Album Review: Weezer’s “Hurley”

Weezer

Epitaph Records: Hurley

When Geffen Records and then alternative whiz-nerds Weezer released The Blue Album 15 years ago, the two unleashed an influential flurry of power pop whose effects can still be heard today. Seven albums later the two have split and in July the quartet quickly signed to independent label, Epitaph Records. In a decade and a half, Weezer has continually released album after album behind the defiant David Geffen and his minions. But with their eight studio album Hurley they now stand behind no one.

Lately the band has been a record making machine. In the past three years they have churned out three albums and although the sound of these rapid-fire pieces may not measure as well as the early Blue/ Pinkerton/ Green-Weezer days of old, the musicianship and heart that front man Rivers Cuomo and co. are known for are glowing through Hurley.

“Memories,” the first song, kicks off hard. Cuomo sings over a guzzling guitar strum – “pissing in plastic cups/ before we went on stage/ back before Rage/ was Audioslave.”  With this knockout as an opener, the gang looks back at the time when they owned alternative rock with their emotional life-in-ruins charged vibe. If placed in Pinkerton’s set list it would have fit right in.

In fact with every Hurley listen it sounds like Pinkerton more and more, acting as its musical doppelganger. At times it even exceeds the 1996 cult classic in pure rawness.  The albums best track, “Where’s My Sex?” rips the album a manly scar in the middle of its already thunder-like flow. Cuomo wails in high sandpaper shrill, making his young voice sound even younger. If there was ever any track to kick it old school Weezer style, it is this one.  The guitar and drums stuttering in a heavy fourth note rhythm coinciding with mischievous lyrics – “I can’t go out without my sex/ its cold outside and my toes get wet/ and people will think I’m an alien just cruising in.”

As far as production, the album isn’t as farfetched as its cover suggests. Cuomo teams up with co-producer Shawn Everett to tap the indie roots of the early nineties. One way the duo does this is by focusing on the little things. On “Run Away,” subtle parts of the production make the song another track that could become lost in the Pinkerton shuffle. The little grunt at 1:18 or the sustaining guitar melody that slithers on the right channel from 1:42-1:46 are both parts that pump life into the record.

When Spinner.com asked Cuomo why he and the band decided to put Jorge Garcia, the hearty, humble Chilean-American actor who played the character “Hurley” on ABC’s Lost, on the cover of the album, he commented on how the cover photo of Garcia’s face has an “amazing vibe.” The portrait of his Garcia’s portly mug has seeped into the music. Like always, it has an incredible Weezer vibe. Even when the themes of their albums seem goofy or slapstick, basically non-Blue Album, you can’t help but give credit. This has happened with Hurley; it has a good vibe and displays fine musicianship, even if it is about nothing.

Buy the album at our record store on Amazon

Here is a link to the song “Where’s My Sex?”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LierM_PrnrU

Here is a link to the song “Memories”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGg_mVBqXVo

Here is the link to the song “Run Away”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwSkcsr-3hI

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Before You Buy It, Check Out Our Review Of Weezer’s Hurley