After 25 years, I fear the band is about to put out their first bad album.
The thing I've wanted the most from Weezer since Pinkerton is an embracing of the raw. A rejection of such has led to Rivers leaving literally some of the best material he's ever written off of albums, or once they appear they have all flavor taken out. This is a good step in the right direction, so therefore I am pleased.
![Weezer - Pinkerton [Deluxe Edition]](https://cdn2.albumoftheyear.org/100x0/album/52981-pinkerton-deluxe-edition.jpg)
A masterful album with stupidly good b-sides added. They're absolutely incredible man, I love this so much.
Easily the most disappointing Weezer album. There are a treasure trove of demos from 2002-2005 and this is somehow the album we ended up with? There are multiple albums worth of better material that never saw the light of day from this time, legit some of their best. Makes me irrationally mad to think about.
Really tasteful convergence of Transistor and the Blue Album. Has some truly excellent cuts and is overall a strong listen. A stronger ending might've earned it best album status. Either way the results are still something to admire.
An album with an identity crisis. Does 311 want to be evocative in their songwriting (to mixed results)? Do they want to make built-for-cruise ships reggae rock? Maybe songs to dance to with your partner while on that said cruise? Who knows? All I know is that the result is charming, but ultimately jarring, cheesy, and inconsistent.
Was an excellent return to form for the band after their three weakest records. More mature songwriting, and passion found in the tracks. Varied with many sounds calling back to the bands past while also charting a new future. There's a reason why diehards consider this amongst their best.
My least favorite 311 album. Lacks the passion found on other albums. The two projects after are far superior. Since this came out it felt like filler to me. At least DTOM felt like it was trying something different, but Universal Pulse feels like retreads of 311 you've heard before, but with less energy.
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