Weezer
Everything Will Be Alright in the End
Release Date: Oct 7, 2014
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock, Punk-Pop
Record label: Island
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Album Review: Everything Will Be Alright in the End by Weezer
Very Good, Based on 25 Critics
Based on rating A-
Sincerity is almost always viewed as a good thing, unless you’re Weezer. Granted, many music critics and fans have accused them of being wildly insincere ever since Make Believe came out back in 2005, but I say they couldn’t be more wrong. I’d say there’s not a shred of gimmickry in any post-Maladroit record. I’d say all of it — the aloof Hollywood envy, the random hip-hop cameos, the increasingly ridiculous album art — is a completely truthful representation of wherever Rivers Cuomo’s head was at the time.
Based on rating 8/10
Two songs into Everything Will Be Alright in the End, Rivers Cuomo sings "we belong in the rock world," a repudiation of the big beat experimentation of Raditude, a 2009 record that found Weezer working with such pop producers as Dr. Luke and Butch Walker. Weezer fans eager for Pinkerton, Pt. 2 are often quick to bristle at Cuomo's experimentations, so when the guitarist sings that they're "rockin' out like it's '94," he's not only not lying -- they went so far as to once again hire Ric Ocasek, the producer of the group's debut, to helm this ninth studio album -- but he's reassuring his audience that he's left all those pounding dance beats behind.
Based on rating 4/5
Of all the rock stars to emerge in 1994, the goofily nerdy Rivers Cuomo didn't seem like a rebel. But when two roads diverged in an alt-rock wood, he took the one that led to years of risky moves. Some paid off, like 1996's classic Pinkerton – an album of tortured sex songs named after a character in Madame Butterfly – or the MTV-conquering video for 2005's ''Beverly Hills,'' filmed at the Playboy Mansion.
Based on rating 4/5
What’s left to say about Weezer that hasn’t already been said? Well, probably for one, that they’ve gone and released a new album – and it’s really rather great. See, Rivers Cuomo and co have a bloody good case for being the most unfairly maligned band in history. Back in 1996, the now seminal ‘Pinkerton’ was written off on release; “juvenile”, “aimless”, and “a bit much”, they said.
Based on rating 4.0/5
Review Summary: Weezer return to form by doing what they've always done.Look, folks. I think it's high time we – as in you, me, and just about everyone except for the nice people at your local payola “alternative” rock radio station who continued, and rightfully so, to push Weezer's singles long after the point where the entire internet music community turned on Rivers and company in a tsunami of post-Pinkerton mudslinging – collectively apologized to Weezer. I get it.
Based on rating 7.3/10
My brother, he’s the biggest Weezer fan I know. Not in the classic “Weezer fan” sense—that he loved Pinkerton and Blue and some of Green[1]. He doesn’t produce fart noises at the mention of Maladroit or any album after. Like at the beginning of a new season with his up-and-down Detroit Tigers, he comes to every album fresh.
Based on rating 7/10
You're reading a Weezer review. Ergo, you're a geek, you spend time on the Internet, and you know what a troll is. Well, Rivers Cuomo has stopped trolling his fans: this is a return to "serious" (or as close to it as he ever got) songwriting from Weezer. Gone are the gimmicks, the novelty songs, and the bizarre collaborations.
Based on rating 7/10
It’s a strange thing to say, but Rivers Cuomo is now fully aware of the fact that Weezer sucks. It wasn’t always this way, though. While there will always be those fans that cite The Blue Album and Pinkerton as the only two must-have albums in the group’s discography, 2001’s “comeback” in the form of The Green Album and the raucous 2002 follow-up Maladroit still managed to endear themselves to many kids with bootleg “Weerez” shirts, as Cuomo’s ability to write killer pop-metal guitar hooks even managed to nail him a gig co-writing the only major chart hit that the long-forgotten hard-rock outfit Cold ever had.
Based on rating 3.5/5
Whenever Weezer release a record, their fans brace themselves. Since 2001’s ‘Green Album’, it’s been a case of diminishing returns. Until now. Reunited with The Cars’ Ric Ocasek, who produced that album and their eponymous debut, this ninth full-length is their best in years. Yes, lead ….
Based on rating 3.5/5
Every new Weezer album since the band's divisive sophomore effort, Pinkerton, has been an exercise in unrealistically high expectations, and the first three songs on Everything Will Be Alright in the End do a fine job of lowering those expectations, spitting up chugging emo that sounds more like Jimmy Eat World than a return to the flawlessly executed power-pop of Weezer's mid-'90s halcyon days. In their best work, unashamed flaws and vulnerability become a secret weapon, even when it's slathered in squealing bait for a future Guitar Hero release like it is on “Lonely Girl,” which finds the band finally casting off its slacker straitjacket. It's the first track on the album that doesn't bury its melodies in muddy metallic sludge.
Based on rating 7/10
Album number nine from Weezer has been a long time coming... but is it a classic or a dud? It’s about time Weezer rediscovered their mojo. Two stone cold classic albums and some ace singles in 20 years is not a great hit rate, after all. Is ninth record ‘Everything Will Be Alright In The End’ in the same league as 1994’s Blue Album or its follow up ‘Pinkerton’? Not quite, but it gives it a good go.
Based on rating 6.5/10
Rivers Cuomo has taken your shit for over two decades and he’s had it up to here. Midway through Weezer’s ninth studio LP, he airs his grievances on a song called, not coincidentally, “I’ve Had It Up to Here”—the most valid of which is that people think he’s somehow insincere. You could describe Weezer’s 21st century output in many derogatory ways and most of it would be warranted, but “dishonest” isn’t one of them.
Based on rating 3/5
If the title of Weezer’s ninth album, Everything Will Be Alright in the End, is a statement of faith, then what does that say about being a Weezer fan 20 years after their debut? We’re an unshakable and self-flagellating bunch — I’ll at least grant you that. And if you close your eyes and try real hard, you can definitely fool yourself into believing that at least a couple of the songs here could’ve been culled from the Blue Album sessions. Except that’s the thing: in the real world, “Ain’t Got Nobody” — fun as it is — wouldn’t’ve been good enough to make the Angus OST, and “Lonely Girl” would only exist as a file traded between Weezer geeks on the internet.
Based on rating 3
Weezer, the poster boys of twentysomething wallflowers, hit the airwaves again with their ninth overall full-length, the cosily-titled Everything Will Be Alright In The End. Rivers Cuomo thrives off self-references, and this release is no exception. Is it the much-talked about return to the Blue Album and Pinkerton? Does it have the peppiness of Hurley without the antiseptic pop sheen? With Cuomo’s ageless tenor, choral ooo’s, heavy metal-ish guitar riffs, and enough musical/lyrical allegories to 1994 that could definitely maybe fill up a Tribute To Pavement album, Everything Will Be Alright In The End sounds like… a Weezer album.
Based on rating 6/10
The highest compliment we can pay a Weezer album these days is that it's "not a complete embarrassment." And by that low bar, the band's ninth full-length, Everything Will Be Alright in the End, is an overwhelming success. It seems that low sales and fan fatigue has finally caught up with Rivers Cuomo and co., and this is their attempt to right the ship.Cuomo appears to have abandoned his dream of becoming a for-hire songsmith, mostly dispensing with uber-producer collabs in favour of mining his own life for inspiration. The result is a record that grapples with relationships — never Cuomo's strong suit.
Based on rating 6/10
Early interviews mentioning The Blue Album and Pinkerton. Check. A lead single that promised we’d be rocking out like it was '94. Check. It was clear what Weezer were trying to tell us: Honestly, we mean it, for real this time, this one’s going to be the one you’re waiting for. But put aside ….
Based on rating 5.5/10
Head here to submit your own review of this album. "I'm sorry, guys, I didn't realise that I needed you so much," Rivers Cuomo concedes in the opening line of 'Back to the Shack.' It's Weezer's first single in four years and the first window into their new album, Everything Will Be Alright In the End. "I thought I'd get a new audience, I forgot that disco sucks," he continues.
Based on rating 2/5
There’s something slightly disconcerting about a band responding to a dip in fortunes with a song that basically informs fans that they’re looking to regress to the sound that made their name. A classic example is The Beach Boys’ Do It Again: an attempted return to the surfin’ songs of their youth that effectively saw the group try to distance themselves from the groundbreaking work that came in between. Weezer now have their equivalent.
Opinion: Absolutly essential
Reviewing Weezer albums has always been exceedingly difficult. It's easy to look back on the Blue Album and Pinkerton with the benefit of hindsight; when there are two decades of history and obsessive fandom there, it's easy to proclaim both albums as perfect, flawless, five-star classics. But if I were reviewing Pinkerton—unequivocally my all-time favorite album by any band—upon its 1996 release, who's to say I wouldn't nitpick the hell out it, from the repeated masturbation references ("Why Bother," "Across The Sea") to the reduction of women to mere objects of a man's desire ("Tired Of Sex," "Pink Triangle") to the rough, abrasive tones and production unbefitting of a band who previously worked with Ric Ocasek? Here’s the thing: I believe all of that to be true, but I also choose to ignore it due to the intense feelings the album has created within me.
Opinion: Excellent
Weezer and its songwriter and frontman, Rivers Cuomo, have always wrapped worries and vulnerabilities in brash, succinct rock tunes: power pop with the distortion cranked up. On “Everything Will Be Alright in the End,” Weezer’s ninth studio album, the melodies are as strong as the misgivings ….
Opinion: Excellent
“Everything Will Be Alright in the End” is the first Weezer album produced by Ric Ocasek since 2001. It’s also unquestionably the best Weezer album since 2001. These facts aren’t unrelated, but it’s not just the Cars frontman sharpening the band’s game. Thanks to “Eulogy for a Rock Band” and “Back to the Shack,” “Everything” may be the most self-aware record Weezer’s ever released; the latter’s an updated “In the Garage,” only instead of dreaming of being Kiss, the band’s dreaming of being Weezer circa 1994.
Opinion: Great
Somewhere along the line Weezer got goofy. Well, that’s not entirely true: The group was always a little goofy. Even the group’s lionized first two albums were peppered with fumbled jokes and dopey hip-hop appropriations. But by 2005’s Make Believe, that geek humor had given way to just plain bad humor, and it began to eclipse the earnestness that had been the band’s charm.
Opinion: Fairly Good
Whatever Rivers Cuomo does in Weezer will always be held up against the band's first two albums, the self-titled "blue album" (1994) and "Pinkerton" (1996), and inevitably found wanting. Cuomo acknowledges as much on "Back to the Shack," the first single from Weezer's ninth studio album, "Everything Will Be Alright in the End" (Republic). "Back to the Shack" is essentially a statement of purpose and an apology to the fans for past "missteps," including recent collaborations with pop producers and songwriters in an attempt to broaden his audience.
Opinion: Satisfactory
opinion byMATTHEW M. F. MILLER Weezer is one of the more divisive bands to emerge – and continually re-emerge – from the alt 90s dustbin. Every new album since 2002’s disappointing Maladroit has been dubbed a comeback of sorts, which is press release code for a band trying to recreate the sound that made them famous in the first place.
Opinion: Average
This is Weezer’s first record in four years and ninth overall and, man, a lot has happened. Ric Ocasek is back producing on this record too, with Weezer (aka Blue) and Weezer (aka Green) in his wake. But if Rivers Cuomo ever imagined he’d still being doing this in his forties, then maybe, like all of us, he thought it would have a different edge.
'Everything Will Be Alright in the End'
is available now