Weezer
Make Believe

THE REVIEW

Something has changed, even if it's not that obvious.

 Of course, what you're looking for from a Weezer album is all present in this "Make Believe": screaming guitars, tons of power pop, and the usual, inspired Rivers Cuomo, the quintessential anti-rocker who, surprise, is actually a rocker by trade.

 The irony that characterized the previous works of the American band is still there, but it often starts to give way to a disenchanted cynicism and rather fierce satire: just listen to "We Are All On Drugs", a mockery directed at certain party-going characters who are permanently high and often boast about their "exploits" (the song's lyrics are inspired by a conversation between such subjects, actually overheard on the street by Cuomo). The backdrop of sharp and incisive guitars is naturally served.
 It must be said that the album opens with an unusual "Beverly Hills", so far Weezer's only Top 10 hit, which, by blending the rhythm of Queen's "We Will Rock You," a verse bordering on rap, and a rather cheeky chorus, crafts an ironic and carefree vignette ("Look at all those moviestars/They're all so beautiful and clean... I wanna live a life like that/I wanna be just like a king") not to be repeated in the rest of the work. Subsequently, we're greeted by the sound wall of "Perfect Situation" (with a corresponding Dinosaur Jr.-oriented solo) and the early 80s revival style à la early Killers of "This Is Such A Pity", with very retro keyboards and synthesizers.

Great when the three step on the power-pop accelerator (notable is "My Best Friend", discarded at the last moment from the "Shrek 2" soundtrack to include "Accidentally In Love" by Counting Crows), not so great when they take more syrupy and melancholic paths ("Hold Me", the worst track in the work at the end of the day). "Haunt You Every Day" closes with a nod to the Beatles and another to typically American college rock, while numbers like "The Damage In Your Heart" and "Pardon Me" confirm the great melodic taste of the stylistically "Costello-esque" Cuomo.

 The longest Weezer record to date (about forty-five minutes) and one of their greatest commercial successes (more than one million and four hundred thousand copies sold).

 The sharp turn of the underrated Pinkerton is distant, sure, but in here there's enough material to spend three quarters of an hour happily and carefree.