Nada Surf The Weight is a Gift

 Nada Surf

The Weight is a Gift

I know what you’re thinking - Nada Surf, Nada Surf, why do I know that name?  If you scroll through your music memory all the way back to 1996 you’ll probably remember their radio hit “Popular,” with excerpts from the book “The Teenage Guide to Popularity.”   

Until three years ago, that was the only Nada Surf song I had ever heard.  In 2002 Rolling Stone started raving about the album “Let Go” and I decided to check it out.  (Note: Rolling Stone rarely gives good suggestions, so beware.)

“Let Go” is easily one of the best albums of the 2000s.  It’s so good that I actually save it for special occasions, for fear of overplaying it.  After “Let Go,” I went back through the band’s back catalog to see what I had been missing.  Well, not much.  Neither “High/Low” nor “Proximity Effect” were noteworthy.  

I had very modest hopes for “The Weight is a Gift.”  Sure, “Let Go,” was a masterpiece, but the question remained, was it the beginning of greater things to come, or just an average band getting lucky?   

The answer lies somewhere in the middle.  “Weight” is by no means as good as “Let Go,” but better than their first two albums.  Overall, it’s more upbeat, but not necessarily more likable.  The genius of “Let Go” was that in between the somberness, a few happy tracks broke out through the clouds like rays of sunlight.  The happiness on “Weight” lacks downtrodden contrast. 

Though it’s not outstanding, after many listens, I’ve found that “Weight” is just a few solid tracks short of being one of those perfectly understated albums.  Or rather, the album has two or three too many bad songs.  The album rolls along nicely until the mistake of “What is Your Secret.”  The band bounces back with the most “Let Go-esque” moment of the album, “Your Legs Grow,” only to stumble again with “All is a Game.”  Unfortunately, the good songs are not good enough to overpower the songs that don’t work.   

This album works better as a mixtape.  Drop some of the bad stuff, keep the solid tracks like “Always Love,” “Do it Again,” and the expletive-heavy “The Blankest Year” and you will have a nice little EP that you can title “A Little Less Dead Weight is a Gift.”