Weezer
 

Say it ain't so... ;( But somehow, one could see it coming. The green album was a so-so rehash of the wonderful blue one, and Maladroit just plain awful.

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record...-believe.shtml

The one half-decent song on the record, "This Is Such a Pity", fails to even maintain its status as a pleasant Cars homage, interjecting a guitar solo that sounds like it was cut from the original score to Top Gun.

So does Make Believe completely ruin not just present-day Weezer, but retroactively, any enjoyment to be had from their earlier work? I don't know-- I'm too scared to re-listen to those first two albums-- but it certainly appears that Make Believe will expertly extract the last remaining good graces the critical community has to offer latter-day Weezer, unless my colleagues' memories of slow-dancing with Ashley to "Say It Ain't So" are more powerful than I can possibly imagine. Of course, if Ashley went on to break your heart, fellow critic, Make Believe might be just the medicine you need; put it on repeat and watch your emotional scar be obliterated as collateral damage in the torpedoing of Weezer's legacy.


Say goodbye good? We'll see. Erm.. hear.

Some people are liking Make Believe, but I'm not one of them. It sounds pretty bland and uninspired to me. I think Weezer has passed their expiration date, although I don't doubt Rivers still has some great stuff in him.

Perhaps it's just waiting there to get out... Oh wait, apparently it does. :r
(Still haven't heard the record yet).

wEEZER = tEH bLAND

Typo? :D
Yeah, their recent records went downhill. But....

As a fan who was disappointed by the direction of the last two albums (though I kind of enjoyed them for what they were), I was been pleasantly surprised by Make Believe being as good as it is. Weezer need to evolve, and they've struggled for a while, but with Make Believe, I think they've cracked it and have something credible to proud of. It's not dry/detached/formulaic like the last two records, but neither is it aping Blue or Pinkerton. It's not like a whole different band, but I think they've broken new ground well.

So my thoughts are that the Pitchfork review is crazy talk, and that's an incredibly low score.

Yeah, Pitchfork is renowned for its sometimes controversial reviews. Overall, they're just pretty critical. That's why I like 'em. ;P Our reviewer gave the record a score of 4 out of 10. I reviewed the two predecessors with 7/10 (Green), and 5/10 (Maladroit). Although I think both scores were perhaps a bit too high. I've never listened to Maladroit again.

I'm confused now, because for example the Hot Snakes Peel Sessions EP got 7.0, presumably out of 10. I assumed the Make Believe 0.4 was out of 10 too, as in 4 out of 100. Which is low, that's a serious slating.

Yes, it's indeed 0,4 out of 10. Pretty low. I've got to listen to the record anyway. I'm quite a fan and all... :P I'm sure there are at least one or two quite enjoyable pop tunes on the disc. It's Weezer after all! :D

Edit: I've just found the Pitchfork scores for Green (4,0), Maladroit (5,4) and Pinkerton (7,5).
http://pitchforkmedia.com/cgi-bin/se...i?terms=weezer

I think the Pitchfork review is absurd (there's a sentence I've probably said about fifty times). This is a way, way better CD than Green or Maladroit and I like both of those CD's. I actually think this is a better CD than Pinkerton.

Obviously it doesn't touch Blue; nothing can, the pre-fame Rivers who made Blue can never recapture those emotions. But all things considered, I think Make Believe is the best album that "grown-up Weezer" can make. I'm not wild about the single, but "This Is Such a Pity" is an awesome Police homage right out of left field (Pitchfork clearly didn't get the joke about the solo--I would equate their comments to me reviewing Peasant's Quest by saying "The graphics are so crappy, they look like a 1987 adventure game.") and I think "Peace" and "The Damage in Your Heart" are two of the finest melodies Rivers has ever written--and that's what he does better than any other songwriter, write melodies. Seems to be tough to get the screamo generation (aka melodic = bland...but I'm not judging :shifty: ) to understand that.

What I love about this album is that Rivers appears to actually care what he's singing about, as opposed to the complete hodgepodge of random rhyming words he used throughout Green and most of Maladroit. This album is loud, melodic, and super-catchy. I can't say I'd recommend it to Taking Back Sunday fans or anything, but the twentysomething set who remembers falling in love with Blue and Pinkerton and gave up on Weezer afterwards should give these songs a chance.

Put another way: I'm giving this album the same score I gave Runaway. :D :shifty:

You're not referring to my signature, are you? :D I haven't bought their second album, but their debut rocked when it was released.


I will. I have to! It's Weezer. :) Thing is, I've heard better melodies and better songs than on Green (cute, but formulaic) and Maladroit (just not good) even by bands that have obviously grown up on Weezer. Ozma/The Stereo come to mind.. though they are no more. I'm glad to hear, that Make Believe is more like Blue than Maladroit.



Where I come from isn't all that great
My automobile is a piece of crap
My fashion sense is a little whack
And my friends are just as screwy as me

I didn't go to boarding schools
Preppy girls never looked at me
Why should they I ain't nobody
Got nothing in my pocket

[Chorus]
Beverly Hills - That's where I want to be! (Gimme Gimme)
Living in Beverly Hills...
Beverly Hills - Rolling like a celebrity! (Gimme Gimme)
Living in Beverly Hills...


:D

Nothing gets by you. :)

I honestly wasn't--I just sort of see them, Thursday, and Thrice (and the 1000 clones of each) as the downfall of genuine songwriting. I was sort of scarred when I was looking for a band to join in Portland and Every. Single. Band wanted to know if I "could play like Thursday".

I love Ozma, by the way. Especially their first CD. "Shooting Stars", "Baseball", "If I Only Had a Heart"--all brilliant. And all owing their lives to Pinkerton, but that's beside the point. :)

As I said, I like Green and Maladroit a lot. But I think Rivers was so scared of his own songwriting during that period of his life that he intentionally wrote with 25% effort just so that if the fans hated his work he would know he had held back. To me, there's ten times more sincerity behind Make Believe. Not saying Rivers is my brother or anything but I have read every single story/article/interview ever written about him. :shifty:

That sounds incredibly funny. Somehow. :D Thursday's Full collapse in an absolutely amazing record, though. The needle and the damage done.. :) There's some bland stuff out there, I agree. I've been absolutely disappointed by Recover's latest effort. It's really boring. In a "Let's go have some drinks, find a girl, maybe we will fall in love tonight" way. Yikes. I guess they're now pretty big in the States. Tailor-made for college radio. :(


Even the ones published in German music magazines? :D Cuomo loves to write catchy pop tunes and I hope he's getting back on track.