New Weezer album! Wooooooo! « Frequelize This

Posted by: almaniac | May 12, 2005

New Weezer album! Wooooooo!

Back in 1994, Weezer put out one of my favorite power pop albums of all time, “Weezer,” (aka The Blue Album, since they pulled a Peter Gabriel and named their third album “Weezer” as well). Sure, the radio tried to call it different things, like alternative and emo (at least, they point to this album when emo’s roots are hunted down). At its heart, it’s good ol’ fashion power pop, which describes the band at its best moments.

Their latest album, Make Believe, came out on Tuesday, and from what I’ve heard so far, it’s in many ways a throwback to that first blue record. This time around, they got long time veteran producer Rick Rubin to help craft out there sound, and the result is good time pop with snarling guitars and-get this-sunny, almost positive lyrics, something not necessarily expected from frontman Rivers Cuomo, who almost became the nerdy version of Morrisey on Pinkerton. Plus, this album contains the most fun power pop song that will be released this year. It’s a song called “We Are All On Drugs,” and it is as catchy and addictive as a big ol’ heaping spoon of smack.

Posted in Power Pop, Weezer, alt-rock, emo, rick rubin

Responses

I got this album but haven’t given it a listen yet (I’ve got too much new stuff!) I just checked out “We Are All On Drugs”. Good song, but I’m not ready to agree it’s the most fun of a year that’s not yet half over. Already this year the competition from Ben Folds, Eels, Wheatus, Superchick, Self, and The Doves is stiff (and those are just naming the ones that I have). In fact, I can already think of specific songs from those artists that would get my vote for “most fun power pop song SO FAR this year”. Hmm… I see a post in my near future.

Let me know what you think of this album once you get more into it and I’ll do the same. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the blue album, but generally haven’t been enthusiastic about any of their output since then.

By: Jon on May 12, 2005
at 12:30 pm

Too much new stuff. I think need to sell by kindey to get the money so I can go to town proper at Second Spin.

By: Dave on May 12, 2005
at 9:07 pm

Ok, here’s a review of the new Weezer album, “Make Believe”. First, I want to give you my perspective. I was not ready for “Pinkerton” (2nd album 1996). I was expecting another Weezer album (as in, similar to the Blue album). So I bailed on the band at that point. But if you look at Pinkerton on its own merits and not just as “the sequel to the Blue album should be more of the same type of songs”, then Pinkerton is strong. But I didn’t get to that point until after I had already appreciated the Green Album and Maladroit as very good follow ups to the Blue album… they were more like what I was expecting. “Make Believe” is lyrically more similar to Pinkerton than any others. Cuomo is baring his emotions again. This is a more personal singer/songwriter record, like Pinkerton was. But… he’s pulling the punches musically and I’d rather have these lyrics accompanied by the raw rage of the music on Pinkerton rather than Rubin’s slick production values. What comes from this is the weakest Weezer album yet. It’s still a decent album and Weezer fans will find stuff to like here. But if you’ve not yet gotten into Weezer, there are two important things you need to know. (1) You must get into them NOW! But (2) don’t do it with this album. Start with the Blue album. If you’re tight on funds… look to the other artists I mentioned in my earlier comment that have new albums out before this one.

Song by song for “Make Believe”:
1. Beverly Hills - nothing new, but decent 7/10
2. Perfect Situation - 8/10
3. This is Such a Pity - 8/10
4. Hold Me - kinda boring 6/10
5. Peace - Cuomo’s vocals are so forward in the mix, his whiney screaming becomes unbearable. I’d give this a 0/10 except that the “Woah” stuff brings it up to a 4/10.
6. We Are All On Drugs - lame lyrics, but this being upbeat after the disaster of the previous track lets it hit 8/10.
7. The Damage In Your Heart - Boring 5/10
8. Pardon Me - More whiney screaming 3/10
9. My Best Friend - kinda corny, but it works and it’s fun 9/10
10. The Other Way - annoying chorus 6/10
11. Freak Me Out - 8/10
12. Haunt You Every Day - 5/10

So… with the help of my song ratings stored in my music management program, MediaMonkey, Weezer’s discography breaks down like this for me.

Weezer (Blue) (1994) - 9/10
Pinkerton (1996) - 8.2/10
Weezer (Green) (2001) - 6.8/10
Maladroit (2002) - 7.5/10
Make Believe (2005) - 6.4/10

By: Jon on May 12, 2005
at 11:57 pm

I bought it, I dig it at least more than Jon did. Beverly Hills sold me, just for the WahWah geetar alone. Best Friend is cool and This is Such a Pity has a cool 90’s vibe going with it.
Pardon Me though would have to be my favorite. Rivers Cuomo is known for his social anxiety problems and this song seems to address that, almost as if he’s finally out of college and all growed up.

Much more accessible then Pinkerton but not as good as the Blue album

I would rank song by song but don’t have time:

Songs 7/10
Album Art: Good insert with all lyrics 8/10
Cool Factor 6/10, nothing new, won’t drive the world to it’s kneew
Gotta hear that CD NOW!!! car factor 6/10
Good to listen in background at work 7/10

By: Dan on May 13, 2005
at 1:01 pm

Funny that you have Maladroit ranked higher than The Green Album, Jon. I actually have your numbers reversed. Not as big of a discrepancy, though.

After reading these posts, I’ve come to realize that Weezer really painted themselves into a corner with their debut. We all agree that The Blue Album is exceptional-personally, one of my favorite albums of the decade. Since then, with each new Weezer album, one of the first things out of our collective mouths is, “I wonder how it stacks up to The Blue Album?” Obviously, nothing else that they’ve put out has approached that album’s greatness, so I think we have a tendency to dock it a little bit just based on that merit. Whether that makes us look at the rest of Weezer’s catalogue with a bit of musical cynicism is up to your discrestion.

I guess the reason that I liked “Make Believe” is that the lyrics are a little more positive. “Pinkerton” is so tough to get into because Cuomo’s feelings are so raw and exposed throughout the disc, and that may come across as extreme whininess at first listen. The Green Album suffers from the moments of supreme lyrical wimpiness (example: “O Girlfriend”). Make Believe just sounds like the band was having fun again, even moreso than those kind of moments that Maladroit featured. If you know the band’s history, you know that that’s been an almost unachievable goal most of the time.

I have no rankings to share with you, but I love “We’re All on Drugs,” and I think the reason I like it so much is because it is such great campy fun.

By: Rich on May 13, 2005
at 5:23 pm

Right on, Brother Rich. You start to make the point that, if judged on its own and not compared to the catalog, “Make Believe” is strong. I can hang with you on that one except for those annoying songs where Cuomo’s just whining. But, just for kicks, try listening to Pinkerton and Make Believe back-to-back. I feel like the combination of the emotional lyrics and aggressive music on Pinkerton works far better than the combination of emotional lyrics and Rubin-esque music on MB. But this is from a guy who’s only just recently learned to appreciate P, so maybe I’m not being totally fair to MB. We’ll see how it ages.

By: Jon on May 13, 2005
at 6:53 pm

What’s emo? On 2nd thought, don’t bother replying . . . I did look this up online, and it doesn’t sound like it’s a very well defined category. I just had not heard of the word before.

By: Uncle Olt on May 15, 2005
at 6:09 pm