Weezer -- Pacific Daydream

7/10

They, or at least Rivers Cuomo, got us again. After releasing two of their best albums in decades, 2017 had fans, or at least this fan, thinking Awesome! Weezer are back, and realize they're a rock band. Now they'll never stop rocking! 

Nope. After live-band-featuring, still rocking, yet exceedingly modern pop-leaning opener, "Mexican Fender," "Beach Boys" rolls around to announce to listeners that "Mexican Fender" was just a fakeout. This ain't a rock album. It's a pop album, featuring all of the most current pop production techniques, sounds, and tones. Turns out Weezer weren't actually anywhere done with popstar aspirations. Part of me wonders if Cuomo viewed this album like, What would the Beach Boys do with late 2010's technology and sounds at their disposal? The result is a collection of 10 just fine pop songs that don't sound like anyone wants Weezer to sound. It's weird, in the original draft of this, I had a sentence here about how pop music proficiency alludes the band's grip, but...I've listened to Pacific Daydream several times since then, and I've realized, while I would prefer that the band played rock music, I can't deny they do a solid job with these songs, even though each one sounds like it was composed to soundtrack a summer beer commercial. Yes, these tracks are disposable, as pop songs are literally created to be immediately replaced, which takes away a lot of this music's longevity and replayability. The reason it's easy to come back to a rock album again and again lies in the nuances of real life performers combining their different styles and playing abilities into one piece. You can unpack each instrument, how each musician even came down on the same notes or melodies just a bit differently when those notes or melodies are repeated because the players are humans, and can't repeat absolutely identical actions like a computer does...or like the computers that made a lot of the sounds on Pacific Daydream do. Which is fine. Pacific Daydream is a solid pop album, featuring some really nice melodies and hooks, and this sentence and review initially ended with the phrase "and I'll very likely never listen to or think about it again as soon as I finish writing this review," but obviously that hasn't turned out to be true because I am listening to it right now. Hey, I think I might really like Weezer.


2017 Atlantic/Crush
1. Mexican Fender 3:09 

2. Beach Boys 3:51
3. Feels Like Summer 3:15
4. Happy Hour 2:57
5. Weekend Woman 4:05
6. QB Blitz 3:17
7. Sweet Mary 3:42
8. Get Right 3:12
9. La Mancha Screwjob 3:27
10. Any Friend of Diane's 3:34