ALBUM REVIEW: The Teal Album – Weezer

There are few successful bands in the world more inconsistent than WEEZER. You can always rely on them to release material, but whether or not this material upholds their legacy or dilutes their eulogy is hit or miss. It’s a curious situation being a WEEZER fan; an undying will to adore whatever they release, but a common understanding we are unlikely to be satisfied. Frontman and figurehead Rivers Cuomo is capable of excellence, as he has shown repeatedly, but perhaps this bores him, and he is willing to engage in the creation of art below his standard. The genius he has shown, however, peppered throughout their prolific discography, is sublime enough to keep most people on side.

The group opened their career with the release of two utterly astounding and universally adored opening statements; 94’s The Blue Album, rich with euphoria and mid-60s harmony, and 1996’s Pinkerton, a bashful, uglier offering. Pinkerton may have been released to a muted response initially, perhaps due to its comparably uncomfortable and confessional lyrical content, and arcane instrumental work, but it since grown a cult following and is seen by many as their magnum opus. Following a difficult album cycle, the band disappeared for 3 years in 1998. Cuomo going to Harvard University to earn his degree and bassist Matt Sharp left the band permanently, causing many to doubt if they would ever come back. Since their return in 2001, the band have proven wildly divisive. The Green Album and Maladroit were both as great as one could expect, but Make Believe, Hurley and the greatest sin of them all, 2009’s hideous Raditude, were all shameless in their frequented bouts of laziness. Enjoyable moments were fleeting and dirges of witlessness were aplenty.

2014’s comfortingly-titled Everything Will Be Alright In The End showed the band getting back to their roots and fans, with the release of crowd-pleasing lead single Back To The Shack, rejoiced. 2016 saw the release of The White Album, which proved to be the finest album since their sophomore, and heralded their artistic comeback. Sun-kissed and distorted, the group were on astounding form and they seemed to finally be releasing music worthy of their legacy. With the announcement of a darker, more sombre counterpart, The Black Album, however, as we should have expected, the glee was short-lived as the flames of elation were quashed by the following year’s Pacific Daydream. Their most sugary, commercial effort to date, the album was caked thick with sickly synths and, few songs aside, the songs simply weren’t up to standard. This rollercoaster pulls into the station with 2019’s surprise-release covers album, The Teal Album. With selections spanning from the 60s to the 90s, the band have gone down the route of strictly appropriating pop-music monoliths; no song here will allude the listeners – it is likely they will know every word before they press play.

The album opens with the song that started it all, a cover of TOTO‘s stale cheese-wheel Africa. Following a viral Twitter campaign by fans to get the band to cover it, the band humorously released a cover of Rosanna, another, and superior, TOTO opus. Eventually, they released the much-clamoured-after cover of Africa, which saw a sharp rise in popularity for the band. The internet had received what they demanded, and the song even hit the Billboard Hot 100 and earned itself a hysterical music video featuring musical funny-man Weird Al Yankovic. The cover present on the album is slightly altered, heavier and more punchy than originally released, and is all the stronger for it. Putting it at the beginning of the album is also a clever move; it would perhaps flow better if the song was in the middle, but it gets the song we’ve all heard out of the way, allowing the listener to engage in all new (old) material.

The covers which follow range from the sensible, to the clever to the quite frankly bizarre, and the results are a little mixed. The band scarcely stray far from the source material, which again, guides the band into an inconsistent run of quality. The sensible choices are the ones which anyone with a functioning knowledge of the group could envision working; the ones which are clear direct influences on the band themselves. One of WEEZER‘s primary influences is classic saccharine pop music – Cuomo has often professed that his favourite band is THE BEACH BOYS – and when the band drill that oil, the results are predictably satisfying. Happy Together, made famous by THE TURTLES, is performed superbly by the band – a simple song, yes, but the band certainly do it justice. ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA‘s Mr Blue Sky is one of the most omnipresent pop songs of all time, and it seemed to be a match made in heaven. The cover isn’t particularly interesting, but again it is performed well, with Cuomo‘s falsetto vocals lifting the giddy nature of the track. The finest of these is BEN E. KING‘s Stand By Me, which closes the album. It’s a driving, explosive take on a song more famed for its suave romanticism, and it ought to be added to their setlist sharply.

The clever selections are perhaps the moments the album ought to be most acclaimed for; ones which one would never have predicted but work marvellously. There are a number of these to be found, the first of these being a take on TEARS FOR FEARS‘ Everybody Wants To Rule The World – one of the highlights of the album. Their covers of Paranoid, fronted by guitarist Brian Bell, Take On Me and Billie Jean may just seem like love letters to your father’s record collection, but each one has its charm and is played with a compelling conviction. Take On Me in particular harnesses Cuomo‘s vocal talents, and even in the hilarity surrounding this one-hit-wonder-turned-internet-meme died long ago, the band sound triumphant. These are adoptions which would hardly make sense on paper but sound joyous as the finished article.

There are, however, some choices which are downright peculiar, and it is here that WEEZER will divide their fans. It is unlikely many will feel alienated by Stand By Me or even Billie Jean, but never in one’s wildest dreams could they imagine Sweet Dreams, a British new-wave sensation, appearing on such an album. It’s been covered countless times, but perhaps what is most surprising is how little WEEZER do with it. This is one of the most faithful covers present, so hearing the unmistakable Cuomo warble over it is entirely eccentric. It’s a fairly uninteresting addition but still has its charm. Whether you prefer MARILYN MANSON‘s grotesque take or WEEZER‘s faithful and upbeat version is perhaps a reflection of your character. TLC‘s famed floor-filler No Scrubs is certainly the most shocking entry. The adaptation is sure to provoke extreme reactions of both glee and hatred, as rock’s most wilfully-geeky stars adopt one of the most iconic diva tracks of its era, but the comedy behind it is enough to uphold the song, made all the more humorous in the knowledge that WEEZER are the likely the scrubs the song belittles.

The results are a little mixed, and one could even accuse this album of possessing filler, but as a surprise album to release before their next album proper, The Teal Album is an excellent commodity. This is one of those albums which is sure to divide WEEZER fans. Some have dismissed it as lazy karaoke, or as a marketing tool for the upcoming Black Album, whereas others have heralded it is a prime example of the band’s timelessness. Either way, it seems unlikely Cuomo and co. have much interest. WEEZER now hardly resemble themselves, and that’s alienating in it itself. Their character, however, remains intact. WEEZER are enjoying themselves, and the joy is quite simply infectious.

Rating: 7/10

The Teal Album is out now via Crush Music/Atlantic Records. 

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