Weezer - White Album

I feel sorry for anybody not old enough to have known Weezer from the start. Weezer-newbs will be oblivious to the reason for my joy at this (their tenth. Tenth!) release.

It’s sunny and slightly surfy and a lot of the songs are about girls (as you might hope and expect), but there’s still the awkward frustration of not quite being accepted, of being a geek. In short, of being Weezer. California Kids (there’s the surf bit) and Wind In Our Sail are about hope and looking forward. Thank God For Girls sings about how great girls are, Good Thing does much the same but from within a relationship rather than from outside. King Of The World is one of those glorious lyrically-kooky sing-along Weezer songs that if anyone actually heard you singing would think you were making it up on the spot, but for fans just reminds us that these guys really mean it. More songs about girls follow, all seemingly bright and teenage summer-esque, until you listen to the words. Jacked Up is verging on emo, but is still beautifully, genuinely sad (and also one of the stand-out tracks).