Weezer - 'Raditude' Review

Weezer’s latest album, Raditude, contains all the pluses and minuses of this band’s recent work. When frontman Rivers Cuomo nails a hook, he can produce a spectacular piece of three-minute pop-rock. But when his aim is slightly off, his songs can feel sterile, shallow and disposable. Raditude is full of both hits and misses, and unfortunately there are more of the latter.

Since their emergence during the mid-‘90s, Weezer have gone through several evolutionary phases. Their first album, the beloved Weezer (now known as The Blue Album), was superb power-pop, but the prickly follow-up, Pinkerton, was a divisive affair that found Cuomo delivering brutally candid lyrics about fame and his insecurities. The band went on hiatus for several years before returning with 2001’s Weezer (or The Green Album). On The Green Album and the three records that followed it, Weezer still focused on power-pop but Cuomo branched out into other styles, like metal-pop and song-suite epics. Raditude continues in that tradition, dabbling in high-profile cameos (rapper Lil Wayne on “Can’t Stop Partying”) and sitar-flavored love songs (“Love Is the Answer”). On the one hand, it’s commendable that Cuomo wants to keep pushing himself creatively. But his experiments on Raditude can sometimes feel so theoretical that they end up as empty exercises.

Some of Cuomo’s most straightforward songs on Raditude are the most effective. “Let It All Hang Out” is textbook Weezer – a bouncy verse morphs into a power-pop chorus with buzzy, glistening guitars leading the charge. “Tripping Down the Freeway” has the same sunny spirit that Cuomo has been utilizing in his songs since the band’s debut – Weezer may not be a particularly profound band but they can knock out breezy summertime songs with the best of them. And “Put Me Back Together” is a heartfelt love song that lacks a saccharine aftertaste. Taken as a whole, these three Raditude songs represent the strongest of the album’s more familiar material. They don’t break new ground, but they’re satisfying if not quite stunning.

But Cuomo doesn’t just want to keep writing the same songs he’s done before. Raditude’s adventurous moments are a mixed bag – some are pretty fun, while others are near-disasters. “Can’t Stop Partying” is the best of the album’s series of what could be called big-dumb-jock songs in that they’re about livin’ large, often examining such a lifestyle with a fair share of irony. (You could say that earlier Weezer songs in this category include “Hash Pipe,” “Beverly Hills,” and “We Are All on Drugs.”) “Can’t Stop Partying” is part dance track, part rock song, part hip-hop tune, but the bottom line is that it’s very engaging, even if the hybrid track feels a bit like a Frankenstein’s monster of disparate elements. The slick dance-rock of “I’m Your Daddy” recalls the Cars, an interesting comparison since Ric Ocasek has produced Weezer albums in the past, which didn’t sound much like Cars records at all. But on “I’m Your Daddy,” Cuomo seems to be responding to the New Wave revival led by newer bands like the Killers. It’s a new guise for Weezer, and it suits them well.

If Raditude’s highlights suffer from familiarity or artificiality, then its weaker stretches simply never grab the ear. “Love Is the Answer” is an ersatz version of Indian pop, while the album’s first single, “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To,” sounds like the band’s attempt to write a Simon & Garfunkel folk-pop ditty. What makes it hard to love Raditude (and Weezer in general) is that Cuomo seems to be trying to find ways to amuse himself rather than crafting songs that inspire him. Everything’s an experiment, which drains the best tracks of their power – put bluntly, they don’t feel real. For a man who once wrote “Heart Songs” as an ode to the artists who influenced him, Cuomo doesn’t display nearly enough heart in his own songs.

'Raditude' – Best Tracks:

“I’m Your Daddy” (Purchase/Download)
“Can’t Stop Partying” (Purchase/Download)
“Let It All Hang Out” (Purchase/Download)
“Put Me Back Together” (Purchase/Download)
“Tripping Down the Freeway” (Purchase/Download)

Release date – November 3, 2009
Warner Bros. Records