Review Summary: A diamond in the rough.
Maladroit is somewhat of the black sheep in
Weezer’s discography. It came out a year after
The Green Album – the band’s venture back into the music scene after the unwarranted backlash singer-songwriter
Rivers Cuomo received from
Pinkerton. As a comeback album
Green did have a couple of gems, the lead singles namely. It was a safe album, intentionally so, to ease back into the swing of things with no chance of stirring any controversy among either fans or critics.
Maladroit also came out before
Make Believe; or as it’s commonly regarded, Weezer’s definitive “sell-out” album, with hit singles such as ‘Beverly Hills’ and ‘Perfect Situation’ comfortably placing the band at the center of mainstream attention while critics rightfully panned the album for being uninspired and sporadically awful (‘We Are All on Drugs’, ‘My Best Friend’). At the time
Green had come out, fans were simply excited that Cuomo was making music again. But the whole “Weezer’s back” mentality was short-lived as
Green was shrouded in paper-thin pop songs, which is likely why its successor
Maladroit didn’t receive as much recognition as it should have – the world didn’t need another generic alternative band pumping out sugary radio rock hits. It’s unfortunate because, quality-wise,
Maladroit is head and shoulders above its surrounding albums and was the band’s best post-
Pink release by quite a large margin (at least until
Everything Will Be Alright…). It contained both the tongue-in-cheek and raw elements from
The Blue Album and
Pinkerton while retaining the harmlessly fun vibe that encompassed
Green, and it still manages to sound as fresh and energetic all these years later.
Now, Weezer has had distorted guitar-driven tracks in the past (‘Getchoo’, ‘Hash Pipe’), but Cuomo’s infectious jingles and catchy hooks were always the focus of the songs – the fuzzy riffs simply provided a little extra oomph to the atmosphere. Here, that formula is scrapped from the very first track, which opens the album with possibly the heaviest riff of the band’s career, and it’s kept in the spotlight while Cuomo faux-raps over the pounding drums and guitars. ‘American Gigolo’ challenges Weezer fans from the get-go without straying too far from what makes the band so likeable with its incredibly catchy, feel-good chorus; and it accomplishes this in just under three minutes. The album itself is only 34 minutes long with the longest track barely stretching the 3-minute mark, making for an easily digestible listen as
Green was, but substantially more interesting and experimental at the same time. Highlights ‘Burndt Jam’ and ‘Slave’ utilize jazz chords emphasizing the major-7th for a nice beach vibe, while ‘Death and Destruction’ juxtaposes power chords with a soothing lounge atmosphere – techniques that Weezer hasn’t used since the beloved
Blue Album.
The songwriting process was different on
Maladroit as well. The band had actually accepted input from fans on what songs or demos should or should not be on the record. As you can imagine, there were some discrepancies – specifically, Cuomo thought the fans were picking the “wackest songs” and disregarded many of their suggestions. One thing both the band and fans agreed upon, however, was the inclusion of ‘Slob’, the longest song on the album clocking in at 3-minutes and 9-seconds. It immediately takes a different approach from what we’ve come to expect from Weezer. It opens with a distorted guitar arpeggiating chords (think ‘Thoughts of a Dying Atheist’ by
Muse) and Rivers wailing over the progression with complete sincerity despite how trivial the lyrics are;
(Get yourself a wife/get yourself a job/you’re living a dream/don’t you be a slob). ‘Dope Nose’ was one track written during the
Green sessions, on the same night as ‘Hash Pipe’ to be exact, and in the same vein. Rivers Cuomo, tequila, and too much Ritalin: a devious combination that ensures a devilishly catchy product.
Maladroit isn’t held in the same regard as
The Blue Album or
Pinkerton for a reason, though. A few songs follow the same blueprints laid down by previous tracks. ‘Possibilities’ for instance, while being a fun song on its own, draws immediate comparisons to other power pop tracks on the album and plausibly comes across as something
Green Day might have written earlier in their career. There also isn’t really one song that sticks out from the rest. Sure, ‘Burndt Jam’ has one of Weezer’s grooviest and feel-good vibes, but being only two-and-a-half minutes long, it holds little water when compared to standouts such as ‘Only in Dreams’ and ‘Across the Sea’.
Maladroit is a consistently good listen from beginning to end but seldom dips into the territory of genuine greatness that its predecessors
Blue and
Pink did.
