Weezer - Maladroit
10.05.02
BoneStormer
Artist: Weezer
Album Title: Maladroit
Date of Release: May 14, 2002


When most people think of Weezer they immediately think "Buddy Holly". And not just the 19 year-old with the thick black framed glasses who died in a plane crash with the Big Bopper and Richie Valance, but also a song by the same name Weezer used to help make themselves famous. Weezer has had a very hard time living up to Buddy Holly. Well they did fashion themselves after him. Even today Cuomo can be seen wearing similar glasses. So they have no one to blame but themselves. The fact Buddy Holly had one of the best videos ever didn't help their cause. The fact this video came bundled with Windows 95 REALLY didn't help.

After their self titled debut (now called the "blue album" much like The Beatles is known as the "white album") they followed it up with the excellent Pinkerton. In my opinion, Pinkerton is a much better overall album. One of the catchiest albums ever. Sadly though, it didn't do too well commercially. Not really Weezer's fault, but rather there was no hit single for stations to pick up. People just wanted to keep listening to Buddy Holly over and over. Plus by this time people were growing sick of anything remotely "alternative" with such crap bands like Matchbox 20 and Tonic deluting the airwaves and confusing people as to what really was alternative music. Seeing Weezer as an opening band to some bitch who will remain nameless was so sad. Weezer decided to take a break. A few of them needed to finish graduating from Harvard (stuck-up... er, nevermind). This also gave Matt Sharp (who has since left Weezer) the opportunity to play in his band The Rentals, who are a great band in their own right. However, this 4+ year off time did wonders for Weezer.

By the time Weezer got back together, they were almost as big as ever. Kind of odd for a band who hadn't released an album in ages. People had caught onto the greatness that was Pinkerton. They had gone back to the classics on the 'blue album'. They relished anything they could find from Susanne which Weezer did for Kevin Smith's MallRats to of course Mykel & Carli. Weezer's next album also untitled (now called the "green album" much like The Beatles is known as the "white album", err, wait one darn second...) was highly anticipated. Weezer was trying to reinvoke memories of their first album by having it not only untitled again, but with a very similar looking cover. In short, the "green album" ROCKED! Maybe not as great as either of Weezer's first two albums, but big deal, a damn good album is a damn good album. Especially in this day and age of NSYNC. Island in the Sun thanks to its huge success overseas has become Weezer's biggest single. In fact, it is to be included as a bonus track on their next album in many countries.

Oh yeah, this brings us to their 4th album, Maladroit. I almost forgot. Being released almost a year to the day after the 'green album', it wasn't easy for Weezer to finish. Like it seems with all bands, they had many arguments with their record label over various things from the release date to the demo versions of songs they posted on Weezer.com. But here it comes...

maladroit: (adj) unskillful; awkward; clumsy. SYN: blundering, bungling [Webster]

Named after a suggestion a fan gave on their website (and a nice suggestion at that), does Maladroit continue in the long tradition of great Weezer geek-rock albums? Well, yes and no... but mainly yes.

The album starts off with a bang with three excellent tracks: American Gigolo, Dope Nose, and Keep Fishin'. All of these continue in the great tradition of Weezer. Droning guitars, yet catchy melodies. Dope Nose might be a little too Hash Pipe-esque (in more then just name), but much like Hash Pipe, it has grown on me and I have to say I really like this song now. It really isn't all that new since I recall hearing it a while ago now, but like all good Weezer tunes, it can be very catchy. The problem I have with Maladroit is after this great start, the album starts to faulter a bit.

They get too far away from their patented droning guitar sound and dive into more guitar riffs. I think I even heard a guitar solo or two in there... It just seems too 'dark' at times. They never completely lose their sound, but this departure isn't really where I like to see Weezer headed. In some ways the demos they used to have posted on their website (but for some reason suddenly vanished...) sounded better. They had a more 'raw' feel where as Maladroit often seems over-produced. This said, the album returns to the classic Weezer feel a few tracks later, after a few happy sounding skip-to-my-lou-esque tracks (say like Burndt Jamb). Variety is the spice of life they say, so in a way this does mix it up a bit.

Weezer is one of my favorite bands. They are not a band to listen to one or two tracks on the radio and pass judgement on. Even listening to a whole album once won't work. They are a band that grows on you more and more each time you listen to them. The same is true of Maladroit. So in a way, it stays very true to Weezer's roots. After a number of listens I have found what I initially thought to be a so-so album to in fact be another excellent Weezer CD. Even the darker sounding (and hence less catchy) tracks like Take Control have grown on me. No, it's not up to the Blue Album or Pinkerton or maybe even the Green Album for that matter, but here again is a great album from Weezer. Compare it to past albums and you will feel disappointed at first. Compare it to almost anything else out there and you will quickly remember how damn good Weezer really is. A must have for fans of alternative, punk, and yes, for fans of geek rock. I just miss the last track acoustic song they added on their last two albums (hey even if not great tunes, they were at the very least nice bookends to the disc). So 13 tracks and 34 minutes later (plus 7 'mini-movies' to enjoy on your PC of live performances and a few other oddities), Weezer has done it again.

Get your CD early. Just like the Beatles did with their "white album" (hmm, there seems to be a recurring theme here), the first 600,000 copies are numbered. So you may have a collectors item.

Weezer is already working on their 5th album. I sure can't wait.


Rating: 4 (out of 5)

 

 

 
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