Make Believe: Difference between revisions
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'''''Make Believe''''' is {{PN|Weezer}} fifth studio album, released on [[May 10]], [[2005]]. Despite its significant commercial success (it went platinum in the United States, Australia, Canada, and the U.K.), the record received middling reviews from critics, earning a Metascore of 52 and a notorious [[Make Believe Pitchfork Media record review|0.4 rating]] from ''[[Pitchfork]]''. The album was propelled by two highly successful singles - "[[Beverly Hills]]" and "[[Perfect Situation]]" - both of which marked career-highs for the band in radio and chart performance. Musically, the record marks [[Rivers Cuomo]] returning to a more emotional approach to songwriting following the intentionally impersonal work of ''[[Weezer (The Green Album)]]'' and ''[[Maladroit]]''. Cuomo began attending [[Vipassana]] meditation courses while developing ''Make Believe'''s songs, after being encouraged to do so by the record's producer [[Rick Rubin]]. This led to a renewed interest in | '''''Make Believe''''' is {{PN|Weezer}} fifth studio album, released on [[May 10]], [[2005]]. Despite its significant commercial success (it went platinum in the United States, Australia, Canada, and the U.K.), the record received middling reviews from critics, earning a Metascore of 52 and a notorious [[Make Believe Pitchfork Media record review|0.4 rating]] from ''[[Pitchfork]]''. The album was propelled by two highly successful singles - "[[Beverly Hills]]" and "[[Perfect Situation]]" - both of which marked career-highs for the band in radio and chart performance. Musically, the record marks [[Rivers Cuomo]] returning to a more emotional approach to songwriting following the intentionally impersonal work of ''[[Weezer (The Green Album)]]'' and ''[[Maladroit]]''. Cuomo began attending [[Vipassana]] meditation courses while developing ''Make Believe'''s songs, after being encouraged to do so by the record's producer [[Rick Rubin]]. This led to a renewed interest in spirituality that he had not explored since childhood. The album touches on themes of regret ("[[Pardon Me]]," "[[The Other Way]]," "[[Haunt You Every Day]]"), fear ("Perfect Situation," "[[Freak Me Out]]"), and alienation ("Beverly Hills," "[[Hold Me]]") and employs a direct lyrical approach, criticized by the aforementioned ''Pitchfork'' review as " taking the easy Mother Goose rhyme... [on] every f****** song." ''Make Believe'' had one of the longest gestation periods of any of Weezer's albums, with [[Album 5 demos|dozens of fully arranged and recorded songs]] being left on the cutting room floor. Band members [[Brian Bell]] and [[Pat Wilson]] contributed songs during this demoing process, but none of them made the album's final cut. | ||
The album's associated tour cycle included [[Foozer|a co-headlining tour]] with the [[Foo Fighters]], a [[Weezer concert: 12/22/2005|full-length concert film]] recorded in Tokyo, Japan, and [[Weezer concert: 10/03/2005|a show]] where a fan - invited on stage for "[[Undone - The Sweater Song]]" - sang the lyrics to the then-unreleased "[[Blast Off!]]" into the microphone. | The album's associated tour cycle included [[Foozer|a co-headlining tour]] with the [[Foo Fighters]], a [[Weezer concert: 12/22/2005|full-length concert film]] recorded in Tokyo, Japan, and [[Weezer concert: 10/03/2005|a show]] where a fan - invited on stage for "[[Undone - The Sweater Song]]" - sang the lyrics to the then-unreleased "[[Blast Off!]]" into the microphone. | ||
The art direction for ''Make Believe'' is among the band's most ambitious. Designed by [[Francesca Restrepo]], it features elaborate illustrations that were utilized in set-pieces for the band's live show, photography from [[Sean Murphy]] and [[Karl Koch]], and the first reference | The art direction for ''Make Believe'' is among the band's most ambitious. Designed by [[Francesca Restrepo]], it features elaborate illustrations that were utilized in set-pieces for the band's live show, photography from [[Sean Murphy]] and [[Karl Koch]], and the first reference to William Shakespeare in a Weezer record, a source Cuomo would mine extensively later on in his career. | ||
==Writing== | ==Writing== | ||
{{Main|Album 5 Demos}} | {{Main|Album 5 Demos}} | ||
Songwriting for the band's fifth album began before ''[[Maladroit]]'' had even been released, with demos being recorded as early as March of [[2002]]. In an [[AIM chat with Rivers Cuomo - January 8, 2002|AIM chat]] with [[Rivers Cuomo]] on [[January 8]], [[2002]], Cuomo described the sound of Weezer's fifth album as "a combination of ''[[The Green Album]]'' and ''[[Pinkerton]]'', if that's possible! And some ''[[Maladroit]]''. But really it's a new different style." A number of these songs, including "[[The Organ Player]]" and "[[Running Man]]", featured a shift to third-person storytelling. These sessions also featured | Songwriting for the band's fifth album began before ''[[Maladroit]]'' had even been released, with demos being recorded as early as March of [[2002]]. In an [[AIM chat with Rivers Cuomo - January 8, 2002|AIM chat]] with [[Rivers Cuomo]] on [[January 8]], [[2002]], Cuomo described the sound of Weezer's fifth album as "a combination of ''[[The Green Album]]'' and ''[[Pinkerton]]'', if that's possible! And some ''[[Maladroit]]''. But really it's a new different style." A number of these songs, including "[[The Organ Player]]" and "[[Running Man]]", featured a shift to third-person storytelling. These sessions also featured songs primarily written and sung by band members other than Cuomo. Ultimately, though none of the songs from these sessions would appear on the final album, some song elements were re-appropriated into new songs that would appear on ''Make Believe''. | ||
===S.I.R. Demos=== | ===S.I.R. Demos=== | ||
{{Main|S.I.R. Demos}} | {{Main|S.I.R. Demos}} | ||