As the season begins to cool down (finally) and people head back to class, new music always seems to sneak up and set the tone for the new year. I myself still get excited when new albums are released in a record shop and make the effort to go down to my local shop and support local businesses. I'm still kind of old school in that way that I'm a sucker for the physical copy of the music and what the booklet that comes with the album. I'm a nerd when it comes to that. Hey! If people want to line up three in the morning to get a new iPhone and have it start malfunctioning the next days, there should be no problem naysayers for when I go in to Dimple Records and purchase a new release.
For today's review, I recently picked up Weezer-Hurley. Weezer, especially, have had their fair share of criticism over the years for their style of power-rock and had different each album sounds. Any fan of a band will always want the next album to sound like the album that turned them on to their band, Weezer has done this with their first two albums, but have always had a nasty feedback on any of their efforts. Weezer's career, I think, have taken more backlashes for not recreating their classic albums,"Blue" (1994), Pinkerton, and "Green"(2000) and losing their fan base gradually from each new release. From that point, it's been hit and miss for what they have made put out. I personally was not a fan of 2005's Make Believe (2005), but thought the closest effort to their 1994 self-titled debut, a.k.a. "Blue Album," was their other self-titled 2008 album, a.k.a. "Red album"; which songs such as "Pork and Beans," "Heart Songs," and "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived" were key tracks on what Weezer fans were looking for in pop rock song. Moving on to Fall 2009, their next effort, and last on Geffen records, was Raditude. This album in particular was my least favorite out of all their albums. Talk about one good song ("(If You're Wondering If I Want you To) I Want You To") within nine other songs that were directionless, the group seemed to lose track of where their influences were and what they striving to be; however, from the new freedom of a major label, the band's new effort would be a redeeming point for old and new fans.
Now signed to the indie powerhouse label, Epitaph, Weezer have succeeded with a new album that reflects previous albums and to grab the attention of new fans. First of all, have to say the best album cover by far in a long time. Yeah, the flying dog was cool on Raditude but to a good majority of the fans of the TV show Lost, Jorge Garcia's character of Hurley was one of the most memorable cast members of the show. The album itself and the cover go hand-in-hand by making the listener feel good and triumphant. Moving on to the album, the lead single "Memories" is a great starter for the album with it's infectious, power-pop chorus; which happens to have the whole Jackass crew doing back-up vocals in it too! Other key tracks worth mentioning such as "Ruling Me," "Hang On"and "Smart Girls" come off as positive notes for the listener compared to previous singles such as "We Are All On Drugs" and "Haunt You Every Day", which are more warnings than anything to the listener. This album signifies Weezer have grown up and are ready to move on. And you should to if you think they are going to remake Pinkerton again.
8.5/10= B+
