Before you read this, please go read Weezer, and pay close attention to Chihuahua Grub's writeup on "the green album." Go.
Back? Okay. Now the first time through that record, I felt precisely the same way. Not a little betrayed. But I'm sure you noticed at the bottom CG says that he did not give the green album the repeated listening test. A fatal mistake.
On the third spin, the green album was revealed to me as an utter pop masterpiece. The melodies were so perfect and crystalline that I didn't mind the guitar solos copying them straight down. So much of my disappointment was rooted in wanting more of the raw confession of Pinkerton and getting tunes simplistic and generically applicable. But Rivers' songwriting talent is so unquenchably pure and bright that it always cuts through the pop-metal treacle of today's radio and demands you stand up and take notice.
Since the recording of the green album in summer 2000, Rivers has written somewhere around two hundred and sixty new songs. As determined by fan response at both live shows and from mp3 demos, Maladroit represents the cream of the crop. One might think that this type of song selection would result in a "greatest hits" style record with little cohesion or adventure, and one would be wrong. Despite what Webby says below, Maladroit is assured and confident, and ironically, uses that sureheadedness to explore uncertainty and ambiguity where the green album lacked the courage to.
Take Control and Slob rage but never reach that major chord that lets you know everything's okay. They're mature angsty songs, which makes sense when you consider the post-adolescent whinging of Pinkerton is six years behind us. Death and Destruction is the closest thing to a ballad since Butterfly, gentle and bittersweet.
Besides the obvious Kiss influence ("my favorite rock group", Rivers sang on his first record), you can hear more classic pop touches strewn throughout this. Keep Fishin' resembles a Beatles tune from 1964, only with distortion. Burndt Jamb sounds like a funky 70's TV show theme until the great lost Jimmy Page riff roars up out of the center. December lifts a chord progression from a thousand doo-wop staples, while Love Explosion blatantly steals the chorus of Do the Locomotion. All of this is done with such energy and efficiency it's hard not to grin.
There's a fresh creativity in Pat Wilson's drum lines. He seems to have recognized the inherent rythmic strength of Rivers' patterns; he can accent beats of his own choosing and both players still ring out strong. New bassist Scott Shriner has a few impressive fills, but these songs aren't meant to leave room for him to distinguish himself. River's guitar solos here absolutely blow away his work on the green album. He was clearly trying to impress us, and he succeeds.
Track list:
- American Gigolo
- Dope Nose
- Keep Fishin'
- Take Control
- Death and Destruction
- Slob
- Burndt Jamb
- Space Rock
- Slave
- Fall Together
- Possibilities
- Love Explosion
- December