Holy Weezer!

Make Believe
Geffen, 2005
rating: 1.5/5
reviewer: mr p

To extinguish that question burning in everybody's heads, allow me to piss on your fire: Make Believe is not Pinkerton. It's not a "return to form" or a throwback to the mid-'90s, nor is it even an attempt at such, as some rags claim. Despite the slight chance that Rivers's new meditation practices would revive his songwriting impotence, Make Believe is the nail in the coffin, the album that has ensured their irrelevancy. Rivers's illusory faith in the market as an arbiter of "good" taste has ultimately led him astray. To believe that the more popular the song, the better the song is also to believe that Britney Spears is popular because of her talents. For an industry that relies on extensive marketing and centralized power for its imperial dominance in the music world, Weezer has always appeared as that glimmer of hope that music didn't have to deconstruct itself to show its value, nor did the music have to even push limits or eschew good wholesome pop sensibilities for ham-fisted politics. It could simply be genuine, and it was precisely this faith in Weezer that kept us coming back. But Make Believe seems disingenuous. Even Brian Bell recently told Rolling Stone that he sometimes feels like just one part of Rivers's big experiment.

http://www.tinymixtapes.com/musicreviews/w/weezer.htm

its funny how when an album isnt quite what everyone expects it to be, it sucks.

i seem to remember Kid A getting horrible reviews all over, i mean, horrible.

now, the album is in Top Lists everywhere.

(no way am i comparing this to Make Believe, no WAY)

Originally posted by sonickteam3:
i seem to remember Kid A getting horrible reviews all over, i mean, horrible.

now, the album is in Top Lists everywhere.

it's too bad that kid a isn't even close to radiohead's best album. i think people feel obligated to like it or something. i'm not saying it's a bad album, but you can't even start to try to argue that it's a stronger album than ok computer. hell, i'd say hail to the thief is a better album than kid a. is kid a important in the evolution of radiohead? certainly, but that doesn't mean that one has to say it's one of radiohead's best or one of the best in general.

Originally posted by distance:
but you can't even start to try to argue that it's a stronger album than ok computer.

while i could argue that Kid A is better than OK Computer , I could also argue the other way around, so many great things about both of them, yet they are too different to compare.

I wont say what Radiohead album is the "best" but Hail To The Thief is my favourite.


back to Weezer

To me, the Green Album is Weezer's finest moment. Simple, repetitive, but they tapped into some great unfiltered jetstream like sound. The repetition makes it flow which somehow gives it depth. Love the opening Don't Let Go, and can't help listen to it all the way through. Great driving music. I don't know why they don't work exclusively with Ric Ocasek. And yeah, I know I'm not a real a fan.

I just drove to Centerville and back. I put all the Weezer albums on shuffle play in my ipod. Jeez, they're all good. We are the world. We are the children. We are all on drugs (ok, drag those lyrics to the curb along with dope nose). But please don't ask me why I was driving to centerville.

Anyway, from someone who bought pinkerton the night it came out (at 12:01 am) and saw them on that tour (at 9:30), in retrospect i don't think the newer songs stray too far from that album. With distance and time I think that the newer songs fit right in with the old ones. I'd say that Pinkerton and Maladroit are long lost cousins. Green and Blue are fraternal twins. Make Believe is second cousin to the other four (I never took a genetics course).

"The Damage In Your Heart" could've been a b-side from the blue album. As shitty as it is, "…On Drugs" is Pinkerton material. As is "Beverly Hills."

Weezer's older albums aren't as great as we remember…or…if we'd had the new ones back then we'd have loved them just as much. I don't think much has changed. The more I listen to all these on shuffle the more I smile. Isn't that all that's important?

And Kid A is better than OK Computer.

Originally posted by Chip Chanko:

And Kid A is better than OK Computer.

:)