a cute song from Rivers to his daughter. perhaps a little too revved up for the subject matter but his affection shines through all the same. killer solo too!
starts off like a house on fire. then those awkward falsetto vocals come in and the song immediately judders to a halt that it can't really recover from. still, Maladroit's a good record and it's taken this long to be repped.
a nothingy chorus takes the edge of this cutesy little post-Beatles McCartney-style ballad. "have a nice life, have some more Sprite" remains one of my favourite stupid Weezer lyrics.
i think that's it from Teal now. thank god. anyway, this one is fine. actually allows itself to be a little ironic, a little funny, a little unexpected. they know this is silly and they're fine with it.
146. I Don't Want to Let You Go (Raditude) #weezer195
one of the only songs on Raditude that allows the music to speak for itself instead of piling on the studio effects and compression. an emotional little ballad to close off their worst album of original songs.
a baffling key change kinda spoils the end of what is otherwise a perfectly serviceable SZNZ entry that combines fuzzy power pop and folk pop as well as it can. clearly influenced by Covid, too!
148. Any Friend of Diane's (Pacific Daydream) #weezer195
one of the stronger cuts from PD. one of the more tolerable attempts at aping 2010s pop trends. prefer the slightly grungier live version. like all of PD this is a smidge too smooth, but what a bridge!
the interpolation of Adagio in G Minor is cute. unusual that it wasn't a Vivaldi work, like the rest of SZNZ had, but that's only a mid-sized gripe. otherwise, a song from the brink of death, longing for youth.
29. May the Odds Be Ever In Your Favor - Meet Me @ The Altar #TheTwen2ie5
probably the most exhilarating first 5-10 secs of a song this decade? the rest proves that teenagers are the best people to be playing pop punk. it's all melodrama and uncertainty - perfect.
of course, the centre/right also just don't engage with lefty politics very much, so i'd always caveat this. maybe the culture wars were lost before they ever started. but we did give an awful lot of social media power to people who seemed to get drunk on their standing within online spaces.
it was definitely recognised about 6-8 years ago that some Twitter Personalities were using lefty politics to get away with essentially being online bullies, but quite often it was those people leading the discussions and influencing how a lot of floating voters perceived "the woke left".
i'm not saying this *is* what happened, but sometimes i wonder if the left lost control of the culture wars because a lot of key talking points were spread by people who were very good at being cool and making witty, caustic Twitter posts, but maybe weren't very good at, like, being nice to people.
all the kids are saying '6-7' but none of them are saying SIX FOOT SEVEN FOOT EIGHT FOOT BUNCH SIX-SIX FOOT SEVEN FOOT EIGHT FOOT BUNCH ahem EXCUSE MY CHARISMA VODKA WITH A SPRITZER SWAGGER DOWN PAT CALL MY SHIT PATRICIA YOUNG MONEY MILITIA I AM THE COMMISSIONER YOU NO WAN START WEEZY COZ THE "F" IS
the verses are dynamite. they sound genuinely manic and contain some of my favourite weird phrases and bizarre non-sequiturs. full of religious imagery and... cannoli? sure! the chorus is badly uncercooked, though.
take out the 2010s-style vocal effects between each section of the song, and from under the verses, and you're onto more of a winner here. a bit clean, a bit soft, but infectious in the way so many Rivers songs are.
verses are several re-writes away from being any good, as are the lyrics. but that chorus soars like Weezer songs should and that extended guitar bridge has a tap solo. which, yeah, okay, i like tap solos. call me corny.
one of the more tolerable cuts from Raditude. still too Loudness Wars for my liking, and compressed to fuck, BUT this is an old Green Album demo and you can feel that same tight, efficient approach to power pop.
pleasant. but the revolving two-chord "progression" gets tiresome fast ... and it just never, ever lets up. a frustrating song that never even tries to deliver on its potential or... go anywhere. cracking solo from Rivers though.
the jokey little "you wanted arts and crafts? how's *this* for arts and crafts? wa na na na na na na na na na na na na na THAT'S RIGHT" bit saves this from being much, much further down the list.
i've always been a little puzzled that Possibilities made it through to Maladroit from the SS2k sessions when the likes of Modern Dukes & Mad Kow were ignored. oh well. this fine. the only Weezer pop punk song.
appreciate the tonal shifts and alternating tempo fun but this has one of Weezer's flattest choruses. that "yeah!" is so weak. never been 100% keen on this, even if it does have that 80s glam metal passage.
