As a
Rolling Stone
cover story on newsstands the week before the release of
Make Believe
made clear,
Weezer
leader
Rivers Cuomo
is an odd, ornery sort. He's a genuine
rock & roll
maverick, at once attracted and repelled by his star status, disappearing for long stretches at a time, often to return to college. He writes and records far more songs than whatever winds up on a final
record, which are often whittled down to just 30 or 40 minutes, leaving untold numbers of songs in the vaults. What makes the situation even stranger is for as obstinate and unpredictable as he is,
Cuomo
does not make odd music: he's a
pop
songwriter fronting a
hard rock
band, equally enamored with big choruses and loud guitars. While each of
's records has a defining characteristic -- whether it's a sound, a lyrical theme, or simply an emotional feel -- that separates it from its predecessor, each album is clearly written from the same perspective: that of a brainy misfit raised on cheap
metal
and
new wave
, whose nerdiness always kept him on the outside looking in. This was true even after
became a star, thanks in large part to how he had a gift for articulating how very awkward he felt within the constructs of a catchy, melodic, concise
song. But as
rock
stars since
Elvis
have learned, fans are a demanding lot, especially when they identify so heavily with a specific work, as
's cult did with
Pinkerton
, the band's second album. It flopped upon its 1996 release but became a word-of-mouth hit over the next five years, leading up to their eagerly awaited comeback,
, their second eponymous album that is otherwise known as
The Green Album
. Appropriately for a self-titled affair,
functioned as an introduction to a new incarnation of a band, one that sounded similar but had a different outlook: namely, one that was deliberately notintrospective, a conscious shift away from plaintive introspection of
.
and its quickly released 2002 follow-up,
Maladroit
, were both sharply written, tightly constructed, quite excellent, and popular
records, but that didn't stop some fans from grumbling that neither album was as affecting as
.
Those same fans will likely not be happy with
's return to musical, emotional bloodletting with 2005's
. It may be a spiritual cousin to
, yet it's far removed from the raw, nervy immediacy of that album. Nearly ten years separate the two records, a long time by any measure, so it shouldn't be a surprise that
has a far different emotional outlook here. On
he purposely avoids the pain and torture of
, where the guitars exploded and scraped, complementing the torment in his lyrics. Here,
is trying to sort things out, sometimes beating himself up over past mistakes, sometimes looking at his surroundings sardonically, but something separates
from previous
albums: a palpable sense of optimism, a feeling of hope, a new positivity. That's not really what the legions of
fans are looking for. They're likely going to find some of his lyrics perilously close to a self-help manual, particularly when
writes a sappy ode to his best friend -- and it's pretty much a given that they won't respond to
Rick Rubin
's sleek, layered, propulsive production, which makes
sound far more
than
Ric Ocasek
ever did. (
Rubin
also keeps the band far away from the pseudo-
of
the Killers
the Bravery
, which is why he's a highly paid pro.) But let those fans pine for the past, because the very things that they'll find irritating about
are what make it yet another first-rate
record. Part of the band's appeal is that
not only skirts the edge of embarrassment, he frequently passes far beyond it, and while that very trait is irritating in the hands of lesser-talented
emo
bands, in
Rivers
, it's quite ingratiating and endearing because he has the musical skills to back up his self-analysis. He never overwrites, either in his words or melodies, his songs are carefully, precisely crafted
, and his love of
gives his music muscle and balls. These gifts are as evident on
as they had been on every other
record -- the only difference is this has a lighter, brighter feel than any of its predecessors, not just in the music but in its outlook. It might not be what
fans want, but as that aforementioned
article made clear,
never cared much about that in the first place. If they're not immediately taken with
, give it time. After all,
didn't win fans immediately. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine