be in the same league as Weezer classics, while tracks like "Eulogy for a Rock Band" showed they still had tons of their trademark humor.  Now, this still was not a classic album, but I feel like Weezer just kept getting closer and closer to that mark.  But I really didn't expect to TRULY love an album from Weezer from start to finish again.  But that's exactly what happened when I tuned in to their 2016 release "Weezer (The White Album)".  This album was the sunny, catchy, glorious pop-rock album I've wanted to hear from Weezer since 1996.  Singles like "California Kids", "Thank God for Girls", and "L.A. Girls" were just so lovable from start to finish, and I would say that this album went on to be my favorite Rock album of last year.  But as wonderful as that album is, I haven't held my breath for Weezer to make another solid album.  Now, these new singles from Weezer have ranged from being solid to absolutely painful.  So let's talk about this new Weezer album, shall we!

(Let's just take a minute to really enjoy Weezer before this new album revs up)

Now, call me absolutely nuts, but I love this album’s opener “Mexican Fender”.  Yes, it’s nothing but Pop Rock with a bizarre narrative that goes nowhere.  But it’s sweet and charming, and actually reminds me a lot of something that would have shown up on their “White Album’.  But this one really is everything I truly love about Weezer.  The quirky lyrics are wonderful, the instrumental is determined but simple, and this singalong chorus is ridiculously lovable.  And while I’m talking about these lyrics, there are actually quite a few here that are seriously funny.  It even has that very nostalgic feel of the band’s last album, longing for summer days and simpler times.  It’s a real decent intro from Weezer, but sadly this album is about to go down the toilet.  Up next is “Beach Boys”, and instrumentally this really isn’t terrible.  I like the sort of gloomy and downtrodden feel to this.  But let’s talk about this production because it sort of worked for me at first but quickly it’s becoming obvious that this is a true production nightmare.  It’s just so clean and edgeless, which was, in fact, the case on their “White Album”, but here it doesn’t come off nearly as enjoyable.  Here, this just comes off as so-so safe and greased up for Radio airplay.  Then, we have the lyrics.  Now, Weezer has always been heavily influenced by the Beach Boys, especially on their last album.  But when it's being shoved down my throat this much, it’s not nearly as sweet to hear.  So “Beach Boys” gets very annoying and very fast.  “Feels Like Summer” is up next, and remember just how edgeless that production was coming off.  Well, on this one, it makes Weezer sound like they’re going for a damn Hip-Hop tune or an EDM tune.  But holy Hell, these, lyrics I do have to say are catchy.  As much as I despise this track and what it means for Weezer and where they’re future lies, they can still write a tune.  I’m not going to say this excuses this track because there truly is no excuse.  But these boring instrumentals and the near Hip Hop production are some of the worst things I’ve ever heard Weezer put together.  But I’ll be damned if Rivers can still write a Pop hook.  But as this album rolls on it just gets further and further from what I want to hear.  These heavy grooves and the glossy production are going to make a lot of older fans roll their eyes hard  And as far as a track goes, this honestly isn’t the worst thing I’ve heard from Weezer.  I mean, Rivers continues to obviously be able to write a hook.  But what the hell happened in the last year?  The band’s “White Album” showed they were able to just relax and write carefree tunes.  This just seems like a massive plea to be noticed and relevant again really, and it’s not pretty.

    “Weekend Woman” up next practically comes off as a damn Christmas Carol between these very warm vocals and the bells in the background.  But ironically, this is actually one of the lesser evils here.  It’s smooth, and I love the very whimsical instrumental.  Lyrically, I am sort of feeling like a lot of these tracks one way or another are really starting to blend together, at least as far as song tops go.  But this is just really enjoyable, and I actually really love just how hopeful a lot of this comes off.  For a Pop Tune directed by Weezer, this really isn’t bad at all.  On the other hand, “QB Blitz” is easily the worst track here.  Some of these narratives are just getting seriously painful to listen to.  It’s just all getting so repetitive for Weezer.  On this one, frontman Rivers Cuomo is rehashing so many things he’s been spewing out since 1994.  But this is just so damn awful.  All the metaphors are just so ridiculous, and worst of all, Rivers doesn’t even come off as human.  And honestly, that’s where so much of Weezer’s original charm stemmed from.  Instrumentally, “QB Blitz” is so bland and safe, and that production sadly hasn’t gotten any edgier or interesting.  Then we have “Sweet Mary” and by this point, so many of these tracks continue to blend together.  Rivers seems like he couldn’t be any less interested in this one.  It’s not nearly as sweet as he thinks it is, and if this is Weezer’s attempt at a vintage pop tune this is weak.  Weezer has proven over the years that they can very easily still write timeless Pop Rock tunes.  But when I hear this, I just want to move on and never look back.  At the very least though, “Get Right” is the sort of stripped down sound that comes off a whole lot more likable.  Even when the rest of the instrumentals come in, there isn’t anything terrible going on here.  Yes, take out the Rock elements, because this is basically a straight up Pop track.  But at the very least, Weezer seem like they’re having fun here.  Even more so then that, they don’t seem like they’re trying nearly as hard.  And while yes, this is still the most mainstream material Weezer has every touched, I really don’t mind this.  Plus, the band ironically sound at their most human here.

    This may not come as a shock to you, but with “La Mancha Screwjob”, this album doesn’t get any edgier.  But at the very least, this one has a solid narrative, and I actually feel like this one has some of the catchier moments of the entire album.  Is this going to get Weezer any new fans?  No.  Is this going to please Weezer’s classic fanbase?  Oh lord absolutely not.  But this is a decent Pop Rock tune which is FINE, but man, how far can one band fall in a years time. Weezer round this album off with “Any Friend of Diane’s”.  Now, I can’t really be that mad, because I honestly think this is the best track here.  It’s just so nostalgic feeling and so sweet.  It literally would have landed perfectly on the band’s last album.  I don’t even mind that this annoying production is still wallowing around stinking things up.  But where the hell was this carefree sound for the rest of the album?  What a slap in the face. 

Rating: 6.4/10

Give A Listen To: “Mexican Fender”, “Weekend Woman”, “Get Right”, “Any Friend of Diane’s”

Genre: Pop Rock / Alternative Rock / Power Pop

Overall Thoughts:  I mean, I didn’t think Weezer were going to be able to pull this off.  I hoped they could, but I sort of new deep down it was going to be tough for the to repeat what made their last album so lovable.  But most of the material here is quite frankly, unforgivable.  It’s one thing to make Pop Rock, I actually feel like Weezer are one of the best in the world at it.  But the material on this album is just so damn clean and gutless.   The handful of really good tracks are seriously VERY very good.  But this is far from the Pop Rock album I needed to hear from Weezer.