old school make believe

i'm going to do something i haven't done in nine years.

***

a no-class, beat-down fool and his music
"make believe"
weezer
geffen

it's been a while since i actually reviewed anything ... i quit caring a few years ago about what people think about music. one of the criteria i used to judge people with was the CDs in their collections; i do believe that what you choose to listen to in your free time says a lot about the kind of person you are.

or, more accurately, it's just another way for us to advertise who we are, and what socioeconomic class we live in (or aspire to). if i think i'm cool, and i listen to weezer, i'll think you're just like me if i see "pinkerton" next to your stereo -- or, more likely nowadays, on your ipod's playlists. i get the same feeling when i pass someone on the highway and they have an apple sticker in their back window. "there goes someone cool," i think to myself, and let them pass me on the right.

but i wanted to give this a shot, because this album is saying things to me that i've not heard in years. so forgive the shoddy analysis, inconsistencies and factual errors. this is where i'm at with "make believe" today.

look at all those movie stars -- they're all so beautiful and clean
when the housemaid scrub the floors, they get the spaces in between

weezer = irony

if you could bore into the brains of most people, their first thoughts of weezer are likely to be "generation x irony." it's the trap they set for themselves with "buddy holly" -- a wink and a nod and air quotes, with a fantastic production job by rik ocasek and a better video by spike jonze. it was the first album, the second single, and you know you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

but over time, i realized i was wrong. weezer has always been emotionally direct and to the point, even if they obscure that by (at times) too-cool-for-school lyrics. you had to dig just a bit, but it was rewarded if you cared to make the effort.

well, on "make believe," i don't think rivers cuomo is hiding much from us.

I never thought/That anyone/Was more important than the plans I made
But now I feel the shame/There's no one else to blame

that title, by the way, is "pardon me," which is a big "i'm sorry" to everyone he's ever hurt. and the phrase "i'm sorry" seems to be featured in every other song. i get the feeling he's been a jackass and needed to come clean.

Get your hands off the girl,
Can't you see that she belongs to me?
And I don't appreciate this excess company.
Though I can't satisfy all the needs she has
And so she starts to wander...
Can you blame her?

it makes for arresting listening, but it's a bit of a downer after a while. it might be the same reason why i think "sideways" is good, but a bit too ... shall we say ... accurate about certain parts of my psyche. i could identify with the teen who railed against the world in "in my garage" and part of me loves to remember what that was like.

now, on "make believe," it seems that kid grew up but remains as fucked up as before. and what that might say about yours truly i'm afraid to ask. nostalgia is a trap.

i feel like dr. phil here, but his "self script" needs a bit of an adjustment.

i can’t tell you how the words will make me feel

to know an album, i have to live with it for a while, let it sink it and bounce around my brain. if you find myself humming a chorus in the shower, or just dying to quote from some song in a staff meeting -- it's working on me.

the ipod has been a great aid for this. i listened to the disc in order twice, then put it on shuffle, to see how i reacted to the songs out of normal order. and i discovered some gems that suffer, i think, from their placement on the disc.

"the other way," for example, i can't get out of my head. i suffer from this disease -- i used to mess around with an acoustic guitar. i learned to play by playing along with other songs on CD, and from that, i learned that there are a few staple chord progressions that most rock songs just mess with slightly. they sound good however you jumble them around.

and this song is no different. it's classic, and you've heard it a thousand times before -- it almost sounds like a surfer song from 1962, complete with handclaps, backing vocals and a bitchin' rumbling guitar solo. but it's almost buried because, by the time you get to song 10, you're a bit worn out. i found myself thinking "didn't they just write this song a few songs back?" because, well, weezer leans on the classics ... but taken out of context, the song shines.

everyone -- yes, everyone -- is my friend

the singles -- "beverly hills" to start, then most likely "we are all on drugs" and maybe even "this is such a pity" or "perfect situation" -- will be strong, and if i'm right about "drugs" then once again the public will be fed the "ironic" weezer. it reads like a teen movie about rich kids who do too many drugs, and manages not to make it sound too cool in the process.

"drugs" and "beverly hills" are the social statement songs, and there's not much to say about them that hasn't already been said. "beverly hills" is just a kick-ass song, brightened by rick rubin's always-polished production. in fact, the whole album has a nice, diverse (for weezer) lineup of instruments, with some varied guitar sounds and (a first for me, at least) a piano that drives the rhythm as much as the drums. rubin always does a nice job with the groups he produces, and this is no exception. it's not his best -- i'd have to put money on the "american songs" discs with johnny cash, or "wildflowers" with petty and the heartbreakers -- but the warmth of sound is welcome for a group whose past two recordings are almost identical in sound and flavor.

the most radical departure here is "freak me out," a song that, as best i can tell, is about the over-reaction many of us have in urban settings when the hairs stand up on the back of our necks as we sense danger right behind us. it has an ethereal feel, with pretty harmonies and guitar harmonics and those sounds you get when you pluck the part behind the pickups but in front of where the strings originate (i'm sure there is a word for that). it's spooky and comforting at the same time, and totally unlike anything i'm familiar with from weezer.

haunt you every day

i am going to resist the temptation to give this disc a grade, a ranking or a place on a list with other weezer discs. it sits on its own for another week. i'll check in then to see if it's been on the playlist every day.