Losing faith in the Weez

I think it is common knowledge around the world of Inscaped that Weezer is my favorite band.

I don't know what it is but the music has always connected with me.

No one can argue that "Pinkerton" is incredible stuff.

And if you try, then you'll lose that argument.

Heck, I even loved "Maladroit." I remember taking off early from work to go to Circuit City to get that on its release day.

I loved the "Red Album" and the fact that other members of the group wrote and sang some of the songs (those songs were some of my favorites on the CD.)

Then something happened.

"Raditude."

Don't get me wrong, I love a lot of the songs on that CD.

Especially the ones co-written outside of the group ("Put Me Back Together" and "Let It All Hang Out.")

But, lead singer Rivers Cuomo did something different around that time.

He put down the guitar and went solo in front with just a microphone.

And disaster struck.

Cuomo without a guitar is like a kid with ADHD out of control. He's flailing around and acting crazy.

It was obvious to me that Cuomo without his guitar is like Samson without his hair.

Bible reference FTW!

The geek power of Weezer was flowing through Cuomo and his guitar.

Now it's power run amok.

Recklessly pushing people over and kissing hands and shaking babies... somethings not right.

Then it was announced the new record would be called "Hurley" and the cover would be a close up photo of actor Jorge Garcia's face, the actor from "Lost."

Now I love "Lost" but come on... really?

I swear people turned around to look at me when I read the news because my eyes made this really scary sound when they started rolling out of control.

And to make matters worse? The first single.

Here it is... "Memories."



It sounds like Bad Religion started writing a Christmas song, then handed it off to New Order and they re-wrote it with breakup poetry.

I'll still buy "Hurley," because I won't totally give up on them yet.

Here are some recent performances that are giving me some glimmer of hope.





The above one works so well because of Pat Wilson on the keyboard.