Released: October 7, 2014
Recorded: January–July 2014
Studio: The Village, Los Angeles, California
Length: 42:24
Producer: Ric Ocasek

Sometimes you have to hit bottom before you can get back to the top. In Weezer’s case, if Hurley and Raditude were the bottom, the next two albums will represent something similar to the top. While Everything Will Be Alright In The End (EWBAITE for short from here on out) isn’t ever going to be the “best” Weezer album out there (I think the first two have those spots locked up for the long haul), you’ve gotta recognize that EWBAITE is a damn fine album and if The Blue Album and Pinkerton didn’t exist that this would be at the top or number two on Weezer’s best of list. Packed to the brim with great songs, amazing performances, and an all around feeling of great inspiration, EWBAITE is a gem that should be listened to many and recognized as a great rock record.

AIN’T GOT NOBODY

Songwriting: Great lyrics, great melody, and overall just a nice chord structure. It feels like there was inspiration behind it.
Arrangement: Nothing special, but it fully emphasizes the rock and it brings it to the masses.
Production: This song does a great job of establishing the EWBAITE sound, which is clean enough for radio yet a bit rough for the fans that want something loose.
Performance: The band is on fire on this album. It is good to have them as a fully functioning unit.
SCORE: 8

BACK TO THE SHACK

Songwriting: A great riff at the beginning that never fully takes off and instead goes into a pretty standard and boring rock song with lyrics that really only die hard fans may understand. Writing songs about your career arch and relationship with fans seems a bit weird.
Arrangement: Heavy rock emphasis.
Production: More of the EWBAITE style and it fits for the song.
Performance: I like the playing on this one, especially from Scott who really nails the low end down.
SCORE: 5

EULOGY FOR A ROCK BAND

Songwriting: OK so I just bashed the last song for being weird and referring to your career arc. This does something similar but it is unclear who the band Rivers is singing about really is. No matter what, the chords and melody of the song are so fabulous that you just focus on that. The song has a great energy.
Arrangement: Perfect. A nice mix of pop song in the chorus mixed in with some dissonant rock in the verse.
Production: Nice touches with the keyboard in the verse.
Performance: Pat’s drumming is amazing on this tune.
SCORE: 9

LONELY GIRL

Songwriting: A simple song that just brings everything to the table and is a really good listen from start to finish. Rivers writes these kinds of tunes well.
Arrangement: It starts and it never lets up. Every note in its right place.
Production: I love it. Crunchy enough to refer back to The Blue Album sound.
Performance: The “I know you’re scared” verse near the end is perfectly placed and both the guitar and Rivers’ voice sound perfect.
SCORE: 8

I’VE HAD IT UP TO HERE

Songwriting: The verse and the chorus don’t seem to match up but in the end it works. The bridge is a great example of how amazing Rivers was at writing bridges starting in this period of his life.
Arrangement: Great soft/loud pop rock dynamics. The bridge breakdown is amazing and is followed by a wonderful solo.
Production: Wonderful. I love that guitar sound in the verse.
Performance: The band is on fire on this album and this continues it.
SCORE: 8

THE BRITISH ARE COMING

Songwriting: An interesting oddity with lyrics that are not expected but work really well. The chords and guitar parts are fabulous.
Arrangement: It has a great flow to it and everything works.
Production: Weezer does a great job of blending acoustic and electric guitars here.
Performance: Solid all around
SCORE: 8

DA VINCI

Songwriting: A pretty good song that sometimes tries way too hard to be a single. You can tell Rivers was pushing for that with this one.
Arrangement: Great pop rock arrangement that is pretty typical.
Production: Sometimes the chorus sound a bit too loud for me. The outro though? Perfect. And I am glad they added the whistling to the tune.
Performance: Pretty solid.
SCORE: 8

GO AWAY

Songwriting: A simple he sings/she sings boy girl pop song. Nothing more, nothing less.
Arrangement: Simple and to the point.
Production: I really enjoy the guitar sound.
Performance: It isn’t bad and it isn’t great. It just is.
SCORE: 7

CLEOPATRA

Songwriting: A brilliant verse into a really simple yet amazing chorus with some weird time signature skipping in there. The bridge (which is in two sections) is amazing! Then you top it off with a great solo and BOOM! You have one of the best Weezer songs ever.
Arrangement: It all works from beginning to end. Don’t change a thing!
Production: Crunchy guitar mixed with acoustic guitar and some harmonica. I will take this any day of the week.
Performance: One of my favorite performances from the band. All around a winner.
SCORE: 10

FOOLISH FATHER

Songwriting: Heavy on the emotions, but this is something Rivers is great at. A great chorus to sing along to with an outro for the ages.
Arrangement: The chorus and outro work, but for some reason the intro and first verse let me down.
Production: More of the EWBAITE style of production.
Performance: A nice performance. Not the best on the album, but one that is good.
SCORE: 8

THE FUTURESCOPE TRILOGY: I: THE WASTE LAND

Songwriting: A great morose melody with some nice backing music behind it.
Arrangement: Everything fits really well. A great overall structure to the song.
Production: It takes a nice bleek turn here and I think it fits really well.
Performance: The band should really do more of these Weezer prog rock esque instrumentals. They’re pretty damn good at them.
SCORE: 8

THE FUTURESCOPE TRILOGY: II: ANONYMOUS

Songwriting: Almost like a mantra, it builds and builds and builds until it all reaches the point where it needs to explode.
Arrangement: The piano really moves it along.
Production: Every four bars builds the song and the production really helps give it an “epic” feeling.
Performance: Great playing all around.
SCORE: 8

THE FUTURESCOPE TRILOGY: III: RETURN TO ITHAKA

Songwriting: A wonderful instrumental that is epic and pretty perfect in every way.
Arrangement: Not much to talk about with an arrangement, but it works so we will leave it be.
Production: The sounds of the guitars and drums just works so well for this kind of tune.
Performance: I think the band really enjoyed playing this one. What great rock.
SCORE: 8

THE FINAL WORD

EWBAITE is a fantastic album full of great songs, great themes, and great ideas. I feel like it could be better without “Back To The Shack” and “Go Away”, but then again those are the two singles so there must be something in there. As an album this is a great one to listen to from front to back, with my only very minor complaint is that it seems like it is a bit too long (13 tracks on the album feels like a lot for Weezer) when I listen to it these days. Don’t write off post Pinkerton Weezer as a band that may have a few good songs here and there. EWBAITE proves that this band can, if they want to, make a really solid rock album. I wish they’d keep this focus in the future.

TOTAL POINTS: 103
AVERAGE SCORE: 7.92

 

 

Released: September 10, 2010
Length: 34:16
Label: Epitaph
Producer Rivers Cuomo, Shawn Everett

I have been putting this one off for long enough. To be honest with you, I haven’t wanted to write this one because there really isn’t a lot of great things to say about Hurley. I don’t want to put negativity out into the world, but with this one there is just not much else I can do. Hurley doesn’t work on a lot of levels: it feels like a badly patched together solo album, the songs are rather bland and cookie cutter, and the whole thing feels rushed. When I listen to a Weezer album, I want to hear the band performing the songs that Rivers writes. On Hurley, I’m hearing songs that Rivers wrote being performed by something that’s just not Weezer.

MEMORIES

Songwriting: The most “classic Weezer” sounding thing on here. A simple straight forward rock song. It works.
Arrangement: The band is tight on this and moves from section to section and never lets go.
Production: It’s crunchy and I like that.
Performance: Like I said above, it feels like the band played on this one together. I can dig that.
SCORE: 6

RULING ME

Songwriting: An absolutely wonderful pop rock song, but it sounds too much like a song that a band that wanted to sound like Weezer would write and perform. Weezer shouldn’t be doing that, right?
Arrangement: Classic power pop. It never lets up and that’s good. The chorus drums are great at moving the tune along.
Production: It sounds like it was made for the radio.
Performance: Here’s where we get to the “is Weezer on this song?” question. I hear elements of Rivers but I don’t hear anything from any other members. The drumming doesn’t 100% feel like Pat. It feels off.
SCORE: 6

TRAINWRECKS

Songwriting: Written with an absolute gem of a songwriter (Desmond Child), this is a great tune overall. Well paced, well written, great emotions.
Arrangement: The song chugs along just like a train. I love it.
Production: The chugging guitar and bass really work well for this song. Some of the overdubs and adornments can distract from the great tune underneath them.
Performance: Once again, who is playing on this? The bass feels like Scott, but everything else feels off.
SCORE: 6

UNSPOKEN

Songwriting: Some interesting chords that throw you off at first, but the climax of the song really works well. It feels like Rivers there.
Arrangement: Bare bones at the beginning, crunchy at the end, and the backing vocals are really great.
Production: I question the flute flourishes in the verses. They don’t really need to be there and distract the listener.
Performance: It feels like Weezer and I like that, especially on this album.
SCORE: 6

WHERE’S MY SEX?

Songwriting: You can tell something is gonna be off from the weird synthy drums at the beginning, and then you hear the lyrics. These are the worst. Great riff though in the verses.
Arrangement: The verses do a great job a using the riff to anchor the song. The chorus is great when it kicks into the second part of it. The time shift off kilter bridge is great.
Production: This song should rock harder. That riff is great. It just doesn’t get to that level.
Performance: Once again, it rocks but who is playing on it? And Rivers’ vocal performance should have been scrapped. It is embarrassing at points.
SCORE: 2 (I want to give this a higher ranking, but those lyrics destroy the tune)

RUN AWAY

Songwriting: A decent tune, but one that just doesn’t sound like a Weezer sound. Then you look at the songwriting credits and you see it was cowritten by Ryan Adams. And then you realize that its a Ryan Adams song sung by Rivers.
Arrangement: The chorus, which is usually a pick me up part of a song, just really drags here.
Production: I like it, but once again it doesn’t sound like a Weezer song and instead sounds too much like a Ryan Adams song. If I wanted to listen to him, I would listen to him.
Performance: The Ryan and Rivers show. I like my Weezer with Brian, Scott, and Pat.
SCORE: 3

HANG ON

Songwriting: The little single that never was. It has all the makings of a great single…wonderful and triumphant verses into a great chorus. But there’s just something that holds this song back.
Arrangement: Maybe the arrangement holds it back? Nah, this is good pop rock.
Production: Once you hear Michael Cera you can’t un-hear him.
Performance: It feels like a band moving in a new-ish direction. I appreciate that.
SCORE: 6

SMART GIRLS

Songwriting: The lyrics just creep me out, but the melody and the chorus are so very strong and you wanna sing along to them.
Arrangement: It is structured in such a way that makes you want to sing along.
Production: It feels like it would’ve been a great Rivers Cuomo solo song with this production.
Performance: It doesn’t feel like there’s a performance. It feels like Rivers with some loops of people playing instruments.
SCORE: 5

BRAVE NEW WORLD

Songwriting: It feels so “modern rock band on the radio” derivative. I could hear Nickelback doing this song. Why not just give it to them?
Arrangement: “Let’s rock out on the chorus just like a high school band”. It just doesn’t work. The bridge should pick it up but it just leaves it even flatter than before.
Production: The song is so bad I don’t think any kind of production could save it.
Performance: Mechanical and going through the motions. I have to force myself to listen to the whole song.
SCORE: 1

TIME FLIES

Songwriting: Written with legend Mac Davis, this song has a great tune but…(skip to production)
Arrangement: A nice little folk song structure.
Production: What is going on here? Why is everything so dirty and muddy? Is something wrong with my headphones? This just isn’t fun to listen to. I hear a good song destroyed by a production choice.
Performance: The production just destroyed this song for me.
SCORE: 4

THE FINAL WORD

I just can’t get through this album unless I force myself to get through this album. Rivers writes great songs, but the songs on this one just ain’t that great. Some of them are decent but a bunch of decent songs don’t add up to make a good album. I love Weezer as a four piece band making great music. On some records you can just hear Rivers directing everything and it not really being a band effort. That is the most apparent with this album. Hurley may have been looked upon as an interesting oddity if it wasn’t a Weezer album but instead a one off Rivers Cuomo solo album. But here, as the 8th Weezer album, it just stands out as a really bad album.

TOTAL POINTS: 45
AVERAGE SCORE: 4.50

Released November 3, 2009
Recorded November 2008 – January 2009 & Summer 2009
Length 34:34
Label DGC, Interscope, Geffen
Producer Dr. Luke, Jacknife Lee, Polow da Don, Butch Walker, Rivers Cuomo

This is the moment where, as a long time Weezer fan, I started to back away from my undying devotion to Rivers Cuomo and his songs. Rivers made some questionable choices on this album: leaving certain songs off the album (a trend that started with The Red Album), stopping work with producer Jacknife Lee, and more or less putting an album together that is really just a hodgepodge of ideas. I find myself wishing I could hear more of the recording sessions with Jacknife Lee (and you can if you get the bonus edition of the album) and wishing that someone stepped in here to help Rivers craft a really good Weezer album and also a really interesting solo album.

IF YOU’RE WONDERING IF I WANT YOU TO (I WANT YOU TO)

Songwriting: A great pop song, but at the same time I don’t know if it is really a song Weezer should have done. Would’ve been great on a Rivers Cuomo solo album.
Arrangement: Very pop rock, very Weezer verse chorus verse chorus bridge.
Production: The acoustic guitar rings out in this song
Performance: A wonderful bass line by Scott and a galloping drum beat by Pat.
SCORE: 6

I’M YOUR DADDY

Songwriting: At this point, Rivers was 39 years old when he wrote this song. I’m 37 at the moment of this writing and I’m just gonna go on record and say that writing a song called “I’m Your Daddy” in your 30’s should just be illegal. If you can look past the lyrics, the bridge is pretty good.
Arrangement: Standard pop rock stuff. Nothing special here.
Production: I really appreciate the guitar sound in the verses.
Performance: Rivers and who? I don’t hear a lot of Weezer on this track. Feels like Rivers and a band of people.
SCORE: 5

THE GIRL GOT HOT

Songwriting: A good boot stompin’ pop rock song. I feel like you can never go wrong with a groove like this.
Arrangement: Pretty standard stuff here. The bridge/solo part is really great.
Production: Good stuff to emphasize the boot stompin’ groove.
Performance: A great performance on this one.
SCORE: 7

CAN’T STOP PARTYING

Songwriting: I guess it’s an ok song, but it just doesn’t feel like a song Weezer should be doing. At this point in Rivers’ career, I’m thinking he should’ve started up a solo project for songs like this.
Arrangement: I mean I guess it’s fine. I don’t know. At this point this new direction is just tiring me out.
Production: It sounds like something that should be on the radio.
Performance: It works, but it doesn’t move me.
SCORE: 5

PUT ME BACK TOGETHER

Songwriting: A tired attempt at a pop rock song. Sure, it has you singing along but the minute it is over it is out of your head
Arrangement: More basic stuff, and at this point it is really just very tiring.
Production: Designed to make you tap your feet and hum the melody.
Performance: The band goes through the motions on this one.
SCORE: 4

TRIPPIN’ DOWN THE FREEWAY

Songwriting: Bizarre lyrics, a great melody, and a killer chorus. Rivers does pop rock right on this one. I wish he would’ve done more like this.
Arrangement: Basic stuff once again, but you don’t notice how basic it is because the song is so good.
Production: Great little touches from the background vocals really give this song a personality.
Performance: You can hear the band being excited about this one and that is what you want.
SCORE: 10

LOVE IS THE ANSWER

Songwriting: A really wonderful pop song at the core. Great verses and chorus.
Arrangement: The song flows nicely.
Production: The production takes this song down a notch. There’s so much going on in this version of the song that it is distracting. And forgive me for saying this, but it just isn’t a Weezer production. Other versions of this song are much better. For starters, hunt down the (gasp!) Sugar Ray version of this song. It is, in my opinion, the definitive version.
Performance: Rivers and some studio musicians. Not Weezer.
SCORE: 7

LET IT ALL HANG OUT

Songwriting: In one ear and out the other. Designed to hook you but it never does.
Arrangement: So basic that it hurts.
Production: Why does this song sound louder than the rest of the album? It just make me want to skip it even more.
Performance: Cookie cutter rock band production.
SCORE: 2

IN THE MALL

Songwriting: A song by Patrick Wilson. Not one of his best, but compared to some other songs on this album it stands out.
Arrangement: The middle bridge/breakdown section is interesting but overall is lacking something.
Production: It emphasizes the rock, and that seems to be Pat’s thing.
Performance: The band seems to be into it more than most of the songs on this album.
SCORE: 5

I DON’T WANT TO LET YOU GO

Songwriting: A great song that marries classic the 50’s pop sound with some Weezer touches. The song feels good to listen to.
Arrangement: Very basic, but it is good for this song as it allows that brilliant melody to shine.
Production: Sometimes I wonder if it is too much, but for some reason it works for the song.
Performance: Feels a bit like Rivers and the occasional flourish from a band member.
SCORE: 8

THE FINAL WORD

Raditude is a really weird moment. I think there should’ve been a split in the band at this point. Rivers should have given part of his energy to putting together really good Weezer albums here and there and then given the other part of his energy to writing pop songs with others that would either be recorded by other artists or put on a Rivers Cuomo solo album. Raditude changed Weezer forever and probably not for the better. I hear less of the band on this album and to me that’s not a great thing.

TOTAL POINTS: 57
AVERAGE SCORE: 5.70

Released: May 10, 2005
Recorded: December 2003 – February 2005
Studios: Cello Studios, Grandmaster Recorders, Henson Studios, and Rick Rubin’s home studio
Length: 45:09
Label: DGC/Geffen
Producer Rick Rubin

After the one-two punch of The Green Album (2001) and Maladroit (2002), Weezer fans were expecting another album to come quickly in 2003. Up to that point, the band had been on fire with new songs and music. The second part of their career was off to a great start. However, fans would have to wait three years for Make Believe, the fifth Weezer album. Upon its release, the album was met with criticism, the most notable being from Pitchfork. That review seems to have shaped a lot of the public perception about the album, but twelve years later upon listening to the album again I am finding it to be a lot different than I thought.

BEVERLY HILLS

Songwriting: Boom, Boom, Chop! Boom, Boom, Chop! That’s the rhythm, and it is sure different for Weezer. The lyrics seem to show a different version of Rivers, one that back in 2005 was a bit jarring.
Arrangement: A standard pop song with a great structure and flow.
Production: The entire Make Believe sound is clean, but at the same time it is a welcome sound. There’s nothing here too jarring and everything is pretty pleasant.
Performance: They sound like a band, and any time Weezer sounds like a band it is a good thing.
SCORE: 6

PERFECT SITUATION

Songwriting: A true pop gem, it has a strong wordless chorus, great verses, and a really wonderful bridge.
Arrangement: It starts with a guitar solo! How great is that?
Production: Very standard rock band stuff, but at the same time this feels like what Weezer 2.0 should sound like.
Performance: The band performs the hell out of this one.
SCORE: 8

THIS IS SUCH A PITY

Songwriting: Some lyrics make you scratch your head, but the overall product is good. When the chorus kicks in you don’t care. You just really enjoy it.
Arrangement: Some great parts played by the band here. I especially like the guitars.
Production: This doesn’t really sound like the Weezer that at this point knew of, but the expansion of their sound on this one is welcome.
Performance: Great overall performance by the band. A steady gallop with some great playing.
SCORE: 8

HOLD ME

Songwriting: Almost like a lullaby, this song can really catch your ear. The chorus is triumphant, but to me those verses are the things that grab me every time.
Arrangement: Great bass lines from Scott Shriner really move this song along. This is some of his best playing in Weezer.
Production: The production lets the song breathe and the melody soar.
Performance: Another great performance by the band, specially Scott.
SCORE: 7

PEACE

Songwriting: A very simple song, but the music really lets the emotional message of the song speak out. Great chorus and wordless second chorus.
Arrangement: The simple addition of the acoustic guitar really moves the song along. It wouldn’t be as great if it wasn’t for that.
Production: Basic and laid back to let the emotions in the song power everything.
Performance: It amazes me, listening to this 12 years after it was released, how fresh this feels. The performance of the band keeps it this way.
SCORE: 8

WE ARE ALL ON DRUGS

Songwriting: A pretty great intro followed by boring verses and an even more cringeworthy chorus. Does Rivers have to put one song on each of these new albums that is just really, really not that good?
Arrangement: The song does rock, but that doesn’t really make up for the fact that it is terrible.
Production: Great guitar tone.
Performance: Pat is a fantastic drummer!
SCORE: 2

THE DAMAGE IN YOUR HEART

Songwriting: This is a perfect example of Rivers at his Make Believe era best. Songs that are emotional yet restrained. It’s almost like he took up meditation or something (he did).
Arrangement: A wonderful and simple arrangement lets the emotions of the song out.
Production: The guitars are simple and beautiful. The addition of what sounds like some strings in the background really help the song move along.
Performance: Like all good Weezer songs, you can tell when the band enjoys the song because they play it really well.
SCORE: 8

PARDON ME

Songwriting: The intro builds something up but….it just never really comes through. You hear Rivers really laying it all on the line emotionally here but something just feels off.
Arrangement: The piano driven verses are pretty wonderful. The chorus, which is meant to be big and loud, just kind of lets the listener down.
Production: The chorus could have used something else. It just feels flat.
Performance: I don’t feel much from this one.
SCORE: 5

MY BEST FRIEND

Songwriting: “The Rocker” songs from Green and Maladroit fell flat, and here we are with the second rocker on this album. Guess what? It falls flat too.
Arrangement: It is like they are zipping through the song and repeating the structure over and over again.
Production: I read somewhere that this one was going be on a soundtrack for one of the Shrek films. This production sounds like it.
Performance: Weezer, you can do better with rock songs.
SCORE: 3

THE OTHER WAY

Songwriting: This kind of songwriting marries Pinkerton era raw lyrics with Weezer 2.0 songwriting experiment  lyrics and structure. I like this!
Arrangement: Every instrument and part feels perfectly performed and where it needs to be.
Production: Once again, the acoustic guitar comes along to really move the song along. Great addition.
Performance: The band enjoying a great song. Is that a saxophone I hear in the solo section? I hope so.
SCORE: 8

FREAK ME OUT

Songwriting: The lyrics might be a bit strange, but the song is just really well written and, combined with a great production, it makes it a song that you can’t forget.
Arrangement: Amazing. Every move made in this song serves the song.
Production: The harmonic guitars are perfect, the drums are simple and amazing, and Scott lays the bass end down. Perfect.
Performance: The performance fits the song, and every performance that fits the song makes the song go to high levels
SCORE: 8

HAUNT YOU EVERY DAY

Songwriting: I read somewhere that Rick Rubin instructed Rivers to write a song on piano and this came out, and that when Rick Rubin did this same thing with Tom Petty the song that came out of that was “It’s Good To Be King”.  This must be a great exercise for songwriters.
Arrangement: The outro does go on a bit too long, but the rest of the song is great. The lead up to the second chorus is a great moment on the album.
Production: Another shining example of Make Believe era Weezer.
Performance: A solid performance from all band members. Scott’s simple bass line really holds the song down.
SCORE: 8

THE FINAL WORD

Make Believe did not deserve the negative reviews it got back in 2005. This album has at least 7 really good songs on it, two that could go either way, and two duds. That’s not bad at all. I think people were mostly shocked to hear “Beverly Hills” and that they were just waiting for something that was like that song so they could tear Weezer 2.0 apart. Sadly, Make Believe was the album where that happened, but it did not deserve it. Give it another listen with some fresh ears. It’s actually really good.

TOTAL POINTS: 79
AVERAGE SCORE: 6.58

Released: May 14, 2002
Recorded: December 2001 – January 2002
Studio: Cello Studios, Los Angeles, California
Length: 33:43
Label: Geffen
Producer: Weezer

Coming just one year after The Green Album, Maladroit came as a shock after having such a long dry spell after the release of Pinkerton. But here we are once again with a Weezer album full of firsts: first album with more than ten songs, first album with the band experimenting with some new styles, and first album with bassist Scott Shriner. A fine album with some great moments, Maladroit stands out as the weirdest release of the Weezer catalog. The songs that are great are still great. The production feels a bit outdated at this point, and I’d love if someone gave this album a remix.

AMERICAN GIGOLO

Songwriting: Now this is a songwriting experiment. I can’t fully wrap my head around what’s going on here. At least there’s a crunch to it.
Arrangement: The return of the Weezer guitar solo!
Production: That snare drum sound just doesn’t work for me and that’s a bummer because Pat is a monster on drums with this song.
Performance: I hear so much more of the band on this recording than I did at any point on The Green Album. I welcome this.
SCORE: 5

DOPE NOSE

Songwriting: A gem from the batch of songs we got right before The Green Album (now known as the Summer 2000 Songs). We have some clear and concise pop rock songwriting here.
Arrangement: It works! There is not much going on here but the rock! Give me some more guitar solo please, it feels like it has been too long!
Production: It has the radio friendly sheen of the rest of the album, but for some reason it works here.
Performance: Amazing things happen when a band comes together and you can hear all of the individual voices and contributions of the band members.
SCORE: 8

KEEP FISHIN’

Songwriting: More of Rivers finding his new groove as a songwriter, and a bit of experimentation thrown out here and there. The killer time shift in the middle makes it!
Arrangement: (PS we are talking about radio version aka the remake here). Great intro, great guitars, great overall vibe. The hit single that should’ve been!
Production: The radio version destroys the original album recording, giving the song a chance to finally realize its full potential.
Performance: Weezer brings the rock.
SCORE: 8

TAKE CONTROL

Songwriting: An interesting jam that would have sounded perfectly in TOP GUN back in the 80’s. I am excited that Rivers is incorporating some riff based writing into his style.
Arrangement: It works!
Production: A little too glossy for my tastes. I think this song would have been better with a little roughness around the edges. The BBC demo version is far superior in terms of vibe and recording.
Performance: Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock. I will take this after the muted Green Album.
SCORE: 7

DEATH AND DESTRUCTION

Songwriting: OK! What an interesting moment from Rivers. Just one year before this he had perfected the pop rock structure in its most basic form. This stretches it way beyond. I did not expect this a year after the Green Album.
Arrangement: Oh, just overall such good stuff. The song flows, and when a song flows you get something great.
Production: A little clean, but I can overlook this because the song is so great.
Performance: The little things, the tiny contributions from the band, matter most. You get a great performance on this one. And that solo!
SCORE: 8

SLOB

Songwriting: Another leftover from the Summer 2000 Songs, the writing is very indicative of what Rivers was doing at that time mixed with some Pinkerton-esque emotion. The results are mixed.
Arrangement: The introduction is a great part of the song and overall you have a piece of music that fits well together.
Production: It may be because I am so used to the Summer 2000 Songs version, but this one just sounds too clean for a song called “Slob”.
Performance: The band never failed to do this one well.
SCORE: 6

BURNDT JAMB

Songwriting: Another WOW moment…what’s this? I feel Phish groove vibes on this mixed with some balls to the wall rock. I can dig this!
Arrangement: Mixing some laid back verses with some instrumental rock chorus. I love this experimentation.
Production: It sounds like how I think most of Maladroit should sound.
Performance: I’ll say it time and time again…the band as a four headed monster is Weezer at its best with performances. Keep this up guys.
SCORE: 8

SPACE ROCK

Songwriting: Another weird burst from Rivers. Short and sweet and to the point. It brings you the rock in under two minutes. The song isn’t amazingly special, but I still enjoy it on every listen a little bit more.
Arrangement: Crank it to ten and push it out and never look back. That is what the band sounds like they are doing here. Sometimes you just have to do it and move ahead.
Production: Just like the previous song…It sounds like how I think most of Maladroit should sound.
Performance: ROCK!
SCORE: 8

SLAVE

Songwriting: An interesting moment on the album. This song could have been a standout on The Green Album but here it just feels a bit tired and boring. Is this Rivers reaching out for a potential radio hit during the Maladroit era? Sounds like it to me.
Arrangement: From the introduction, everything about this song just sounds a bit forced. I’m not into this.
Production: Basic and I can get behind that.
Performance: The first moment on this album where I feel like the band is going through the motions for a song. I don’t hear the band being too passionate about this one.
SCORE: 5

FALL TOGETHER

Songwriting: More riff based Rivers writing, and there’s a part of me that wonders if the stuff Weezer was working on in 1998 would have sounded like this. I dig it.
Arrangement: Great focus around the riff. This is great because the riff is killer
Production: Full on rock. Pat’s drums sound huge. This is the way he’s meant to sound.
Performance: The band is together on this one. You can tell they love that riff.
SCORE: 7

POSSIBILITIES

Songwriting: The “Knock-Down Drag-Out” of the album. Basic and boring rock song writing. I’ll pass.
Arrangement: There’s nothing here. It’s like the song just wants to keep hitting you over the head until it ends. Stop it.
Production: A typical Maladroit sound. It fits the song.
Performance: I don’t really have a good read on this. It’s like they bashed it out and moved on.
SCORE: 3

LOVE EXPLOSION

Songwriting: A wonderful pop rock song that suffers from one thing…too much thought from the writer. The original version of this song, known as “Do You Want Me To Stay” is far superior. Listen to that here.
Arrangement: Verse Pre-Chorus Chorus Verse Verse Pre-Chorus Chorus Solo Pre-Chorus. I can get behind something like that in this situation.
Production: A little too much gloss. Rivers’ vocals sound fake.
Performance: The band sounded more energized back when it was “Do You Want Me To Stay”.
SCORE: 6

DECEMBER

Songwriting: Another interesting addition. Rivers pulls from 50’s era influences here and it makes a great song….but something’s off.
Arrangement: The introduction into the first verse doesn’t need to be there and that throws off the rest of the song. Also, it’s just performed way too fast.
Production: Go back to the demo the band recorded in DC to hear the best version of this song. It needs to be laid back just like this. The Maladroit version is way too frantic.
Performance: Is Rivers telling the band to perform this one super fast and the guys are like “wait, remember when this was laid back?” Sounds like it to me.
SCORE: 5

THE FINAL WORD

 

As a Weezer fan who went through “the lean years” between Pinkerton and The Green Album, I appreciate the band at this moment in their career for pumping out new music at a speedy rate. At the same time, Rivers could have used an editor at this point in their career (a common occurrence you will see when we get to future albums as well). With the magic of iTunes and Spotify, you too can make your own version of Maladroit, and in my experiments the album works really well when it is a ten song album with some alternate takes tossed in there instead of what we got in the finished product. Nonetheless, the album still has some great moments that are highly listenable to this day.

TOTAL POINTS: 84
AVERAGE SCORE: 6.46

6.46