WEEZER / Maladroit (2002)

 

 

It’s about time I made some decisions, repercussions be damned.

Maladroit is better than Pinkerton.

There’s a fistful of ridiculously great Weezer albums, but Maladroit is the only one that’s an INESCAPABLE STEAMROLLING WALL OF 100% FULL POWER. Lyrically and sonically, in equal measure. Those guitars, JEEBUS! They are not fucking around; not for a single nanosecond. Rivers isn’t pulling any punches, and he isn’t taking any more of your shit. When emotional fragility hardens to bulletproof self-respect, be afraid.

Be very afraid.

Songs of Note: Slob; Love Explosion

5 Reasons Fighting is Weak to Fairy out of 5

WEEZER / Weezer (Red; 2008)

Keep it on the up!

 

I do still agree with a once-upon-a-time friend of mine that some of the best tracks recorded for this album were held back as b-sides (and promotional downloads, if my horrible, schizophrenic memory serves). Two of them are S-tier heart puncturing in the same manner as the most personal tracks on Katy’s masterwork. One is a second missive with Scott Shriner at the helm, and you already know how I feel about that guy~<3

HOWEVER, this slightly unfortunate turn of events doesn’t mean that the regular release isn’t worthwhile in its own right. It’s a bit ramshackle and raucous in places, but that’s honestly the (intermittent) charm of latter-day Weezer, in a nutshell. The rest is both brilliantly emotional and audacious, acting as the origins of Rivers having the balls to get away with things that would easily see lesser mortals trampled under society’s pitchforks and torches.

There’s a song for Patrick, Scott, and Brian, each, with Brian’s being especially pleasing to my ear, perfectly emulating Fastball, as it does. I would love to live in a world where the four of them traded vocals, consistently.

This world ain’t so bad, though~

Just (legally) download and burn Miss Sweeney, Pig, The Spider, and King, since the Deluxe version is a bit pricey and slightly troublesome to come by.

Songs of Note: The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn); The Spider


Vanilla: 3 Rightfully Resplendent Renegades out of 5
Deluxe Edition: 4 Ruinously Raw and Regretful Tales of Love and Death out of 5

FALL OUT BOY / Mania (2018)

 

I wouldn’t hold your breath on me suddenly warming to this one. I’ll gladly open with admitting that there are definitely a few exquisite verses buried herein. Sadly, that’s simply not enough. There’s a generally abrasive air that permeates, and while I do appreciate some albums for that, they simply do not tread as far into chaos as some of the songs here do—as far away from those artists’ general vision/identity. Two songs of which Patrick is particularly proud are inexcusably repetitive. I loathe them. Another is ANNOYING. AS. FUCK. No need for flowery verbiage; it’s goddamn painful.

The ironic thing is that this approach IS fitting for the central theme of the piece.

I have to share a verse that 100% describes my relationship with Sentai:

I know I should walk away, know I should walk away.
But, I just want to let you break my brain.
And, I can’t seem to get a grip,
no, no matter how I try to live with it.

It’s not delivered well, at all, but it’s haunting in its accuracy to my experiences.
 

The moral here is:

Merit being present in how something is done isn’t enough.
Liking something isn’t enough.

There both has to be merit, and I have to like it.

That’s the heartbreaking truth.

½ Doesn't Do Anyone Any Good out of 5

FALL OUT BOY / So Much (For) Stardust (2023)

 

Inscribed like stone and faded by the rain,
"Give up what you love, Give up what you love, before it does you in." 

 

 

The simple truth is that when this album was released, I wasn’t in a place to be willing, or able, to hear what it was trying to say.

I was wrong.
No worries; I’m infinitely and intimately used to that, at this point.

The boys are vying impossibly hard to be Costello’s preeminent students, and succeeding with flying colors, folding unsavory and disastrous topics into diabetically-sweet confections in ways that honestly, handily lap the master in his hey-day. You shouldn’t be able to write one of catchiest songs ever, about a pandemic, but they damn-well fucking did.

I said that there wasn’t much in the way of connections between the first two songs and the rest; in truth, the lyrics wrap around on themselves in dizzying ways akin to the time loop that births the Song of Storms. To the point where I frankly believe the emotional conclusion arrives at a point other than the final song in the tracklist.

Songs of Note: Fake Out; The Kintsugi Kid (Ten Years)


5 Engine Revving Resolutions out of 5

I'm going to talk about their update of We Didn't Start the Fire, real quick, since they stuck it in the playlist for ...Stardust. Seeing people freak out during its live debut, instead of feeling existential dread, as intended? Endemic of part of FOB's fanbase. Please stop swooning over them; ACTUALLY listen to the lyrics. Of all of their songs.

I am obviously ecstatic that they mention The Black Parade, but it took me a bit to remember that Green Day's iconic set took place at Woodstock '94, not Woodstock '99. There was one in '99?!?! I thought they had paid tribute to two of the all-time greatest, but apparently it was just the one.

From all of the history of gaming, they chose Metroid? Should have ended a verse with something like, "Final Fantasy VI, wasn't really III."

Without a doubt, though, it needed to be:

"Keanu Reeves is Neo, man."