‘Tout Ensemble’: Weezer’s 6th LP Coming Together
By: Thomas Hannan
The picture above never fails to make Rockfeedback smile. Yet the same can't be said of the recent output or increasingly bonkers actions of Rivers Cuomo and his band Weezer, who for a moment there were for us kids one of the most important bands in the world. Given that their previous LP Make Believe was so diabolical, why do we care that they've got a sixth record coming out ? Because we remember The Blue Album and Pinkerton. And we're ready to forgive, if they're ready to make admit their mistakes.
Interesting then that bassist Scott Shriner is on record as saying that the band's next release, entitled Tout Ensemble, will be the sound of "some of the band's most challenging goals" being reached. Not that making something better than Make Believe (a record which has bafflingly sold over 1.1 million in the 'States, roughly twice as many copies as Pinkerton) is much of a challenge, but at least they're making the right noises. Hopefully some of those 'right noises' will feature on the record this time too.
The brave among you can check out what we hope is the resurrection of one of grunge-pop's greatest bands when the eighteen track Tout Ensemble is released on April 22nd. If you can't wait for that - and really are a glutton for punishment - a similarly mammoth collection of Rivers Cuomo solo recordings (entitled Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo) is released on December 18th.