By now you've scrolled down and seen that I've given Make Believe a score of 6.0. So you probably think I'm a biased fan who likes this album more than he should. Well, I am. But you should also know that if I were to review Weezer's previous catalogue, it would look something like this:
1) The Blue Album - 8/10
2) Pinkerton - 9/10
3) The Green Album - 4/10
4) Maladroit - 5/10
The Blue Album was the first album I ever bought. Pinkerton might be my favorite album of all time. The Green Album made me sad but I couldn't ignore the few songs that were pure gold. Ditto to Maladroit. That's the direction I'm approaching Make Believe from, and that's probably why I can tolerate, even enjoy this album.
Certain songs still make me wonder if I'm kidding myself. "We Are All on Drugs," and the first single, "Beverly Hills" are two of the most confusingly crappy songs ever written by this band. And there is still a lot of brainless filler. But then there's "Perfect Situation," which is catchy as hell and charming, making it equal or even surpassing some of the material of the band's first two releases. There are songs like "The Damage in Your Heart," and "Haunt You Every Day," that touch on a dynamic previously unseen by the band. I get the feeling that these are the type of songs that people would adore if they'd been written by anyone else.
The two main, and relevant, complaints people seem to have about Make Believe are that the lyrics are bad and that the music is boring. See, The Blue Album boasted pure lyrical genius, with lines like "You walk up to her / Ask her to dance / She says 'Hey baby, I just might take the chance."" Whereas, the new album has really awful lyrics, for example: "I can't satisfy / All the needs she has / And so she starts to wander / Can you blame her?" How terrible! Oh Rivers, what happened?!
Musically, there are some undeniably catchy songs here, with some very memorable melodies. The use of harmonics, keyboards, hand claps, and other stuff on different songs make things are generally more interesting and a lot less predictable than they were on the two most recent releases. Again, there are the songs that could have feasibly been shat out over an hour or two, but hey. It's a pop album. I could find things to complain about, but it would be over-analysis.
Of course, opinions vary, and people do hear things differently. Some people hear a nail in the coffin of Weezer's integrity. Some people hear a band struggling to regain what they had ten years ago. I hear a bunch of decent pop-rock songs, and a couple of shitty ones. Truthfully, no one on the internet should be convincing you to like or dislike this album. That said, this is what I can tell you for sure:
1) Weezer will never write Pinkerton Pt. 2.
2) If you've never liked Weezer, you won't like this.
3) No matter what you think of this album, Pitchfork is fucking lame.
