- Label
- Universal
- Release date
- 16th June 2008
- Genre
- Indie
- Buy this album
- Buy CD
The third eponymously titled album from Californian indie eccentrics.
Now resembling a 3rd grade indie pop version of The Village People - the cowboy, the biker, the cop and the er, bloke from IT – Weezer are perpetual students and heroes of geekdom. Rivers Cuomo still has a fine way of writing songs that list shonky old products like Rogaine and celebrities while sounding like a down on his luck Charlie Brown - 14 different musicians that have inspired him are mentioned in Heart Songs including "a Cat named Stevens" - and transforming them into catchy irony-laced pop nuggets.
The Greatest Man That Ever Lived stretches the formula - a five minute miniature pop opera that switches between Beach Boys harmonies, 70s soft rock and sassy Gwen Stefani-style rap but the bulk of the album - like the single Pork & Beans - sticks to their strengths.
Indeed the most interesting tracks pop up on the special edition of the album - superb covers of The Band's The Weight and Talk Talk's Life Is What You Make It show the band have a great sound even if idea tank is running low.
More to try: Fountains Of Wayne: Traffic And Weather The Shins: Wincing The Night Away The Hold Steady: Boys And Girls In America Half Man Half Biscuit: CSI Ambleside
