Weezer -- Make Believe
8/10
Hot take, coming through!!!
Late in the summer of 2005, after another late night with my friend Jon, aka real-life giant walking pal, I slept on the sheetless guest-room mattress at his mom's house, gigantic ginger cat, Caesar, on my head. Being an unemployed, hyperemotional, early 20's drifter, so much stuff could make me angry so quickly. That morning, Jon blasted Weezer's new album, Make Believe, over the sound of his mom's parrots' sunrise squawks. I had recently seen the video for Make Believe's lead single, "Beverly Hills," and decided that Weezer sold out, I now hated them, and that I would only listen to their first three albums. "Turn this sellout crap off!" I yelled. "Hey, it's not that bad!" Jon answered, but did I listen? Of course not! I lived with my parents, I had no job, and I knew EVERYTHING!
Flash forward to me revisiting every Weezer album for these reviews and...I actually like Make Believe.
Sure, it looks like opening track and lead single "Beverly Hills" is pandering to the masses: the finger snaps and claps, the weird female background vocals, the talkbox guitar solo. Then you look at the lyrics, and its the same, sad Rivers Cuomo from the band's early albums. He knows that no matter how big his band gets, he will never fit in with the Hollywood scene. "It's something that you're born into/and I just don't belong," he sings, heralding a return back to the personal lyrics of Weezer's early career. This return to the personal was lauded by critics at the time, but this was not a cool time to like Weezer, as evidenced by the too-cool-for-school Nicsperiment of 2005 dissing Make Believe without even actively listening to it. Websites like AllMusic actually went back and changed their review scores from initial high praise, to a more middling reaction. Of course, Pitchfork initially gave Make Believe a 0.4/10 because Pitchfork, as always, has to act like a damn clown. What a joke.
The truth of it is, Cuomo does a good job getting personal again, even if he's far less tortured than he was the decade before. On top of that, Make Believe only features one song that, upon close inspection, is objectively bad--"We Are All On Drugs." Here, Cuomo tries to sing about how everyone turns to something to get through the day, but his lyrical choices just make the song sound silly. The other 11 tracks, though, are quite good.
"Perfect Situation" is essentially the perfect Weezer song. Huge-sounding guitars, big power-pop-rock sound, great, heartfelt Cuomo lyrics and singing about romantic disappointment, some piano, huge guitar solo in the bridge, humongous final chorus. "Hold Me" might be the band's most heartfelt song ever, with an enormous chorus that's so emo, yet so perfect. The extended "it's going to be alright" outros of "Peace" and "The Damage in Your Heart" both feel very 2005 in the best way possible, and are actually the exact vibes I needed that summer. I shouldn't have been so reactionary!
Is "My Best Friend" a little too gooey? Yes, but this entire album has an "I'm trying to make things right" vibe (Cuomo was getting seriously into meditation when Make Believe was being created), and the song works in that context. Plus, it's Weezer.
Finally, I absolutely love the double-closers, "Freak Me Out," and "Haunt You Every Day." The gentle former somehow takes a story about Rivers getting scared by a spider, and turns it into a universal call for co-existing peacefully with folks who creep you out. "Haunt You Every Day," the latter, is the big, classic, emotional Weezer closer a fan would expect. I should have jammed to this. At least I'm doing it now.
I have to end with this now, though: the 90's unique Weezer weirdness is missing here in 2005, and here now in 2021. The fact of the matter is, Matt Sharp, the band's bassist in the 90's, brought that specific weirdness, with his trademarked, high-pitch background vocals, and singular basslines. His replacement, after Green one-off Mikey Welsh (R.I.P.), has been Scott Shriner. Shriner, though a fine bass player, doesn't play the way Sharp does. Shriner's background vocals are also far more traditional. That doesn't mean his addition is bad--far from it. Weezer just sounds different with him than it did with Sharp. Once it's clear what contributions Sharp made should no longer be expected, it's a lot easier to appreciate the 2001-the present version of Weezer. They're still plenty weird!
2005 Geffen
1. Beverly Hills 3:16
2. Perfect Situation 4:15
3. This Is Such a Pity 3:24
4. Hold Me 4:22
5. Peace 3:53
6. We Are All on Drugs 3:35
7. The Damage in Your Heart 4:02
8. Pardon Me 4:15
9. My Best Friend 2:47
10. The Other Way 3:16
11. Freak Me Out 3:26
12. Haunt You Every Day 4:37
I have to end with this now, though: the 90's unique Weezer weirdness is missing here in 2005, and here now in 2021. The fact of the matter is, Matt Sharp, the band's bassist in the 90's, brought that specific weirdness, with his trademarked, high-pitch background vocals, and singular basslines. His replacement, after Green one-off Mikey Welsh (R.I.P.), has been Scott Shriner. Shriner, though a fine bass player, doesn't play the way Sharp does. Shriner's background vocals are also far more traditional. That doesn't mean his addition is bad--far from it. Weezer just sounds different with him than it did with Sharp. Once it's clear what contributions Sharp made should no longer be expected, it's a lot easier to appreciate the 2001-the present version of Weezer. They're still plenty weird!
2005 Geffen
1. Beverly Hills 3:16
2. Perfect Situation 4:15
3. This Is Such a Pity 3:24
4. Hold Me 4:22
5. Peace 3:53
6. We Are All on Drugs 3:35
7. The Damage in Your Heart 4:02
8. Pardon Me 4:15
9. My Best Friend 2:47
10. The Other Way 3:16
11. Freak Me Out 3:26
12. Haunt You Every Day 4:37
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