(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To turn back the clock to the summer of 1994, and remember what it was like to have Weezer blaring on the car stereo, sticking your head out the window, and your friends in the backseat mooning the other cars on the highway. The magic formula of geek pop rock might be back with Raditude, their seventh album. But it is fifteen years later and Rivers Cuomo and his band mates are still singing about teenage angst and hanging out at the mall. So it’s a bit hard to swallow if you actually stand back and think about where the music is coming from, ‘bizarro’ Cuomo bordering on 40 who according to NME likes to pick up barely-legal cyber chicks. If you can put that aside, I’m Your Daddy parents fuzz guitars, Tripping Down the Freeway skips along to a “stick together” hook, and Let It All Hang Out sweeps the weekday worries under the rug. It may not have been the chosen single, but The Girl Got Hot is a catchy high school special dishing the truth of the matter; some people sadly peak at high school and others reach their zenith later in life. Basically, don’t overlook the nerd, the goth, the ultra shy, and the minger because “Oh my goodness me… Look at what we got, The girl got hot.” On the album roster, Put Me Back Together babysits the torment of a Humpty Dumpty breakup as Cuomo strains his vox and lastly, the honorable mention goes to Can’t Stop Partying, fastened with a wheezy jumping up and down tune featuring Lil Wayne. None of the tracks are Buddy Holly worthy, but mainstream music should be happy enough with this album. Maybe the band should have named the album Weezer again. It worked in 1994 and 2000, and maybe that’s the missing component.
Key Tracks: The Girl Got Hot, Tripping Down the Freeway, I’m Your Daddy, Put Me Back Together
Moods: Lively, Rollicking, Irreverent, Humorous, Fun, Playful
Buy: Raditude
related
- Eight not a Lucky Number for Geffen as Weezer go indie
- Rivers Cuomo Reveals Planned Katy Perry Team-Up… and Other Weezer Related News
- Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo Healthy, Working on Song for Shrek Soundtrack
