By Geoff Topley
I really didn't think this one through. An album with songs sung almost entirely in Japanese is surely going to have song titles in Japanese, right? Yep. Please bear with me as I endeavour to review the new album from Scott & Rivers, which is mercifully just entitled Scott & Rivers.
Upfront, I've always had a fixation with Weezer, Rivers Cuomo's mainstay band, but I have to admit a lesser knowledge of Scott Murphy's main band, Allister. After releasing some patchy solo albums I was unsure of this album without the Weezer affiliation. Thankfully I got the chance to hear it though, as the tunes on offer here equal, and possibly better, some of that band's back catalogue.
The background to how this record came about might go some way to assist with understanding why anyone would take such a bold career move. For Murphy, it was a tour in 2001 of Japan with Allister that led to an interest in the culture of the country. He vowed to become fluent in the language and return for further touring. An album part recorded in Japanese shifted serious units. Cuomo's wife is Japanese and he wanted to learn the lingo in order to communicate better with her and her family.
A chance hearing of one of Murphy's records led Cuomo to seek him out with a view to recording this album. Already released in Japan, it's doing the business as you might expect.
I rarely pay much attention to lyrics when it comes to critical appraisal. For me, unless there's something outstanding being said, it's really all about the music (man); poetry is for those with more literate tendencies. Just as well as there are only a few songs with titles/lines in English on Scott &Rivers.
There's a very encouraging start to the album with a less heavy homage to ‘Hashpipe’ in opener ‘Break Free’. This continues with the lead-off single ‘Homely Girl’ with its punchy chugging guitars and a BIG chorus, only has to be heard once to be reverberating around your head. Classic Weezer. Classic Cuomo.
One cultural reference might be the old school Atari video game keys underpinning ’Freakin' Love My Life’, it's one of the dumber tunes on offer and dips the quality just a little. Thankfully it's the fourth track that gets us back on the rails, a clipped piano/fuzzy guitar verse leads nicely into a falsetto reaching chorus. ‘朝は近い’ goes for the more sombre sounds of Green Album classic ‘Oh Girlfriend’ with a very strong melody.
It wouldn't be a Rivers Cuomo album without a little filler and bad Weezer makes an unwelcome appearance in tracks 7, 8 and 9. ‘終わりのないこの詩’ tries a little something different with cheesy synths and beat breakdowns, probably big in Japan, but I found it a tad irritating.
The album ends well though; ‘ほどけていたんだ’ is a cute song that begs for a video with Manga characters. ‘Butterfly’ is a mini Bohemian Rhapsody, its many different parts, descending and rising chords and Brian May-style soloing very reminiscent of Queen. Final tune, ‘君と二人で’, is another more serious affair, showing that Cuomo can write poignant tunes as well as the instant, throwaway bubblegum pop numbers.
What could have been a horribly executed showpiece of excessive artistry is actually a rather excellent collection of fine and melodic alternative rock. Up there with Weezer's better moments, easy to hum along with, singing along is an altogether different prospect!
