Weezer Raditude: Album Review

New Record Takes Yet Another Direction

Oct 27, 2009

A staple among Weezer fans for every new record the power pop quartet releases is: it’s simply not Pinkerton.

Released in 1996, Pinkerton was Weezer’s sophomore album, two years after the famous self-titled blue album. It veered into darker musical territory, venturing far from its peppier predecessor. The songs were sonically experimental and lyrically twisted, revealing lead singer Rivers Cuomo’s troubled and fractured mind.

Weezer Compared To Past Work

It was heralded as an indie masterpiece from music critics and fans and produced classics such as 'El Scorcho', 'The Good Life' and 'No Other One'.

Every album they’ve released since Pinkerton has been compared to the standard it apparently set. It’s really too bad Weezer had to suffer through this. Pinkerton was great, but it is over with. The band has moved on and so should the fans.

Moving forward in any direction is vital for the survival of any band. Weezer wisely realized this a long time ago. If they had continued to write songs in the same vein as 'Buddy Holly', 'Island In The Sun' or 'Dope Nose', they could have risked becoming stale or turning into a monotonous power chord band.

So they slowly began re-shaping their music like a potter shapes his clay. There were a few uneven creations along the way like Maladroit and Make Believe, but this only served to help the band discover new ways of writing songs.

Clocking in at a tight 33 minutes is Raditude, Weezer’s seventh studio album. Released by Geffen Records and produced largely in part by hip-hop producer Jermaine Dupri, the 10 new tracks show yet another side of Weezer. It’s like the Red Album, only way better. They even use a sitar.

Raditude Better Than Red Album

Kicking off the record is the refreshingly energetic '(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To'. The up-tempo radio-friendly song starts with a hurried acoustic guitar riff, followed by a catchy drumbeat, Cuomo’s almost spoken word vocals, and a loud group sing-a-long chorus.

Another surefire radio single will be 'Can’t Stop Partying', a catchy collaboration with hip-hop artist Lil Wayne. While it isn’t one of the standout tracks on the album, it does highlight Weezer’s willingness to shake the conventional style of writing a rock song.

There are only two songs on the album written solely by the original band members: the Cuomo-penned 'Trippin’ Down The Freeway' and drummer Patrick Wilson’s 'In The Mall'. Both are straightforward edgy rock and more of a return to the original sound they began with 15 years ago. Longtime fans will hopefully appreciate these nostalgic numbers.

Weezer Return To Roots For A Couple Songs

Raditude is an album people will want to listen to over and over. They'll want to play it at parties; in their car on the way to work and whilst doing just about anything else. Weezer is having fun, so why shouldn’t everyone follow their example?

The copyright of the article Weezer Raditude: Album Review in Alternative Music is owned by Sean McMullen. Permission to republish Weezer Raditude: Album Review in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Oct 29, 2009 3:05 PM

Guest :

Terrible review.

Oct 29, 2009 3:12 PM

Guest :

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, however I think this is a great review. I think the first comment was mislead.

Oct 29, 2009 3:18 PM

Guest :

Thank you for your comment. May I ask what your reason was for saying this was a terrible review? I appreciate the fact you read it though.

Sean

Oct 30, 2009 2:19 PM

Guest :

I just saw them on Letterman. I'd never heard of them before!

Nov 2, 2009 9:59 AM

Guest :

The Red Album is one of the best Weezer Cd's. Did you not listen to it more than once like some of these other critics. That would be about like me saying Raditude stinks. I have only listened to the streams so far. It sounds like the worst cd by them by far. But I will not make a final judgement until I listen to it at least 5 to 10 times. Not that you were, because I don't know, but I can't stand when people judge an album after one or two listens.

Nov 2, 2009 11:50 AM

Sean McMullen :

Thanks so much for responding.

I completely agree with you when you said people should listen to an album more than once to properly critique it. I am a longtime Weezer fan and when I said this album Raditude was better than the Red Album, it was purely my opinion. It took me a long time to get into the Red Album and Raditude grew quicker on me. Also, I listened to Raditude at least 15 times before writing the review.

Have you written any reviews on Weezer? If so, I'd love to check them out.

Thanks again for responding.

Sean

Nov 2, 2009 4:29 PM

Guest :

Good Review. I agree with most of what you wrote. I've been a fan of Weezer since the first album and I gave up on a new Pinkerton when Make Believe came out. I still haven't warmed to the Red Album, I thought that the bonus tracks were better than what made it onto the album, but after listening to the new album for the past day and a half I'm enjoying most of the songs on it already.