Reviews

Weezer – Weezer (The Gold Album)

The veteran LA rockers crank it up like it‘s the ’90s once again—just don’t call it a return to form.

Weezer have chosen to “return to rock” plenty of times by now, to the point that it no longer holds water. Having ranked all their albums recently, I became even more aware of how many times the veteran rockers have pulled off this ruse before. Mind you, somewhat unintentionally. It’s not like Weezer lend themselves to a sound that craves reinvention. And when they have tried, it has led to mixed results, to put it mildly.

The better question that should be asked is whether The Gold Album offers a satisfying version of themselves. Recently, the answer has been yes—but with reservations. The Weez want you to answer a resounding “Say Yes,” of course, which is an acceptable response based on the bouncy power pop opener. Each of their albums operates around some loose gimmick, and the selling point this time is that they recorded it live, with all four members playing together in the same room. Should we be impressed by something that should be commonplace? I suppose the option to call it “the Anti-Click Track Album” didn’t make it past the drafting stage.

How a band is perceived at any given moment shapes the narrative surrounding them, and this time around, they’re benefiting from a lot of goodwill. But from a performance perspective, the reality is that The Gold Album is just another good-to-great Weezer release. As far as singles go, “We Might as Well Be Strangers” has its fair share of quotable lines, making for a spirited collaboration with alt-gazers Wednesday. There’s plenty here that doesn’t necessarily pass as Weezer fan service, like on “The Show Must Go On,” where frontman Rivers Cuomo provides satisfying crunchy hooks and nothing else. There is a little bit of a resemblance to There Is Nothing Left To Lose-era Foo Fighters on the track, adding to the album’s strong attachment to nostalgia.

Ultimately, one’s appreciation for The Gold Album depends on how much one can stomach Cuomo’s purposely puerile lyrics. As far as I recall, even their 2014 LP, Everything Will Be Alright in the End, had more substance. Look, I get it. I’m just as frustrated with how technology complicates simple tasks, a concern that Cuomo and co-songwriter and drummer Patrick Wilson have on “Hoops.” Still, that doesn’t make for a compelling subject matter in the slightest. At least the heavy melodic riffs, which recall Pinkerton, are really, really good. Speaking of Wilson, he shares a good portion of the songwriting credits here. He provides a necessary jolt on tracks like “Nowhere,” reflecting on the lack of nature in urban spaces over a balance of acoustic passages and power chords. Maybe they’re both writing from the perspective of their kids, which is completely fair, but when we’re left unsure of where they stand in middle age, the lack of distinction becomes impossible to relate to.

Except that there’s probably no point in intellectualising any of The Gold Album outside of rocking hard and being a little self-aware about it. Nowhere is their candour more evident than on the precious closing track, “The LA Sound,” written by guitarist Brian Bell, which sums up their brotherhood as touring musicians who love to do the thing. There’s no denying that the Weez stick to what they do best on The Gold Album, but their insistence on returning to their musical roots feels increasingly played out.

Weezer (The Gold Album) is out now via Warner Brothers, Inc.