Weezer - Everything Will Be Alright in the End

That is the cutest and scariest thing
I've ever seen

Before listening to this album, I had heard all kinds of things about it; mainly that it sounds a lot like older Weezer albums and that this is a lot less pop than some more recent releases.  Well, I can agree with the latter but this album doesn't parallel the blue album or Pinkerton very much at all.  I would say that the mood of the album more closely resembles Pinkerton but even then there's a bit of doubt with why someone would say that these are similar albums.

With all of that aside, I think the album is really well-written.  At this point in Weezer's career, it was pretty paramount that they rebound with a solid effort after the uninspired Raditude and the mixed bag, self-produced Hurley.  It would be a stretch to say that Weezer has hit the home run with Everything Will Be Alright in the End but this album certainly has a lot of good that can be said about it.  Being a loose concept album about love eventually coming around for a hopeless romantic, the songs go really well together.  The one exception to this would probably be the single "Back to the Shack" but it's a fun song so... whatever.

Speaking of "Back to the Shack," although I think it's a really good song, I think that it really doesn't make much sense because this album and, particularly, "Back to the Shack" don't sound nearly as much like their oldest stuff as they might think.  The only song that does is "Lonely Girl."  That song I could actually believe came off of their debut album.

But I digress.

This album has songs throughout that are instantly memorable.  The lyrical and song concepts aren't just the same old thing either and I really laud that.  The first five tracks are very good alt-rock tunes but it's in the second half of the album that my heart is won.  "The British Are Coming" is a cool tribute to the birth of America with a very passionate vocal performance by Rivers Cuomo as he belts the high notes in the chorus.  The next track, "Da Vinci" is probably one of my favorites as it has one of the catchiest introductions of any Weezer song, using whistling very effectively.  Lyrically, the song is very cute as it's about the main character of the album trying to describe what is so great about his love but he can't and goes on to explain how:

"Even Da Vinci couldn't paint you.  And Steven Hawking can't explain you.  Rosetta Stone could not translate you.  I'm at a loss for words."

I thought that it was a clever concept for song lyrics anyways.  "Go Away" and "Cleopatra" continue the train-a-rollin' with a passionate vocal duet in the preceding about heartbreak forcing a breakup.  The album ends on a three movement piece titled "The Futurescope Trilogy."  In the past, Weezer has had interesting ends to their albums with this one being no exception.  It's a very well-written and thought out piece but you will probably not be too impressed the first few times you listen to it.  It wasn't until about the fourth or fifth listen of this album that I realized the true extent of the purpose of the song's existence and how it ties up all of the loose ends in the album.  Particularly, it explains the motive for titling the album Everything Will Be Alright in the End.

This album doesn't really have a whole lot to criticize.  I think what holds it back from being in the same discussion as the blue album or Pinkerton is that the few tracks between "Back to the Shack" and "The British are Coming" are pretty generic.  Other than that, there really isn't a whole lot of bad stuff happening here.  This album should definitely be praised for what has been accomplished. 




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