These Are the Songs I Keep Singing: Weezer’s Albums Ranked

Posted on July 27, 2011 by bgibs122

Because of the internet, music geeks have finally stopped pestering friends about shit no one cares about, and have started talking to each other about shit no one cares about. But one thing that is still up for debate is exactly how good/bad Weezer’s albums are in relation to each other. You could ask 5 Weezer fans to rank the band’s albums, and you’d get back 6 completely different lists. So I thought I’d make a list because I’m a longtime fan, and definitely not because I rated Selena Gomez higher than Bon Iver earlier this month and need to buy back credit wholesale. Let’s begin!

 8. Maladroit (2002)
Everyone has a least favorite Weezer album, and mine’s Maladroit. While other Weezer albums fell apart due to failed experimentation or for being too singular, Maladroit is pretty unfocused and not sure of what it wants to be. Weezer works best when all of their sensibilities are at least fairly even, but this album gives their heavy metal side way too much attention. And it makes me sad that I had to rank this album last, since it has two of my favorite Weezer songs on it (“Keep Fishin'” and “Burndt Jamb”), but it’s fair. Maladroit might have the band’s most technical playing, but the elements don’t come together right, and it’s all buried in bad production.

 7. Weezer (The Red Album) (2008)
Much like our previous entry, Red is a mess, but it was designed that way. Red has gained a reputation for being something of a failed experiment; the other members wrote and sang songs, and everyone switched their instruments occasionally. The good-bad song ratio is a little more forgiving; “Pork and Beans” is vintage Weezer, and they may be different, but “The Greatest Man That Ever Lived” and “The Angel and The One” are still good songs. But the album falls apart in the middle, and the good songs are nowhere near the band’s best, and the worst songs are just bland. With a bit more focus, Red could have been better, but as it is, it’s a mixed bag.

 6. Make Believe (2005)
Ah, Make Believe, possibly the most infamous release Weezer’s ever had. Even nowadays, Make Believe gets trashed for being the first black mark against the band; I know fans who still consider “Beverly Hills” to be a personal affront. Between the glossy production and the occasionally hammy lyrics, Make Believe also felt really of its time, fitting Weezer in with the pop punk and budding “emo” scene. But despite that, it’s still a fairly well made album that tried a few things differently; the ballady “Perfect Situation” is still a good song, and “Freak Me Out” is bizarre, but pretty. Not my favorite Weezer album, but it deserves a second look.

 5. Raditude (2009)
I can’t believe I’ve actually put Raditude this high.

But I played around with its placing, and the fifth rank just seems to click. Yeah, Raditude‘s got a painful clean production, and it has more dumb silliness than a 14 year old jacked up on Mountain Dew, but when you take it for what it is, it’s a surprisingly decent record. Aside from “Can’t Stop Partying” and “Love Is the Answer”, Raditude has a consistency not seen in Weezer’s lesser albums. The album finds Weezer running wild on power pop, and lead single “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To” is one of their top 5 post-Pinkerton songs. Not exactly underrated, but damn.

 4. Hurley (2010)
By the time 2010 rolled around, Weezer seemed to finally feel free. They were finally out of their major label contract, and Red and Raditude probably shed them of any fans who still clung to Pinkerton. Perhaps that’s why they made Hurley, their most freewheeling record in years. Hurley keeps Raditude‘s crazy energy, but is much rougher and louder. When this album’s hits, it knocks the ball out of the park; “Ruling Me” and “Smart Girls” are complete vintage zany Weezer, and “Unspoken” has a bitterness not seen since Pinkerton. Hurley works as a summary of what 00’s Weezer was about, and only suffers from some slightly uneven songwriting, otherwise it would switch places with…

 3. Weezer (Green) (2001)
Coming back from the anxiety and depression of post-Pinkerton life, Weezer set controls for power pop and didn’t look back. I talked about Raditude being consistent, but it’s got nothing on Green; with 10 songs in less than half an hour, there’s not an ounce of fat on this album. Even ten years (holy shit) later, these songs still sound rejuvenating and fresh. The harmonies, the melodies, the music…Green is perhaps Weezer’s most underrated record, and of course “Island in the Sun” and “Hash Pipe” don’t hurt, either.

 2. Weezer (The Blue Album) (1994)
Ten seconds into debut album opener “My Name Is Jonas”, and you know this band deserved to go places. Weezer’s debut album left a huge impact on alternative rock; geeks could make up major bands, guitar solos were still cool, and fun was allowed back in a scene saturated in stone-faced grungies. Any band in the past 17 years that’s tried to get by on quirk owes their lives to this record.

And that’s not even touching the songs. These songs manage to sound like perfectly self-contained power pop and massive stadium shakers at the same time. The shout-along chorus of “Say It Ain’t So” is among the best of them, and opener “My Name Is Jonas” kicks expectations skyward. “Buddy Holly” is untouchable, and “Only In Dreams” manages to be heartbreaking and triumphant all at once. A classic. So what can top that?

 1. Pinkerton (1996)
Pinkerton, as well as Weezer (The Blue Album) has gone down as one of the best albums of the 90’s. So what makes Pinkerton, to me, the better album? I love cathartic music. I love music that connects when someone is putting it all on the line. The songs on Blue have an emotional capacity, but none of them feel as isolated as “Across the Sea”, or as depressed yet exuberant as “The Good Life”. And then there’s tunes like “El Scorcho” and “Falling For You” that prove Pinkerton can have bright spots, too.

Of course, this would fall apart if the music wasn’t as great as it is. Distorted and raw beyond belief, part of Pinkerton‘s catharsis comes from how up close it sounds; there’s no polish at all on this album, and the band sounds like they could be playing in the next room. Factor in catchy riffs, great melodies, and solid musicianship, and you can’t top it. So there it is, Pinkerton: in my opinion, the best Weezer album.

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Album Review: Lil Wayne – Sorry 4 The Wait (mixtape)

Posted on July 22, 2011 by bgibs122

Welcome back to Ranting About Music’s unofficial Wheezy Week.

No, this guy.

Yep, more Lil Wayne. With his highly anticipated 9th solo album Tha Carter IV delayed (again), Wayne dropped this mixtape for free as his way of saying…well, it’s there in the title. Albums get delayed all the time, but such a prolific rapper making a mixtape apologizing about his album delay feels unsettling. And by substituting the mixtape with the album, you’re also implicitly putting more hype on both.

And hype is the last thing that Sorry 4 The Wait needs. Kicking off with “Tunechi’s Back” (a play on “Tupac’s Back”), the mixtape is off to a shakey start; Wheezy’s flow never really clicks, and his voice on the track is a wreck, too. His lines aren’t bad, but nothing we haven’t heard before; Wheezy’s going after haters, gets women, etc. At this point it’s bordering self-parody; there’s no way in 2011 that a line like “Fuck bitches, get money, mission complete” is going to sound anything other than cartoony.

Sorry 4 The Wait is freestyle heavy with eight out of twelve songs consisting of what Lil Wayne (and fellow Young Money members Gudda Gudda and Lil B) can spew out on top of other rapper’s beats. This can occasionally be entertaining; YouTube hit “Gucci Gucci” already had Lil Wayne’s manic, bizarre energy to it, and his bedroom brag on “Marvin’s Room” is a nice reversal on the original. The main problem with all the freestyling is that Lil Wayne never deviates from the same few ideas. Lil Wayne’s rich. Lil Wayne likes Patron. Lil Wayne likes pussy, perhaps more than Patron. Lil Wayne’s got guns. Lil Wayne’s sorry about the motherfucking wait. We get it.

There’s a bit of a momentum push towards the end of the mixtape. On “Hands Up (My Last)”, Wayne’s flow has a melodic feel to it that is tied to the initial song’s rhythm. It’s a step up from tracks like “Rollin'”, where he rattles off over ho-hum productions. But the highlight has to be the title track, built on Adele’s “Rolling In The Deep”. It could easily be a novelty track (“Listen to Lil Wayne rap over Adele!”), but Wheezy spits with a rapid flow and sounds like he’s having an infectious great time. It’s a spot of fun that Sorry 4 The Wait is sorely missing.

The low point is probably”Inkredible Remix”, which features a slew of up and coming rappers fighting to be heard over a truly obnoxious track overloaded with too many synths. The track is only five minutes long, but it’s a total mess that feels at least twice as long. On a similar note of “Just…why?” is Sorry 4 The Wait‘s outro, which is less of an outro and more five minutes of credits set to “Run the World (Girls)”. The track, consisting mostly of shoutouts and Lil Wayne’s multi-tracked rambling, is a test of patience on a mixtape that lost its free pass long ago.

Maybe I’d be more forgiving if Sorry 4 The Wait was just something Lil Wayne put out for the sake of releasing new material. But as a holdover until Tha Carter IV, it’s completely disappointing. With so many freestyles, the mixtape feels rushed, and these uninspired, repetitive raps (just count how many times the phrase “Sorry for the wait” comes up, I dare you) do nothing to change that. Three and four tracks are worth revisiting, but the rest are download and delete fodder. Here’s hoping Tha Carter IV makes up for it, one and a half stars out of five.

tl;dr: It would have been better if Wheezy hadn’t even acknowledged the wait, 1.5/5.

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The Halftime Report: 2011 Half-Year Recap

Posted on July 22, 2011 by bgibs122

With 2011 a little more than halfway over, everyone’s coming out with their opinions/thoughts/lists from the first half of the year, so I thought why not give it a shot myself?

Right off the bat, 2011’s been a strong year so far. Pop’s done an upswing from last year, indie is continuing to expand, and we’ve had a surprising number of decent rock albums this year. So let’s look at my top picks for 2011 so far, in no special order.

Raphael Saadiq – Stone Rollin’: This is how you do a retro record. Saadiq takes Motown/70’s soul and gives it a modern bump and bounce, and he does this on top of some absolutely wonderfully crafted songs. A must have.

Arctic Monkeys – Suck It And See: Arctic Monkeys haven’t released a bad album yet, and Suck It and See blends their frenzied early days with the more mellow experimentation of Humbug. Definitely a grower.

Thurston Moore – Demolished Thoughts: A gorgeous acoustic album, Thurston Moore expands the rustic overtones of his previous solo album, and Demolished Thoughts flourishes under it’s full ensemble approach with Beck in the producer’s chair.

Other highlights have been tUnE-YaRds with who kill, PJ Harvey’s Let England Shake, The King is Dead by The Decemberists, and Foo Fighters’ Wasting Light.

While I’m talking about albums, Radiohead’s King of Limbs deserves a mention for the sheer mania when it was announced/released. Unfortunately, at least for me, it’s been the album with the least amount of replay this year. It’s not a bad album, it’s just not an interesting one, and frankly, I think it got a lot of good press just because it’s Radiohead (I know I was guilty of this). Here’s hoping Thom and the gang can do better.

Now What?
With the year half over, we’ve already seen a slew of big releases, but there’s still more to come. August sees new albums from long-silent artists such as Red Hot Chili Peppers (with new guitarist Josh Klinghoffer in for fan favorite John Frusciante) and Lil Wayne, as well as a double album from French DJ David Guetta. September gives us new Dream Theater, Tori Amos, and (finally) the new blink-182 album. From there, the only major release with a release date seems to be Drake in October.

The Charts
So far, the three stars pulling ahead in the pop realm this year are Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, and Adele. Perry rang in the new year with “Firework” still in number one, and traded off almost weekly with Bruno Mars for the number one spot. After that, “E.T.” snagged the number one spot for a week or two, and now “Last Friday Night” is holding steady in the Top 5. Will it be her first Teenage Dream single not to hit #1?

One of the songs that’s held Perry back from a prolonged stay at the top of the charts is Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep”. Both that song and Adele’s 21 album have sold surprisingly well for an artist who had trouble landing stateside before now; “Rolling in the Deep” currently has the year’s longest streak for weeks at number 1, and the same can be said for 21 on the Billboard 200. Adele’s commercial success has been jaw-dropping, and it will be interesting to see if she can keep her momentum up.

Adele’s left-field success combines interestingly with Lady Gaga’s scattered first half of ’11. While “Born This Way” had a death grip on the #1 spot for five weeks when it was first released, she’s had some slip-ups on the followup. “Judas” debuted in the Top 10, but fell off the chart after six weeks, and “Hair” couldn’t even hold on for that long. “The Edge of Glory” (which might be one of Gaga’s best songs) is holding in the top 10, but can’t edge past the competition. Born This Way is still doing well in the Billboard 200, but was only able to hold the top spot for two weeks while selling over a million copies in a week. But a large chunk of that success is attributed to Amazon’s firesale the day the album came out. While still rich and successful, 2011 Lady Gaga seems to be less invincible and more defensive than any of her previous incarnations.

The pop realm has been pretty busy outside of those three. Lunkheads LMFAO scored a hit with “Party Rock Anthem” (blind squirrels, nuts, etc). Bruno Mars managed to hit number 1 with “Grenade”, and is currently in the Top 5 Dead Heat, and he is starting to expand to other projects. Britney Spears has had two and now three hits to her name, and Nicki Minaj has been able to hold down a single all by herself. Hell, even the Black Eyed Peas had a decent single.

It’s not all great news, though. Rihanna began the year strong, and even scoring a number one with “S&M” before “California King Bed” crushed her momentum, and the rush-released “Man Down” slowed her to a crawl. Despite a good start with “Six Foot Seven Foot”, Lil Wayne lost steam between album delays, and a so-so single, but “How to Love”‘s chart success might give him an edge. Enrique Iglesias might not be doing poorly, but I’m wondering how much longer he can play the “It’s not sexual harassment if I’m really good looking, right?” card and get away with it.

On the whole, though, 2011’s been a fun year so far, and I can’t wait for what the coming months will bring!

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Radio Rant: Lil Wayne – How to Love

Posted on July 18, 2011 by bgibs122

Hello, and welcome to Radio Rants. Hit me!

Yeah, Lil Wayne! The hottest, most prolific rapper around! Sure, he hasn’t had a hit since December, and he hasn’t really knocked a featured verse out of the park in awhile, but here he is with the third single for Tha Cater IV! Which…still isn’t out yet, because Camp Wheezey needed more time to promote the album. You know, the way a concert special and killer single would. But anyway, here he is with a hot new single, and I’m sure it’s got a hard beat and slick rhymes.

…

…

Is that an acoustic guitar?

At least the chord progression’s nice. But what the hell is this, did Lil Wayne start taking career advice from Boyz II Men? Not that I’m against artists trying new things, but taking a sensitive, stripped down acoustic number from Lil “Pop that pussy and shake that ass” Wayne seriously is a hard-bordering-impossible sell. When your career so far has objectified women at every chance, I’m not about to take your Sensitive Side Song in stride. But, for the sake of this blog, let’s try.

“You had a lotta crooks tryna steal your heart/Never really had luck, couldn’t figure it out/How to love, how to love”

Who never really had luck and/or couldn’t figure it out: her, or the crooks? This is why we need pronouns, Lil Wayne.

“You had a lotta moments that didn’t last forever/Now you in the corner tryna put it together/How to love, how to love”

No moment lasts forever. There’s a lot of pop songs that have covered this already, moving on.

Lil Wayne’s verses are usually wordy to the point of excess, but the first verse on “How to Love” blinks by so fast that I’m not even able to latch onto any particular line. Yeah, the hot girl has self esteem issues. Wait, I forgot to talk about the hook.

“It’s hard not to stare, the way you move your body/Like you never had a love, had a love”

That’s a fair observation; a lot of hurt people use casual sex or aggressive flirtation as a coping device when dealing with extremely hurt feelings or a traumatic past. Hey, didn’t his last hit include the line “Never met the bitch but I fucked her like I missed her”?

But wait, the second verse might actually go somewhere:

“Oh, you had a lot of dreams that transform to visions
The fact that you saw the world affected all your decisions
But it wasn’t your fault, wasn’t in your intentions
To be the one here talking to me, be the one listening

He might do it folks, he might be onto something…c’mon, Weezy!

“But I admire your poppin’ bottles and dippin’
Just as much as you admire bartending and strippin’
Baby, so don’t be mad, nobody else trippin’
You see a lot of crooks and the crooks still crook”

…what the hell did that mean? I just…I don’t know. He likes how she dances and opens bottles? She likes mixed drinks and strippers? What am I supposed to get out of this verse? There’s no real point in talking about the bridge since it boils down to you’re beautiful and great how you are and you deserve the best. And aside from that, we’ve covered all the lyrics for “How to Love”.

This rant has been so lyrics-heavy because “How to Love” utterly skeletal musically. The acoustic guitar and percussion make some 90% of the music, and the other 10% is a synth over the chorus (an admittedly nice touch), and guys randomly shouting “‘ey!” in the background. Lil Wayne’s voice is slathered in Auto-Tune, which I’d normally take issue with, but let’s be honest, Lil Wayne’s death rasp can’t translate to an angelic voice.

The importance of “How to Love” comes from what it is instead of what’s in it. As the first time that Lil Wayne changes his game and tries something different, it’s fairly important. As a song, though, it’s not a bad listen, but falls apart under closer inspection. I’m all for Lil Wayne exploring himself, I just wish he’d do it with more nuance and some better lines.

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