Weezer: Raditude

Weezer's seventh studio album, Raditude, is a return to form for a band, which in many circles was deemed to be struggling creatively. Last year's The Red Album was a slight disappointment and overall seemed very immature for a band whose members all are in their forties. Thankfully, Raditude is different and offers some heavy experimentation on a few tracks. The first single off the album is "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To" and it is catchy as hell. It has a classic Weezer hook, but delivers a much more folksy vibe with an acoustic guitar strumming throughout. The song is pretty powerful and a solid first single to introduce the album. The track "Can't Stop Partying" is perhaps the most experimental and best song on Raditude. It was written by hip hop producer Jermaine Dupri and even features Lil' Wayne for a line I never thought I would hear "Weezer and it's Weezy, upside down MTV." It is a guaranteed hit and will probably be playing at every dance club across the U.S. this winter. The rest of the album is pretty much standard Weezer with the exception of the song "Love is the Answer," which features bits from an Indian band. It is a very interesting and mellow song showing Weezer's range in mixing with other musical cultures. The song embodies what the band is trying to do on this album and is a practice in discovering new types of sound. Most of Weezer's fame comes from songs like "Island in the Sun" and "Say it Ain't So," which are emotionally driven songs. Raditude's best attempt at replicating this is with the track "Put Me Back Together." The song was written with The All American Rejects and could easily be on any of their albums. Its chorus has been stuck in my head for days: "Here its clear that I am not getting better. When I fall down you put me back together." The track is very similar to the type of sound featured on 2001's The Green Album. I see this song playing over the credits of multiple TV shows in the coming months. The weakest track on the album is "In the Mall," which frankly is just a really stupid song. It seems like it was written by a fifth grader and is about general mall hijinks. I really do not understand how it made it onto the final cut of the album. As a huge Weezer fan I personally find the song to be one of the worst they have ever produced. Raditude is packaged in both standard and deluxe editions. The deluxe edition includes four extra songs all of which are pretty good. "The Prettiest Girl in the Whole Wide World" was featured on Rivers Cuomo's solo album Alone, but has been revamped and re-polished for Raditude. Another notable song on this deluxe edition is "The Underdogs," a slow jam about being beaten down by the world. If you have the extra cash I would say buy the deluxe edition because the songs are definitely worth it. Overall this is a great album and a nice addition to Weezer's catalogue. It offers everything you could possibly want from this band and more. Hopefully this album will be the revival Weezer has been looking for and help people remember how great this band is.

Grade A-