Weekly > Reviews
Weezer - Make Believe
I’ve got the new Weezer album to review? Oh yeah, I know Teenage Dirtbag. No no, Wee-ZER. Honestly, some of the people I’ve got to work with, where do they get ‘em from?
Anyway, if you don’t know who Weezer are, and I reckon you most definitely should, they are probably most famous for one of the greatest music videos ever made. Buddy Holly is based in Arnold’s Diner on the set of Happy Days. Remember it now? Just to recap Happy Days is the show where a really ‘cool’ bloke, hung around with a load of tossers to make himself look great. Anyway, the video combines old footage of Happy Days with new footage of the band, it’s totally brilliant, and a good song too.
When Channel 4 did its 100 best videos, some of the total classics like Two Tribes (69th) and No Surprises (24th) were in there. No big surprise that Thriller won (yeah, and they needed to make him more scary) and Buddy Holly finished a lame 30th. But what made me seethe for days was Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer was 2nd. It’s shit. It makes you feel sick, it’s crap and I hate it. Maybe it does involve clever techniques but so does er………..Synchronised Swimming…….it doesn’t mean it’s not shite.
Anyway, back to Weezer. They are described in the press release accompanying the album as [I] one of the most popular groups to emerge from the post grunge alternative rock aftermath. Got that? Good.
Their music is, a bit like Fonzie’smates, a little nerdy and it also has a cheeky edge, which is irritating to some, endearing to others. I must admit to being charmed by their debut album in 1994. This featured the aforementioned Buddy Holly but also other superb ear catching tunes like Say It Ain’t So and The World Has Turned And Left Me Here. These are melodic rock based tracks, which are also witty and deliberately self-deprecating.
Led by the very sensible looking but ludicrously named Rivers Cuomo, the lads are back with this new album, which kicks off with their new single Beverly Hills. Unmistakably Weezer this one. It boasts catchy rock guitars with a bit of boorish chanting and a little bit of harmony too. The chanting is so football-like that Manchester United (no longer for sale) will no doubt bastardise it into one of their crap chants, let me see now, sorry it’ll take a minute coz they’re usually really witty, right got it, Gary and Phil, that’s where I want to be, living with Gary and Phil. Maybe that should be Malcolm and Joel now.
Perfect Situation is a plea from the heart. Rivers muses What’s the deal with my brain? Why am I so obviously insane? In a perfect situation I let love fall down the drain, which I think is another reference to his shyness. Plenty of wo-ho’s in this one and the result is pleasing without standing out. This Is Such A Pity sneaks by unnoticed really but Hold Me is one of those moments when the band is capable of rare beauty – stirring stuff.
Track 5 Peace features plenty more of your wo-hos. Rivers really stretches his voice to the maximum here and the track benefits as a result. Next up is We Are All On Drugs another chant-led song, which tries to shatter the myth that taking drugs is cool.
- Weezer
- Make Believe (2005)
- Category: Album
- Label: Geffen
- Reviewed by: Graham Cookson
- Published on: 15 Jun 2005
- Comments: 0
- Beat Surrender Rating:
Weblinks
Add to favouritesAs South Park’s Mr Mackie would say Drugs are bad, m’kay. Of course, we all thought we were all on drugs when Everton, shamelessly taking advantage of the points for results loophole (copyright When Skies are Grey), qualified for the Champions League.
Damage In Your Heart passes by innocuously but precedes Pardon Me which would make a great single. Yet more apparent introspection from Rivers, this album definitely appears to have a cathartic slant. Maybe Weezer are all grown up after all. This is a less boorish more cerebral track and really grabs your attention. Sometimes I let you go, sometimes I hurt you so, I know that I can be the meanest person in the world. Strong stuff, good stuff.
My Best Friend has a quick tempo and a familiar pulsating drumbeat. 10 and 11 are OK but not especially noteworthy.
The final new track Haunt You Every Day is a beauty. The band seem to take special care in making sure the final track of each album stands out. Only In Dreams from their first album is a total classic. This one has all Weezer’s best qualities – gutsy guitar solos, soft and then strong vocals, slow, slow, quick, slow and played with real feeling and meaning. Anthemic, one might say.
The album actually features 2 live bonus tracks. Butterfly is actually the last track from the Pinkerton album, so it follows that it must be good. The final act is Islands in the Sun which starts with a great riff and finds the band in a more melodic and relaxed mode.
So, to summarise, a mixed bag. A must-have for all Weezer fans but I’m unsure whether this makes them any more or less accessible to current non-believers. They are still pretty big in America and I’m sure they are the sort of band who have a hardcore following. I doubt Make Believe will do anything to change that. Pretty good though, especially for a bunch of 30-something teenage dirtbags.
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