Raditude [Deluxe Edition]

Weezer

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 3, 2009)
• Original Release Date: November 3, 2009
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Deluxe Edition
• Label: Geffen Records
• ASIN: B002P8KOMY
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (82 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #5,992 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. (If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To

2. I'm Your Daddy

3. Girl Got Hot

4. Can't Stop Partying

5. Put Me Back Together

6. Trippin' Down the Freeway

7. Love Is the Answer

8. Let It All Hang Out

9. In the Mall

10. I Don't Want to Let You Go

Disc: 2

1. Get Me Some [*]

2. Run Over by a Truck [*]

3. Prettiest Girl in the Whole World [*]

4. Underdogs [*]

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

WEEZER - RADITUDE [DELUXE VERSION with 4 Song Bonus Disc]

Rivers Cuomo (vocals, guitar)
Pat Wilson (guitar, drums)
Brian Bell (guitar, vocals)
Scott Shiner (bass, vocals)

Raditude's swift appearance on the heels of 2008's The Red Album is hardly the only surprise Weezer has in store on its seventh record. Raditude upends any expectations audiences may have of Weezer, amplifying their trademarks to a dizzying degree - the pop hooks dig deeper, the rock hits so hard it bruises - but the group subverts these signatures with a sly hand while pushing boldly into new territory.

Perhaps the collaborative nature of Raditude - arguably its calling card - is in the collective spirit of the band's experience on their last tour. "It feels like an extension of all the fun we were having last year with the Hootenannies," explains Rivers Cuomo, referring to Weezer's innovative supporting tour for The Red Album. Inspired by the old folk sing-a-longs of the `60s, Weezer invited fans onstage- hundreds, at times- to play the band's songs, teaching them the chords while Rivers, Brian and Scott sang.

The wild, wooly settings borne of the Hootenannies couldn't help but push the band in new directions, turning Rivers into a demonstrative performer. "For 15 years I went onstage and looked at my feet as I strummed my guitar," recalls Rivers. "That wouldn't work at the Hootenannies! We had to come out of our shell. We feel like the experience of doing it was boot camp for being frontmen. If we're comfortable walking into a room of a few hundred kids with random instruments, guiding them through the process of playing some Weezer tunes, we can feel comfortable in an arena, knowing that we can interact with a more traditional crowd."

With its rollicking communal spirit, Weezer's latest offering can be viewed as a natural progression from those resulting impromptu jam sessions. Raditude sees the band partying with Lil' Wayne, hitting the clubs with Jermaine Dupri and bringing in a host of Indian musicians to push the band into a psychedelic, spiritual dimension. Within these 10 songs lie boundless possibilities and ceaseless excitement, proof that Weezer remains a band that defies easy summations and can never be taken for granted, a band who has grown as they've opened their horizons.

Part of Raditude's charm comes from its thrilling unpredictability. No song offers an indication of what's next: Weezer inverts Jermaine Dupri's hedonism on his Cuomo collaboration "Can't Stop Partying," spinning it into a minor key that gives it an underlying ironic tension; the band pounds out a classic arena-rocker with the gleefully lascivious "The Girl Got Hot;" they ride a sleek electro groove on "I'm Your Daddy," while "Love is the Answer" builds slowly, surely to its swaying anthemic close and "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To" kicks it all off with its clanking acoustic guitars and Motown beat, setting the tone for an album that's filled with thrilling surprises, infectious melodies, marrying Weezer's hookiest pop with their heaviest rock. As Cuomo says, "It sounds like a roomful of people having a great time" but more than that, Raditude is Weezer's wildest, weirdest, best record yet, easily supporting Cuomo's assertion that "Raditude feels like the greatest realization of my musical goals."

Raditude caps off a remarkable decade that saw Weezer reassert its position as one of the biggest, best rock bands in the world while also seeing their influence echo through a generation who absorbed the sound and feel of the group's two classic `90s albums: their self-titled 1994 debut, dubbed The Blue Album featuring such era-defining hits as "Undone--The Sweater Song" and "Buddy Holly" and their cult classic 1996 sophomore set Pinkerton. Weezer refused to ride on those past glories when they returned in 2001 with The Green Album, sounding vigorous on the hits "Hash Pipe" and "Island in the Sun." The hard, heavy Maladroit, featuring "Dope Nose" and "Keep Fishin'," followed in 2002. Three years later, Weezer released Make Believe in 2005, an album highlighted by "Beverly Hills," their first single to climb into the Top Ten of the Billboard Hot 100. The Red Album arrived in 2008 along with the single "Pork and Beans" whose YouTube-satirizing video won Weezer their first Grammy.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Great Effort From Weezer, November 3, 2009

By	Meecrofilm - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Raditude (Amazon MP3 Exclusive Version) (MP3 Download)

First, if you don't think Weezer is being tongue-in-cheek in naming an album "Raditude," you'll probably be in for a disappointment, as anyone who approaches this album with a straight face, so to speak, won't "get it" at all. Anybody who didn't get that the "boo-yah" in the song Everybody Get Dangerous (off the Red Album) was SUPPOSED to sound really feeble and cheesy because the characters in the song were just that (feeble and cheesy), won't get the songs on Raditude. Hey, song titles like "I'm Your Daddy" and "Girl Got Hot" are exactly what they suggest. Cheesy. Did I mention they're also extremely catchy?

Raditude sounds like an album based around Weezer's earlier hit song Beverly Hills, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, because A) that song is really catchy, and B) we finally get album continuity. That song had no business being on Make Believe, and, though full of good songs, The Red Album doesn't really feel like an ALBUM. Raditude feels like a complete album though--almost a modern update of the Green Album. Just like the Green Album, Raditude starts off with the best song on the album, 'I Want You To.' I can already tell this song will be in my rotation for a long time. The whole first half of the album is some of the most listen-able, catchiest music Weezer has ever written.

Unfortunately, the album stumbles a bit in the latter half. "Love Is The Answer" doesn't really do it for me, and, even though it's not a serious song, I really don't care for "In the Mall" either. Small stumbles aside, Raditude is an album worthy of being added to your Weezer collection. Die hard fans who think that pre-Green Album Weezer is the only true Weezer and everything else is trash will NOT like this album. It's very possible to like both though. Hey, Pinkterton is still my favorite Weezer album, and one of my favorites of all time. It's a masterpiece. But to expect Rivers Cuomo to duplicate an album as personal and raw as that one isn't just completely ludicrous, it's selfish as well. The guy is approaching middle age now, do you expect him to still write the same songs he did 13 years ago? The Pinkerton Era of songs is gone and won't ever come back, and the sooner that Weezer fans accept that the better off we'll be.

Plus, it's not like Raditude is devoid of any heart. Just look at the standout opener. The song starts off optimistic enough, with the prospect of a budding relationship, but then toward the end we get the lines "So much pain may come our way / There may come a day when we have nothing left to say / When the conversation stops and we're facing our defeat / I'll be next to you and you'll be right there next to me." And a song like "Tripping Down The Freeway" may look like more juvenile pop at first glance, but it's yet another song about growing up with someone else as you're in a relationship. Raditude is an album written by a middle-aged man, but with the attitude of someone much younger who's just growing into adulthood. The result is a very pleasing record full of catchy, yet still heartfelt songs. It's a fun record. It was written that way. So leave any hang-ups you have at the door. Pop Raditude into your CD player, and just enjoy yourself.

33 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pork and Beans fears come true?, November 5, 2009

By	rocket21 - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Raditude (Amazon MP3 Exclusive Version) (MP3 Download)

The single "Pork and Beans" from their previous album, Red, was written as a response to a meeting Rivers Cuomo had with the record company, in which pressure was applied on making a more commercial sound. He responds to these requests (such as working with trendy musicians to top the charts) by saying, "Imma do the things that I wanna do / I ain't got a thing to prove to you"

Unfortunately, it appears this resistance has worn away. Only three of the ten tracks were written soley by the band. The rest were co-written by folks such as Jermaine Dupre, Dr. Luke, Butch Walker, and the All American Rejects. Depending upon whether or not one considers drummer Josh Freese part of the band, six of the ten tracks feature outside musicians.

Lead single and first track "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To" is quintessential Weezer - an upbeat, accoustic guitar driven rock song with quirky lyrics. After that, though, the album in my opinion starts a free fall, with quite a few generic, seemingly soulless over-produced pop songs. Two late-album tracks try to maintain some artistic integrity with the far east influenced Love Is The Answer and Beach Boys inspired Don't Want To Let You Go.

Having heard many shelved Cuomo demos over the years, it's always unfortunate to hear releases that feature bland songs. There are probably three albums worth of demos that are, in my opinion, vastly superior to a majority of the material released on the last two Weezer releases.

Instead, over-produced generic pop songs seem to be the norm.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Weezer Letting It All Hang Out., November 3, 2009

By	Mr. Censored (Maine) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

If Weezer have spent the past decade working their hardest to pump out as many albums and hits as possible, than "Raditude," the band's seventh studio offering, is the after-party. True to typical Weezer fashion, it's a polarizing album that will no doubt leave the band's fanbase scratching their heads while simultaneously spawning several radio hits.

While the quality and consistency of the album may not have you jumping for joy like the dog that graces the album cover, there is certainly something here for everyone. Longtime fans will appreciate the somewhat true-to-form "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To" and "Put Me Back Together." The latter, co-written by Tyson Ritter and Nick Wheeler of pop-punk outfit The All-American Rejects is the same kind of heart-on-the-sleeve rocker that made the band such a cult success way back when.

Elsewhere, though, the band takes twists and turns never heard before. Collaborating with Lil' Wayne for "Can't Stop Partying" is an idea that sounds terrible on paper but surprisingly makes for one of the most inspired moments on the album. While on the surface it comes off as a synth-laden party anthem, what is revealed upon closer inspection is a hint of irony that makes the song seem, well, sad.

Likewise, the sleaze-rock of "The Girl Got Hot" and the good-time feel of "I'm Your Daddy" seem superficial on the surface until Rivers reveals himself to be slyly mocking and somewhat paying tribute to sounds and styles not normally embraced. Afterall, this is the man who once confessed his love of nu-metallers Drowning Pool and Limp Bizkit and who wrote a song for Crazy Town. To say his tongue is planted firmly in cheek throughout most of these songs is an understatement, but at the same time, it's done in an affectionate way.

Conversely, the album reaches for epic proportions on "Love is the Answer," a feel-good ballad drenched in sitar and the back-up vocals of Indian singer Amrita Sen. For the most part it works, even if it comes across as a bit obvious and heavy-handed. And what Weezer album would be complete without a heartfelt closer? "I Don't Want To Let You Go" is just that and leaves things on a high note.

For the most part, "Raditude" is a solid effort. The production by Jacknife Lee and Butch Walker allows the band ample room to expand on a wealth of sounds while Cuomo seems up to the task of challenging himself. There are a few duds amidst the genius, but such has been par for the course for the band since the turn of the century. The fact of the matter is that the men that make up Weezer are full-grown adults having fun with their music, and with an open mind, you'll appreciate it.