With Raditude (2009) Rivers Cuomo was at the top of the Billboard charts, the album conformed to very at that time (and even today) familiar mainstream pop-rock sound and with the support of Lil Wayne (yes, exactly the !! !) dared to even a trip to yet more popular fields. Nothing helped, at the end of the tip was narrowly missed, Raditude charted at no. 7 (the red album from the previous year, which came along much more experimental and ambitious, ended up in 4th place!) And was used as both of their own fans also panned by critics.
So, but quickly returned to the rock world, probably thought Cuomo and pushed as soon as possible 2010 album Hurley (where the rest of the band was only involved permitting) after. It was the first and last album of the band on the indie label Epitaph, after previously the, had left Major Geffen (Universal), on which all the previous albums of the band appeared. Thanks to the accompanying Jackass videos (and due to the death Ryan Dunn's) the first single Memories was a moderate YouTube success and is considered by many Jackass fans as an unofficial tribute song for Dunn (Dunn died a year after the video shoot in a car accident) , Although Hurley had to offer some decent songs (Unspoken, Ruling Me, Hang On), knew the album as a whole is not convincing and was plus produces miserable (Shawn Everett). The album debuted at # 6, despite lower sales figures than they did at Raditude.
So overall high time for a break with three albums in three years, is even with such gifted songwriters like Rivers Cuomo (Across the Sea, Say It Is not So, Only in Dreams, The Good Life) is a risk that the quality of the Quanität can not quite keep up.
Four years has Cuomo posted on new plant and it paid off. The quality of the songs is not consistently as high as for the alternative rock milestone Pinkerton (1994). The band has again found joy of making music together, large parts of the new album was even recorded live in the studio. Cuomo seems to have rediscovered the love of his guitar, he showed at last too rare thing for a gifted guitarist he is. And also for the producers chair you could find someone who not only knows his craft, special masters: None other than Ric Ocasek, mastermind of the Cars (Drive, You Might Think, Just What I Needed) now produced for the third time the band as even at the Blue Album and the Green Album. That was very important, because even sound technically the album stands out from the majority of the current rock releases from. The guitars sound fat and defined at the same time, the drums precise and Cuomo's vocals are welcoming and warm just as they should be. The Bass rounds everything off perfectly and provides the necessary sound volume.
The album as a whole is very worth hearing (about the five star album is always more than the sum of its individual songs). The production, songwriting and the themes of the album (women, getting older also in relation to other and paternity) are excellently implemented and act self-contained. For the undecided there is still my highlights of the album as Anspieltipps:
The British Are Coming
I've Had It Up To Here
Da Vinci
Cleopatra
It's the band hoped that you can satisfy with the album its equally true as demanding fans (no wonder with albums like Pinkerton, the Blue Album, or the Red Album) and succeeds the odd rock fan on its side to draw. It would be earned.
