Issue date: 11/12/09 Section: TruLife

They're easily accessible, fun to sing along to and a great companion on the dance floor. They dominate the radio waves so that you can't escape their grasp. This review examines rock albums with a healthy heaping of pop, and this week's newest pop-rock gems come from Weezer and Say Anything.

Weezer's seventh album, "Raditude," continues the band's trend of shying away from their past sounds, possibly alienating hardcore fans. Gone are the introspective confessions penned for their breakout albums such as "Pinkerton," or the first two self-titled albums. It has become harder to tell if songs are written ironically or just to sell albums to the lowest common denominator - a question longtime followers and critics are bound to debate on Internet forums for weeks to come.

Although Weezer's last release saw front man Rivers Cuomo coming to terms somewhat with his midlife crisis, "Raditude" is written nostalgically through the eyes of an awkward horny teenager. This is the album my generation listened to in high school, complete with pop-rock hooks, sophomoric lyrics about lust and awkwardness and raging pubescent hormones.

The opening song "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To," a peppy song about awkward dates to Best Buy and watching "Titanic," kicks off with this concept. It ends up being the most focused, likeable song on "Raditude." "I'm Your Daddy," which is creepy coming from Cuomo's middle-aged lips, sounds almost like a Killers song. He is too old to be selling us lines like "You are my baby tonight / And I'm your daddy."

"Can't Stop Partying" probably will be the track everyone talks about. Diehards will hate it for its content, but others will add it to their party mixes. Weezer enlisted the help of Lil' Wayne to rap about girls, dancing and Patron. It's hard to tell if this song should be taken as ironic or not. The album loses its focus from this point on - slow jams mix with upbeat songs, and the flow is broken. Weezer threw in a sitar-infused "Love is the Answer" and a song about teens hanging out at the mall, aptly titled "At the Mall." Lyrics don't have any real meaning in most of these songs - "take the elevator to the escalator ride it down and start again!" is sung with no real point.

"I Don't Want to Let You Go" spoke personally to me despite its simple lyrics and closes the album on a soft note. For a little extra content, splurge on the deluxe edition of the album for four bonus tracks. These four tracks bring a much harder sound and would have been a welcome addition to the standard release. "Raditude" does have its shining moments if the band is not considered pre-millennium Weezer but rather just a band having fun with their music. It's fun to listen to if pop-rock is what you are looking for, but look to earlier Weezer releases for a more mature sound.

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