Make Believe

Performer: Weezer
Producer: Rick Rubin
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files. Weezer: Rivers Cuomo, Scott Shriner, Pat Wilson, Brian Bell. Additional personnel: Akiko Tarumoto (violin); Jason Freese (saxophone); Stephanie Eitel (background vocals). Weezer opens its fifth record, 2005's MAKE BELIEVE, with the single "Beverly Hills," an anthemic slice of power-pop with a sing-along chorus and heart-on-the-sleeve vocals. The song makes it seem as though Weezer hadn't changed a speck since the band captured hearts of MTV fans and indie rockers alike with its 1994 eponymous debut. However, what follows is one of the quartet's most musically mature efforts--a diverse, gratifying album filled with Beatlesque hooks and guided by the skilled hand of producer Rick Rubin. As frontman Rivers Cuomo shines a flashlight on himself with trademark insecurity on lines like "I have many doubts about my motives" and "I'm not the toughest guy," his voice quavers and quakes in the innocent style that has endeared him to so many. The mood of MAKE BELIEVE roams from the desperate late-night isolation of the piano-led "Perfect Situation" to the love-gone-wrong vibe of the synthesizer-heavy "This Is Such a Pity." The album ends on the lovelorn, weeping-guitar loneliness of "Haunt You Every Day," and it's clear that Cuomo is still a sad, pining poet in search of elusive serenity, but the group's songcraft is ever growing.

Rolling Stone (p.74) - 4 stars out of 5 - "Cuomo's songs are his most plaintive and brilliant since PINKERTON....Not since Brian Wilson has an L.A.-pop mastermind gotten such musical mileage out of wanting to be an ordinary guy..." Mojo (Publisher) (p.106) - 3 stars out of 5 - "Cuomo's nerdy every-kid persona continues to shine."

Weezer's 1994 debut yielded the band two big hit singles in "Buddy Holly" and "Undone - The Sweater Song," whose quirky appeal gave the initial impression that the group was some kind of novelty act. Despite the wiseacre veneer though, Weezer went on to successfully combine bracing, punk-poppy alternative rock with a deep sense of irony that often made it impossible to tell whether the band was rocking out or "rocking out." This conceptual tension endeared Weezer to indie aesthetes, while the band's charging riffs and pummeling rhythms endeared them to a larger audience.

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