{"id":3204,"date":"2017-11-04T01:22:04","date_gmt":"2017-11-04T01:22:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/?p=3204"},"modified":"2017-11-04T01:22:04","modified_gmt":"2017-11-04T01:22:04","slug":"review-weezer-pacific-daydream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/2017\/11\/04\/review-weezer-pacific-daydream\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Weezer &#8211; Pacific Daydream"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Weezer\u2019s career path has taken so many weird turns with so many ups &amp; downs you could practically model a literal rollercoaster around it, especially given the last decade or so. After the group\u2019s infamous attempt at annual album releases resulted in near-career suicide with <em>Raditude<\/em> and <em>Hurley<\/em>, the group finally took some time and redeemed themselves with 2014\u2019s fantastic <em>Everything Will Be Alright In The End<\/em>. The group then dropped <em>The White Album<\/em> last year, which was solid enough in its own right and even earned Weezer their third Grammy nomination ever and first for \u201cBest Rock Album.\u201d And now, one year later, the band is back with yet another new record, <em>Pacific Daydream<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2026oh boy. We\u2019re doing the annual release thing again? Well, alright then.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"747\" height=\"421\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xBqFoyXXs3E?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The album opens with \u201cMexican Fender,\u201d getting off to an okay start with a chord progression that, despite being pretty basic, manages to feel anthemic and triumphant in its mood. The song moves along at a mid-tempo pace with a rather soothing pretty chorus and a surprisingly energetic bridge. The lyrics are typical Weezer fare about unrequited love as Rivers Cuomo falls in love with a woman whose interests include computer programming and music, and there\u2019s the typical odd lyrical quirks (he met this woman in a guitar shop where the clerk tried to sell him on the titular guitar), but it helps get the job done. The following track, \u201cBeach Boys,\u201d feels like a direct continuation from where <em>White Album<\/em> left off, with some nice breezy guitar arrangements and vocal layering that does successfully call to mind the titular band, alongside some rather fanboyish lyrics to go with this. That being said, there\u2019s some eyebrow-raisers mixed in there, such as \u201cHold \u2018em up at gunpoint. Keep cranking them Beach Boys.\u201d In addition, the line \u201cTurn it up, it\u2019s the beach boys&#8230;on a roll like a rolls Royce\u201d is extraordinarily corny, even by Weezer standards.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFeels Like Summer,\u201d the first released track from the album, is easily the weakest song on the record just from a pure musical standpoint. The combination of vocal chants and whistling arrangements, programmed drums, and EDM accentuations create a vibe that\u2019s basically a carbon copy of Twenty-One Pilots. Why Weezer would want to emulate that style, I have no earthly clue. The lyrics are also rather repetitive, but at the very least, they help get the listener accustomed to the main motif of the album, describing how the thought of a deceased loved one triggers seemingly ironic memories tied to the sunshiney nature of summer. This also becomes apparent in \u201cHappy Hour,\u201d which is arguably the strongest track on the record, lyrically speaking. The song describes the feeling of using drinking, bar-hopping, and imagined fictitious paradises to escape from the problems of reality, a feeling that most can likely relate to (\u201cBut then my boss calls and she\u2019s crushin\u2019 me with a 20-ton weight just like in Monty Python. Somebody left the sink on, it\u2019s still running. My eyes are gonna overflow\u201d). Imagine a version of \u201cCan\u2019t Stop Partying\u201d that\u2019s more upfront about the tragic subtext of someone going out drinking all the time\u2026 and isn\u2019t a musical abomination. The composition helps set the stage surprisingly well, with a swinging tempo and jazzy piano that feels like a somber night out in a bar.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"747\" height=\"421\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/t3RO0UMsBss?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>At that point though, the album just jogs in place for the rest of its run time, and there\u2019s not really much more detail to go into here. Thinking back on it, I can see why the first 4-5 songs were releases as singles, because the back half of the record is more or less just sub-par b-sides from <em>White Album<\/em>. There\u2019s plenty of Beach Boy-esque vocal dynamics here that sort of works here and there, and there\u2019s occasionally a lyric or two that\u2019s quirky enough to stand out even if it\u2019s the typical Weezer brand of offbeat and absurd (\u201cI can\u2019t get anyone to do algebra with me\u201d). Outside of this, the theme of somber tragedies attached to seemingly bright and happy memories\/ideas gets rather repetitive as it doesn\u2019t feel all that fleshed out, and the only time anything really stands out is on the album\u2019s most anonymous track, \u201cGet Right,\u201d seeing as how it\u2019s the only song where the drums don\u2019t sound weak beyond belief.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking of which, if there\u2019s one big flaw that\u2019s hard to glaze over on <em>Pacific Daydream<\/em>, it\u2019s the drum work, and it comes down to two key problems. The most immediate issue I have is that the actual production work on the drums is just not up to par. Pretty much from the opening track throughout, whenever there isn\u2019t an electronic beat at play, the drums just sound way too unpolished, especially with how each hit of the snare is just this low plodding thud that feels so out of place here. While I guess I shouldn\u2019t be surprised considering that Butch Walker is serving as executive producer here (his last work with the band being\u2026 <em>Raditude<\/em>), but it\u2019s baffling that the rest of the band sounds fine while the drums are the only instrument lacking any polish. The other problem is with the performances themselves. It almost always seems like Pat Wilson is the biggest wild card in terms of what contributions he\u2019ll turn in, but here the mediocre drum production is exacerbated by some of the most simplistic drum parts he\u2019s ever written\/recorded. This is already a letdown on its own, but it\u2019s amplified further when you consider that <em>White Album<\/em> easily had some of the strongest and most distinct drum arrangements Pat\u2019s ever laid down for the band. <em>Pacific Daydream<\/em> offers barely any drum highlights outside of a few unique fills on the last two tracks, \u201cLa Mancha Screwjob\u201d and \u201cAny Friend of Diane\u2019s\u201d (which also doubles as a rather underwhelming album closer).<\/p>\n<p>Overall, <em>Pacific Daydream<\/em> feels like less of an album and more of an okay-ish EP of B-sides that awkwardly had 5 more songs grafted onto it. If there\u2019s anything that the group\u2019s previous two efforts taught us, it\u2019s that Weezer are a group that absolutely need to take their time if they hope to produce any kind of solid quality work. Having fallen back into the annual release trope (evidently, they may already have another full-length in the works for May 2018), the group once again finds themselves in an unwanted rut, and I really hope they find a way to delay entering the studio again so early. Let your ideas sit in the oven for a while so they can come out fully formed, instead of leaving us with\u2026 whatever this was.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong><br \/>\nFinal Verdict:<\/strong><\/em><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><em>Skip it. Unless you&#8217;re the most die-hard of Weezer fans, this is far from the most essential release in their catalog. You&#8217;re better off just re-listening\u00a0to the White Album.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Pacific Daydream is available from Atlantic Records on CD, digital download (iTunes, Amazon Music, etc.), and streaming services<\/em>.\u00a0<em>Check out Weezer online on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/weezer\/\">Facebook<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Weezer\">Twitter<\/a>, and their <a href=\"https:\/\/weezer.com\/\">official website<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Weezer\u2019s career path has taken so many weird turns with so many ups &amp; downs you could practically model a literal rollercoaster around \n<a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/2017\/11\/04\/review-weezer-pacific-daydream\/\"> [...]<\/a>","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":3219,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","yasr_overall_rating":2.5,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"Product","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12],"tags":[631,364,734,737,736,735,7,733,361,362,732],"class_list":["post-3204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-album-review","tag-alternative-rock","tag-beach-boys","tag-feels-like-summer","tag-happy-hour","tag-mexican-fender","tag-music","tag-pacific-daydream","tag-pop-rock","tag-rock","tag-weezer"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8GYHU-PG","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.surrealresolution.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/pacific-daydream-review-thumbnail.png?fit=1152%2C720&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3204"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3224,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3204\/revisions\/3224"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}