Leaping from the majors to the indies,
Weezer
misses not a beat, choosing to continue the co-writing craze
Rivers Cuomo
kicked off on 2009's
Raditude
.
Hurley
-- named after
Jorge Garcia
's beloved Lost character for no particular reason, but anybody with three eponymous albums in an eight-LP career doesn't care much for titles in the first place -- is marginally louder and rougher than the clean sheen of
, but not enough to fool anybody into thinking this is a punk rebirth. For
Cuomo
, independence means he can follow whatever notion seizes his fancy, and in this case he's capitalizing on collaborations, penning eight of
's ten songs (the album runs four longer on a Deluxe Edition that includes a strong cover of
Coldplay
's
"Viva la Vida"
) with a roster so diverse it borders on the nonsensical.
Rivers
is open to writing with anybody: he'll construct slick modern pop with professional songsmiths
Desmond Child
and
Linda Perry
; sharpen up his power pop with the assistance of fellow former college rockers
Dan Wilson
Ryan Adams
, whose respective
"Ruling Me"
"Run Away"
are among the album's highlights; and craft his sweetest, smartest tunes with
No Doubt
Tony Kanal
(the crisp
"Smart Girls"
) and
Rick Nowels
, who co-wrote the classic
"You Get What You Give"
with
Gregg Alexander
and collaborates on
"Hang On"
here -- then, of all people,
gets old pro
Mac Davis
to work on the closer,
"Time Flies."
Nothing on paper ties all these writers together but
is the common denominator, so there's a consistency of sound -- his co-writers amplify quirks and help him hone his craft, turning the songs tight and efficient. Sometimes, the quirks become overwhelming -- the one-note joke
"Where's My Sex?"
wears out its welcome by the second verse -- but usually the melodies and riffs are clean, simple, and powerful, hooking immediately and sticking around for a while. Again,
doesn't suppress his emotion; he just prefers sentiment (albeit delivered somewhat ironically as on lead single
"Memories"
), but what he loves most of all is a pure pop song and
offers up its fair share. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine