Entertainment

Andrew’s Judgmental Album Reviews: Weezer – SZNZ: Summer (2022)

With Spring already judged, SZNZ: Summer is next up! Do Weezer continue to rate highly in the JAR?

Published

2 years ago

June 26, 2022

So after I learned about the gimmick they’re going for this year, and covered Spring, I feel like I have to cover all of them. So the Summer solstice happened during the work week, so this one isn’t as timely as the last, but let’s see if it captures the feeling of the season.

Weezer is: Rivers Cuomo (vocals/guitar), Patrick Wilson (drums/backing vocals), Brian Bell (guitar/backing vocals), Scott Shriner (bass/backing vocals)

Artist: Weezer
Album: SZNZ: Summer (2022)
Label: Crush Music/Atlantic Records
Total Track Time: 23:41

Lawn Chair picks up on that Angel looking down perspective from a few of the Spring songs. It’s very somber with an interpretation of Vivaldi’s Seasons to help imply the change of Spring into Summer when the guitar slide hits and it nearly sounds like graduation music (which is also appropriate). Records this has the heavier Pop Punk sound that they were known for in their heyday. A nice bass groove drives the song as Rivers lists off music guiding his life. So the simple irreverence of Summer where you can just enjoy and follow the tune of your own drummer, so to speak, is the vibe I get from this. Definitely a solid lead single. Blue Like Jazz now this gives me a lot of early 00s Weezer vibes. It’s a jazz infused waltz with crunchy guitar and lyrics that don’t say a ton but gets across summer in the concept of just finding cool things to do, as the chorus says, “Blue like jazz, blue like jazz, Show me how to be cool like that, Blue likе jazz, blue like jazz, Show me how to bе cool like that”.

The Opposite of Me dovetails nicely from the vibe of the last song. Instead of just learning to be cool, this has a rebellious spirit to the guitar driven sound. Learning to be opposite could just symbolize growing up, going from dorky kid to cool kid thanks to a growth spurt or literally just reinventing yourself since Summer during school years was the perfect chance to hit the reset button on who you were and make the next year better/different. Fun song that I could at least dig into and follow along the school days vibe. What’s the Good of Being Good starts off with a goofy sounding marching band bit before going into the vocals. The marching band makes me think this is going back to school, but it could be told from an adult reminiscing perspective. The lyrics are all about accomplishments, medals, awards, all of those, meaning nothing when you have no one to celebrate them with. “What’s the good of being good, When there’s no one who will appreciate, And so you might as well accept the fact, You’re gonna finish last, you’re gonna finish last”, the pessimistic yet tragic perspective has to be from an adult since it’s not often that teenagers are as deeply jaded as the lyrics continue on with. It puts things into an interesting perspective of ‘Glory Days’ of High School and how nothing really mattered.

Cuomoville this probably feels the most out of place, but in Spring, they referenced Romans, Druids, and different interpretations of the Spring solstice. While the songs seems to focus on generalized Roman imagery of feeding people to lions and sacrifice, it doesn’t outright reference Vulcanalia. So this feels like a filler song, but at least musically it’s not jarring or atrocious. Thank You and Good Night is a really good rock and roll beat, and I mean like classic/cliché rock and roll. Kicking off with lyrics about “Rookie Season” I feel like this is supposed to ramp us into the raucous end of summer where Americans go full throttle into Football and energy general goes up toward the end since people try to capture that last little bit of summer. So one last big rager with the boys works well with the music and the title of the song sounds like a nice “til next year” kind of sendoff.

So this album has more of a sound I can personally appreciate whilst keeping very true to the vibe of the season…for the most part. Cuomoville still feels weird and out of place, but they obviously want to do something with the imagery when they bring up Romans and Angels often in these first two albums. Maybe in the grand scheme of the quartet of albums it will make more sense.

Thank You and Good Night along with Blue Like Jazz are great songs. I could imagine them making setlists for years to come. I rated Spring more off of capturing the feeling of the season, aside from how it spoke to me, since the point of these concept albums are more getting across the season vibe. Summer, was better than Spring in all respects (and I’m a cold weather person, fyi). So damn good job!

Final Judgment: 8.05/10

Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!

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Bandwagon Nerds #245: Finales & The Future

The guys discuss the season finales for The Boys & The Acolyte, break down the final Deadpool 3 trailer, and speculate as to the Avengers possible future.

Published

4 days ago

July 22, 2024

PC Tunney

BWN returns this week just in time for the biggest two-week stretch in Nerdom in a very long time. This week saw the season finales of The Boys & The Acolyte. While we have come to expect the unexpected with The Boys, the Season 4 Finale pulled the rug out from everyone with one of the more shocking closing sequences we have seen in a while. Where this leaves us for the final season is anyone’s guess, but the guys try to make sense of it here. Meanwhile, Dave & Tunney touch on the season finale of the much-maligned The Acolyte. Did anything come out of the finale to redeem the series or, more importantly, warrant Disney giving it a second season? The final trailer for Deadpool & Wolverine dropped this week as the biggest movie of the summer comes our way this Friday. The guys discuss the final trailer and speculate as to how much of a gate Deadpool & Wolverine might draw. All that plus more layoffs at Warner Brothers, disappointing news for the Halo franchise, and with San Diego Comic-Con also happening this week, is Marvel poised to bring back some familiar faces to herald in the next wave of Avengers movies?

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Join Patrick O’Dowd, David Ungar, PC Tunney, Rey Cash, and DPP as they keep everyone up on all things nerd, and maybe add some new nerds along the way. It’s the Bandwagon Nerds Podcast!

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Entertainment

Musical Chairs S4: E2- Randy Newman & The Doors [071624]

Musical Chairs returns for Episode 2 of Season 4. This week, the guys cover Randy Newman and The Doors!

Published

1 week ago

July 16, 2024

David Ungar

Musical Chairs returns for another excellent installment as we take a look at two more tremendous acts from the annals of music history. This week, Patrick chose Randy Newman. Equal parts songwriter and performer Randy Newman is one of the most celebrated songwriters of this, or any other, generation. In the later part of his career, he composed no less than nine Disney-Pixar films, and he has been nominated for 22 Academy Awards! Dave, meanwhile, chose one of the most iconic and controversial bands of all time…The Doors. Led by one of rock’s all-time great frontmen, Jim Morrison, The Doors redefined music in the late 60’s and early 70’s. Despite being under constant scrutiny…. including being banned in many parts of the nation… The Doors became legends and their music continues to be extremely popular even today. Tune in this week and learn a few things about two hugely important fixtures of musical history!

Today’s hosts: Dave Ungar (@AttitudeAgg) and Patrick O’Dowd (@WrestlngRealist)

Episode 2 of Season 4 of Musical Chairs focuses on Randy Newman & The Doors

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The rebirth of Chairshot Radio will see a rotating cast of hosts delivering you a new show EVERY day. Sports, Entertainment and Sports Entertainment is the umbrella under which we seek to invade your earballs. So sit back, relax and LET US IN…

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Created in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts, including POD is WAR, Women’s Wrestling Talk, Chairshot Radio daily editions, The #Miranda Show, Badlands’ Wrestling Mount Rushmores, The Outsider’s Edge, DWI Podcast, Bandwagon Nerds, the Greg DeMarco Show, 3 Man Weave, Five Rounds, Turnbuckle Talk, The Reaction and more! You can find these great shows each week at theChairshot.com and through our distribution partners, including podcasting’s most popular platforms.