Monday, April 14, 2008

Weezer Returns! (For Real This Time?)

Yesterday, Weezer fans around the world, who are anxiously awaiting the band's upcoming sixth album -- titled, of course, Weezer, and due in stores June 17 -- were treated to a tease. Amazon posted 20 seconds of the new single, "Pork and Beans", and something peculiar happened in the process. It didn't get trashed, as it was expected to. Fans and critics immediately loved it. I replayed it five times to make sure it wasn't a joke.

I'll be damned... it kills.

Wait, is this 1996? Sweet heavens, listen to that guitar tone! Listen to those cheeky lyrics! Weezer is back!

Well, maybe. I've been wrong before. When the cell phone clip of "Beverly Hills" started circulating a few months prior to the release of Make Believe in early 2005, I thought the Weez of yore had returned, based off of the song's similarities to "Undone" and "El Scorcho." But then I heard the whole song, and the whole album, and I was let down. Rivers Cuomo was emoting, sure, but his lyrics read more like third grade poetry than the tortured genius found on Pinkerton. There was very little to salvage on that album, and when the band had all but broken up toward the end of the following year, I was disappointed that I couldn't find myself caring.

But this band has gotten me excited again.

I don't want to jump the gun based off a tiny sample, but if this is any indication of what the new album entails, we may get the band's return-to-form that we've clamored for over the last decade. "Pork and Beans" sounds like it can hang with anything from The Blue Album or Pinkerton, and that's incredible to think about. Can this really be happening? Or is the idealist in me overshadowing the skeptic? We'll see on April 22 when the full single is digitally released. Even if the venture turns into another disappointment, though, at least I'll always have these twenty seconds to smile at and think about what could have been. Hear for yourself.

- Andrew Daniels

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh my God, his mustache.

Anonymous said...

can't get it to play

Andrew Daniels said...

Fixed. The link now takes you to an .mp3 preview of "Pork and Beans", courtesy of Weerez.com.

And the mustache is incredible.