Rating: 2.5/5 stars
Weezer, best known for songs like “Buddy Holly” and “Undone – Sweater Song” from their 1994 self-titled album, “Weezer,” and “Beverly Hills” from their 2005 album, “Make Believe,” began to resurface in 2016 after releasing “Weezer (White Album)” and touring with Fueled by Ramen’s Panic! At the Disco on their summer 2016 tour. Now, before the release of well-anticipated “Weezer (Black Album),” which is expected to drop sometime within the next year, the band has released “Pacific Daydream,” their 11th studio album.
Given the album’s title, “Pacific Daydream,” one can only assume it will be California Central, much like their previous album “Weezer (White Album).” With the distinctive vocals of Rivers Cuomo, and the famous guitar riffs and solos that shine so brightly from classics from “Beverly Hills,” the album appears to drop the ball despite the somewhat promising opener, “Mexican Fender.”
“Climbing up the tower / Just a boy and his computer,” Weezer’s “Feels Like Summer” is one of the only tracks that displays some actual promise and follows through with it. The song features a repetitive and pop-centered chorus, one that the experimental music fanbase of Weezer would detest. In contrast, the commercial mind of Weezer stays radio friendly and manufactures near-hollow tracks that the California like-mindedness of current media would devour as a little-too-late summer hit. With predominantly present rock beats and abstract conversational vocals playing in the backdrop of the track, “Feels Like Summer” is a track that with be caught in listeners’ heads.
Much like “Feels Like Summer,” “Any Friend of Diane’s” is a catchy tune that seems to be lulling through the motions with lyrics like, “Home is where the heart is / Any friend of Diane’s is a friend of mine.” With a bouncing strum to commence the song, it starts to unfortunately fall short as it seems to fade and become mundane, which even a rare guitar solo cannot manage to save.
“Beach Boys,” a lazily named track, simply sums up the band’s attempt to wind back the clock and seem utterly relatable to anyone who may have ever set foot in the Golden State. “Let me tell you about a band I loved / When I was a west-side kid, mmm / Turn it up / It’s the Beach Boys.” Although the band was greatly influenced by the Beach Boys, especially on their “Weezer” debut album, the band appears to take an almost pitiful copycat turn in “Pacific Daydream.”
Devoid of the band’s riffs, the album lacks authenticity and even manages to reduce what should be a power ballad to just a dwindling and sad excuse for a ballad with some “Star Wars” references in the track “QB Blitz.” “I don’t hang out enough / Take drugs and learn to love,” referencing relationships that revolve solely around drugs, much like past songs “O Girlfriend” and “Do You Wanna Get High?” from the “Green Album” and “White Album,” respectively.
“Pacific Daydream,” unfortunately, is a repetitive and dull album quickly released by the band that falls tremendously short compared to their other work. Although some fans of Weezer will be pleased with its commercially up-to-date pop sound, Weezer, and Rivers Cuomo more so, needs to come to terms with the idea that the world does not need another Californian West Coast band to add to its already long list.
Photo: David Lee ( https://goo.gl/2gz1LR) via flickr
