Weezer - Raditude
Record Label: Geffen
Release Date: November 3, 2009
Weezer used to know what they were doing. In 1996 they released Pinkerton and in 2002 they released Maladroit, both which happen to be my favorite records ever released by Weezer. In 2005 they released Make Believe and everything went downhill from there. Now, In 2009, the band has released Raditude, a collection of radio friendly cuts all written or co-written by Cuomo. It seems this time around however, all Cuomo can seem to write about are hot girls, partying, and... hot girls and partying. I think Cuomo may have forgotten that he isn't in high school anymore. The tracks on this record sound like a grown man trying to act young again. It doesn't work here.
On the track "Can't Stop Partying," Weezer recruited Lil Wayne to heat things up but the song ends up being melted by the over-the-top production, poor lyrics and the painfully teenage pop melody. With lyrics like: "I gotta have Patron / I gotta have the beat / I gotta have a lot of pretty girls around me" its hard not to wonder how long it took Rivers to write the song.
The tracks that are standable are still not the best songs that Weezer have come up with. "If You're Wondering If I Want You To (I Want You To)" is the first song from the album (It's the first single), and its pretty much one of the three songs I can stand. It has exceptional lyrics and Rivers' vocals are powerful but the song is still lacking something.
The second song that I actually might listen to a few more times is the track "Let It All Hang Out." It's catchy and upbeat but fails in the lyric department. Somehow, on this song, I can get past that and focus on the music. This is not the case on tracks like "The Girl Got Hot" and "In the Mall". Both songs have melodies that can get stuck in your head but again die with their lack of lyrical meaning. "The Girl Got Hot" sounds like a song that would fit right in with the broadway musical "Grease". Not so much a Weezer album unfortunately.
The song "I'm Your Daddy" is probably the best track on the record, which isn't saying much. It has the catchiest melody and the best beat but again sinks under the water when it comes to lyrics.
Hopefully Weezer will look back on this record and go "WTF were we thinking?". Until that day, Iam going to stick with Pinkerton and Maladroit and hope that Weezer's next record will more then make up for this lyrically deprived record. This cheese needs to be thrown out.
Nice review with a good summary of the material. I would've preferred a more specific explanation for some of the ratings, but no harm done.
As for the album itself, couldn't agree more.
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