By: Ryan Martin
When Weezer came back with 2014’s Everything Will Be Alright In The End, it brought back all the nostalgia and glory that fans remembered from classic 90’s albums like The Blue Album and Pinkerton. There was crunchy guitars along with blissful melodies along with one of my favorite album closers of all time, “The Futerscope Trilogy”. Now Weezer returns with the fourth tradition in their long line of self-titled color coordinated albums, The White Album. To which it answers the question that all fans were wondering after EWBAITE, was it a fluke? Is Weezer actually back? The short answer is yes. We have time to get into all the details and shit though.
Weezer starts this album off with a tune called “California Kids” bright and poppy, this song along with the album captures what’s on every kid in school’s mind. Summer. The excitement and nostalgia is on display as the album kicks off with the sound of waves and seagulls followed by a guitar and a chiming xylophone that make you feel like you’re truly on the beach. This album has been called Weezer’s first concept album since 1996’s Pinkerton and they truly went through some stretches to get back to their original roots and sound. Rivers Cuomo, the band’s frontman even grew back the beard he had while working on Pinkerton. An album that was garnered mixed reviews at first but has come to be known as a cult classic and one of the band’s best album. Now, while The White Album (we’ll refer to it as simply White from here on out) is definitely far from being in comparison to the brilliance behind The Blue Album and Pinkerton. But it does hold the mainstream appeal that Weezer needs to put themselves back in the lime light. White is fueled by the young California surf and beach scene much like the Beach Boys and sounds like it should be blasted on a stereo by the beach from May to late September. While the album has been compared to The Beach Boys before, I find it hard to believe that original fans of The Beach Boys will enjoy White because it sounds like it strikes to appeal to a much younger audience despite the band’s growing age.
Longtime fans of Weezer may find disappointment on White though. The guitars have been toned down to make way for the synths and piano riffs. There aren’t as much crunchy alternative jams on here as much as there is radio-friendly hits. And while I wouldn’t say Weezer is trying to sell out, (despite linking up with 5 Seconds Of Summer’s producer, fuck them) I would say they are trying to achieve a much broader audience than the original die-hard and sometimes creepy fan base that they have. I experienced this first hand when I went to see them at The Maine State Pier last August with The Front Bottoms. Following an underwhelming performance by Weezer I was interested to see where the band would go from there and this was definitely not what I was expecting. There are songs on here that sound a lot like their early stuff “Do You Wanna Get High?” and “L.A. Girlz” are easy examples while there are songs that are perfect to put on full volume on your way to the beach “King of the World” and “Wind in Our Sail”.
I would not go as far to say that Weezer has returned to the glory they experienced in the 90’s. I feel like that will never happen again honestly. But it is great to see these guys start to make legitimately enjoyable music following the panned Raditude and Hurley. For the time, this album is a very enjoyable release that will accompany you all the way through summer if you let it.
When Weezer came back with 2014’s Everything Will Be Alright In The End, it brought back all the nostalgia and glory that fans remembered from classic 90’s albums like The Blue Album and Pinkerton. There was crunchy guitars along with blissful melodies along with one of my favorite album closers of all time, “The Futerscope Trilogy”. Now Weezer returns with the fourth tradition in their long line of self-titled color coordinated albums, The White Album. To which it answers the question that all fans were wondering after EWBAITE, was it a fluke? Is Weezer actually back? The short answer is yes. We have time to get into all the details and shit though.
Weezer starts this album off with a tune called “California Kids” bright and poppy, this song along with the album captures what’s on every kid in school’s mind. Summer. The excitement and nostalgia is on display as the album kicks off with the sound of waves and seagulls followed by a guitar and a chiming xylophone that make you feel like you’re truly on the beach. This album has been called Weezer’s first concept album since 1996’s Pinkerton and they truly went through some stretches to get back to their original roots and sound. Rivers Cuomo, the band’s frontman even grew back the beard he had while working on Pinkerton. An album that was garnered mixed reviews at first but has come to be known as a cult classic and one of the band’s best album. Now, while The White Album (we’ll refer to it as simply White from here on out) is definitely far from being in comparison to the brilliance behind The Blue Album and Pinkerton. But it does hold the mainstream appeal that Weezer needs to put themselves back in the lime light. White is fueled by the young California surf and beach scene much like the Beach Boys and sounds like it should be blasted on a stereo by the beach from May to late September. While the album has been compared to The Beach Boys before, I find it hard to believe that original fans of The Beach Boys will enjoy White because it sounds like it strikes to appeal to a much younger audience despite the band’s growing age.
Longtime fans of Weezer may find disappointment on White though. The guitars have been toned down to make way for the synths and piano riffs. There aren’t as much crunchy alternative jams on here as much as there is radio-friendly hits. And while I wouldn’t say Weezer is trying to sell out, (despite linking up with 5 Seconds Of Summer’s producer, fuck them) I would say they are trying to achieve a much broader audience than the original die-hard and sometimes creepy fan base that they have. I experienced this first hand when I went to see them at The Maine State Pier last August with The Front Bottoms. Following an underwhelming performance by Weezer I was interested to see where the band would go from there and this was definitely not what I was expecting. There are songs on here that sound a lot like their early stuff “Do You Wanna Get High?” and “L.A. Girlz” are easy examples while there are songs that are perfect to put on full volume on your way to the beach “King of the World” and “Wind in Our Sail”.
I would not go as far to say that Weezer has returned to the glory they experienced in the 90’s. I feel like that will never happen again honestly. But it is great to see these guys start to make legitimately enjoyable music following the panned Raditude and Hurley. For the time, this album is a very enjoyable release that will accompany you all the way through summer if you let it.