Weezer: Maladroit

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

(Herald rating: * * * * )

The comeback continues for the Californian nerd-kings of fuzzpop Weezer with Maladroit, a hasty but hearty follow-up to last year's Green album. Again, frontman Rivers Cuomo is lyrically stewing in his own bile while he and the band fire off one conversely perky, high-powered pop-rocker singalong after another.

It could get annoying, but in Weezer's jerky hands it's a neat trick and makes the album every bit as infectious as its predecessor, especially with the sidelines on offer.

There's a little game of intro-spotter - opener American Gigolo is XTC's Making Plans for Nigel for its first eight bars; Take Control is the riff from T-Rex's Children of the Revolution reworked; and the mock-funky Burndt Jamb starts off with a Doobie Brothers/George Benson flashback.

Then there's the air-guitar opportunities on offer throughout the 14 tracks, with some fevered puppetry of the fretboard on the likes of Dope Nose.

But everything still seems to revolve around Weezer's perfectly placed towering choruses, with the likes of Gigolo, Control and Fall Together the loftiest among them.

Phew, another Weezer-pop scorcher.

Label: Geffen