Weezer OK Human LP

Analog Planet Rated 10/11 Music, 7/11 Sonics!

Weezer's fourteenth studio album, entitled OK Human, features the lead single "All My Favorite Songs".

During the summer of COVID-19 we grabbed our masks, hit the studio & began to chip away at what is now known as OK Human. An album that was made by a handful of humans using only analog technologies (including a 38 piece orchestra) for all of you humans to consume.

OK Human was made at a time when humans-playing-instruments was a thing of the past. All we could do is look back on ancient times when humans really mattered and when the dark tech-takeover fantasy didn't exist. We used our instruments to connect to the 1960's and 1970's and, with the orchestra, back to the 18th and 19th centuries. We had no click track or loops or hi-tech sounds. Not even an electric guitar.

The first song off of the album "All My Favorite Songs" is out everywhere now. Come watch the video, and let's be friends. - Weezer

...[T]he album feels like a departure: with its soft orchestral balm and sweet melancholic undertow, OK Human offers a singular, complete listening experience unlike anything else in their catalog.

First and foremost, this is an electric guitar-free album. For a rock band this is both unusual and compelling. OK Human's structure is also different; rather than a mere collection of songs, the album is divided into two movements, one per side (how fitting). Pair the layout with Rivers Cuomo’s superb writing, and I'd say this is Weezer's Pet Sounds... Though the music will be timeless, the sound is only decent. The soothingly arranged strings sound life-like, but they don't possess sufficient presence to evoke the required strong response. Cuomo's lyrics and vocals are impactful, though a more intimate recording would better compliment the scars. You won't be disappointed with how it sounds, nor will you be overjoyed. Everything about the package is fine except for the actual disc, both sides of which are strangely cloudy and perhaps the cause of the higher than normal and borderline irritating noise floor. To make matters worse, a lock out groove infects the overly large lead-in area. If you don't lower the stylus beyond it, the music never plays. I've never before experience this and hope never to again! Manufacturing mishaps aside, I'm in awe. Weezer has not only created a cohesive album, but they have made a piece of art. After what has been a musically disappointing decade for the band, OK Human shows a future with great promise.