Van Weezer

by Weezer

Overview

Rivers Cuomo began plotting Weezer's return to hard rock long before the October 2020 passing of Eddie Van Halen, but once the guitarist left this world, Cuomo decided to dub the group's heavy 2021 record Van Weezer. The title is an affectionate tribute to an early musical hero and also some truth in advertising: The album is indeed filled with the kind of oversized riffs and melodies that characterized Van Halen's reign in the early 1980s. Like all great Van Halen albums, Van Weezer weighs in at a swift 31 minutes, spending no longer than necessary to drive home the hooks and guitar solos, but that's where the easy comparisons end. Weezer doesn't use the early Van Halen albums as a blueprint so much as they treat the band as their spirit animal, attempting to infuse Weezer's power pop with a dose of reckless abandon. Rivers smartly doesn't attempt to mimic the gonzo showmanship of David Lee Roth; he sticks to his geeky persona, an image that is enhanced, not contradicted, by the overdriven roar of the amplifiers. It's not so much that there's tension between Cuomo's plain-spoken vocals and the mountains of guitars, but that the noise delivers a transcendence his singing yearns to achieve. It also helps that this neo-nostalgia project helps focus Cuomo's songwriting. Working with a rotating cast of collaborators, he remains focused on big hooks, melody, and clever turns of phrases that never are anchored to the past even when they play upon memories. It's a trick that Van Weezer pulls off as a whole: any of its retro origins are washed away by big, dumb sounds that keep the record grounded in the eternal now, an aesthetic choice that also helps the album be a rousing good time. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	05/07/2021
Label:	Atlantic
UPC:	0075678650925
Rank:	132761

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Weezer   Primary Artist
Patrick Wilson   Drums
Rivers Cuomo   Guitar,Vocals,Keyboards,Guitar (Rhythm),Vocals (Background)
Ric Ocasek   Vocals
Scott Shriner   Bass,Guitar (Bass),Vocals (Background)
Charlie Brand   Vocals
Suzy Shinn   Guitar,Vocals,Synthesizer
Coast Modern   Vocals
Brian Bell   Guitar,Guitar (Rhythm),Vocals (Background)

Technical Credits

Patrick Wilson   Group Member
Rivers Cuomo   Composer,Group Member
Wesley Seidman   Engineer
Jake Sinclair   Assistant Engineer
Scott Shriner   Group Member
Kevin Ridel   Composer
Sejo Navajas   Assistant Engineer
Ross Garfield   Drum Technician
Joe LaPorta   Mastering
Charlie Brand   Engineer
Geoffrey Downes   Composer
Josh Skinner   Assistant Engineer,Assistant Engineer
Dan Omelio   Composer
Suzy Shinn   Engineer,Producer,Recording
John Sinclair   Assistant Engineer
Nick Long   Composer
Johnny Morgan   Assistant Engineer
Wes Sideman   Engineer
Ivan Wayman   Engineer,Assistant Engineer
Luke Atlas   Composer
Coleman Trapp   Composer
Coast Modern   Programming
Denzel Baptiste   Composer
David Biral   Composer
Lizzy Ostro   Assistant Engineer
Andreas Kvinge Sandnes   Assistant Engineer
Ruben Valle   Assistant Engineer
Akil Baptiste   Composer
Denzel Michael   Composer
Bob Daisley   Composer
Billy Steinberg   Composer
Billy Joel   Composer
Mike Fasano   Technician,Drum Technician
Evan Taubenfeld   A&R
John Wetton   Composer
Randy Rhoads   Composer
Ozzy Osbourne   Composer
Michael Beinhorn   Producer,Navigator,Pre-Production
David Charles   Composer
Josh Alexander   Composer
Brian Bell   Group Member
Daniel Bedingfield   Composer
Dave Bassett   Composer
Tim Pagnotta   Composer
Matty Green   Mixing
Shawn Everett   Engineer
Donald Roeser   Composer