I remember a rumor coming out shortly before the release of Maladroit that Weezer would start releasing shorter albums about once a year. Well, after getting albums in 2001 and 2002, that plan (assuming there really was one) was obviously scrapped. It took three years for them to deliver Make Believe, and while I hesitate to say it wasn't worth the wait, I am a bit disappointed. I like that they experiment in some songs while retaining their familiar style in others, but overall the album is lacking that extra oomph so characteristic of Weezer.
Make Believe begins very promisingly with first single Beverly Hills. Here Rivers uses a Cake-like sing/rap/talk verse style to lament his unfabulous life, obviously singing in the character of someone other than himself. Add in a big, group sing-along chorus and a Peter Frampton-esque guitar solo, and you've got the summer driving anthem of 2005. This is one is sure to go down as a Weezer classic. Another one of the more memorable tracks is their "Just say no" anthem We Are All On Drugs. One of the most upbeat tracks on all of Make Believe, ...Drugs shows Weezer blasting out a solid piece of hard rock complete with brute riffage and Cuomo's cool chorus intro of "Give it to me!"
Aside from these two, however, there isn't much of Weezer's usual upbeat style. Both the hard rockers and the peppy pop rockers are in surprisingly short supply here. I'm not saying the downbeat songs are bad - Freak Me Out, for example, uses pretty musical variation to set apart this otherwise dark song. It's just that too few songs provide that crank-it-up-and-sing-along mood of most Weezer albums. Perfect Situation and Hold Me are decent rock songs, but the hooks are nowhere near as strong as they should be.
A few energetic and optimistic tracks such as My Best Friend, The Damage In Your Heart, and The Other Way will bring back your attention, but overall, the album has a somewhat downtrodden feeling. That feeling is hammered home by closing track Haunt You Every Day, a creepy, stalker song that reminds us once more that Make Believe is not necessarily your funtime Weezer album.
Despite every emo kid wanting to be Rivers Cuomo, I've never considered Weezer an emo band. Sadly, I find myself listening to tracks such as Peace and the lamely apologetic Pardon Me and thinking, "This sounds way too much like typical emo." Even more strange is This Is Such a Pity, which employs synthesizer beats. It's a decent song, but it's disappointing to see a band that defied the popular rock sound in the mid-'90s giving in to a trend ten years later.
By no means is Make Believe a bad album. It's something I will certainly listen to from time to time. I just don't see myself listening to it as frequently as I do their other works. Huge Weezer fans: there's no reason to pass on this one. Those just getting into the band: there are better places to start.
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