Weezer’s recent “Africa” cover was nothing to write home about, for sure, but the new Teal Album of covers is total garbage. Why? Because this is obviously an album that was created in a Marketing meeting to make money and become click-bait. No other reason. You can say that it’s purpose is to drum up hype for their upcoming album of originals but I don’t buy that. They sound miserable recording it (River’s Ozzy imitation on “Paranoid” is cringe-worthy), they look miserable dressing up in 80's attire on the album cover and the song selection is pointless. Say what you want, but this is an example of a once great band teaching you it’s more important to be “relevant” or “viral” than being an artist striving for originality, whatever medium that may be in.
The whole damn thing just reeks of desperation for relevance and a complete disdain for what it means to create good, honest music. I don’t think anyone would ever deny Weezer was best in the nineties with their seminal Blue Album and Pinkerton. I even enjoyed a few songs off of the later Green Album, though it was clear they had lost "it". But everything else they’ve done since just sounds like mediocre pop-rock or whatever. Which is totally fine, just not my cup of tea.
Weezer's problem with success is kind of unique. Their original work was endearingly self-deprecating nerd rock. Being successful kind of undermines that image. So... what do you do? You go a completely different direction and alienate your fan base? Or do you pretend you didn't get the memo and fake humility? I like to think they chose option "C" : create shitty music with masochistic hopes that they will fall from grace, so they can find inspiration in the loneliness and depression from which they were originally spawned. And much to everyone's horror, lots of people liked the shitty music. So their response was obviously doubling down and making even shittier music. This has happened over and over. Now I just think they're trolling us to see how shitty they can make music before people catch on. Perhaps eventually Rivers Cuomo will just be farting into a microphone.
As to their Africa cover... it is measure for measure identical to the original. Really spot-on covers are great for live shows, but if I want to listen a version of a song that sounds exactly like the original, I'll just listen to the original, thank you! I think my favorite version of this classic Toto song is from Leo Morachiolli, if mostly for the beastly metal jam-out at the end.
