Weezer – Raditude

 Geffen Records, Released November 3, 2009

 4 out of 5 stars

Long gone are the days when Weezer crafted the emo masterpiece Pinkerton .  Weezer’s albums of the 21^st century have had a stronger tendency to be overly silly assortments of powerpop arrangements and tongue-in-cheek humor.  2005’s Make Believe , which spawned the hit “Beverly Hills,” took a shallow turn for the band and resulted in the band’s worst album ever.  Their 2008 return, The Red Album , shined with the fun-loving pop and hilarious lyrics of previous efforts along with furthering the band’s sonic palette (such as singer Rivers Cuomo sometimes rapping).

Weezer have quickly returned with their seventh album, Raditude . As can be assumed from the crazy title (which was suggested to the band by actor Rainn Wilson), Weezer are probably having more fun here than they have had in their entire career.  Each of the album’s ten songs is straight-up goofy, and most of them are also pop gold.  One of the album’s strongest tunes, “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To,” starts the album off with a bang, similar to the recent hit “Pork and Beans” but possibly even better.

This song and another, “The Girl Got Hot,” were both co-written and produced by Butch Walker, one of the greatest assets to the album.  Those two songs are absolutely great, the latter being about a childhood friend who became extremely attractive in adulthood and sang with plenty of spot-on puns and jokes.  But the album had many different producers and collaborators, which led to many different sounds.  “Can’t Stop Partying,” for example, features Lil’ Wayne and is a completely serious and successful attempt at a hip hop song.  “Put Me Back Together,” an endearing love song juxtaposed with driving guitars was written with The All-American Rejects.  The last song, “I Don’t Want to Let You Go,” is a beautiful song with great harmonies, and yet the overall sound is slightly derivative and parts sound like an Americana version of Hoobastank’s “The Reason.”

After one listen, this album sounded liked a complete joke.  Every song seems like a gag.  Some critics such as BBC Music hate this album, and I’m sure they and others will see this album as a failing attempt of old men trying to be hip and funny kids playing mainstream music.  But more attentive listens reveal that Cuomo & Co. are crafting pop tunes stronger than ever and are able to make fun of their adulthood in ways that are also a lot of fun for the rest of us.