WEEZER – HURLEY

WEEZER – HURLEY

Every genius needs to be flawed, and Rivers Cuomo has certainly frustrated his fans over the years, most recently with the perception that he has bowed to major label commercial pressures. So a new release on credible hardcore label Epitaph brings hope for long-time Weezer fans. The title of the album, Hurley, gives further rise that Cuomo has returned to his nerdy pop culture roots; as a homage to the Lost character – complete with his face on the album cover – is pure “revenge of the nerds”. The album opens with Memories, the best fuzz pop song this side of Dream Police, big guitars, big synths and even bigger melodies (all that’s missing is the big hair). Indeed it is a wonderful contrary ode to what is was like to be in Weezer in ‘the early days’, or as Rivers puts it “When Audio Slave were Rage”. But there it stalls. The arrangements are predictable (more Green Day than Cheap Trick) which has always been forgivable when Rivers gets the lyrics right, but lines like “We met in the lunch room / My ocular nerve went pop zoom ” and “I can’t go out without my sex / It’s cold outside and my toes get wet” don’t help redeem matters.

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