12 Over The Edg | October 16, 1996

CARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT)

”

Album Review: WEEZER - Pinkerton

~

by Ren Boulter

Following the success of
Weezer’s self-titled debut
album comes ‘Pinkerton’, a
solid sophomore effort from
a band that many consider a
one trick pony. ‘ Buddy
Holly’ became a Much
Music staple, mainly due to
the cleverly shot video
featuring the band
transported into the TV
world of ‘Happy Days’, with
the Fonz strutting his stuff
while the band merrily
played. Other than that, the
band’s other singles were
largely unheard (or rather
unseen if you are a Much

Music junkie). ‘Pinkerton’
could be the album that
launches Weezer from cult
status to mainstream hotshot.

Rivers Cuomo is Weezer’s
vocalist, guitarist, and
creative force, and he’s also,
well, a nerd. What else do
you call a guy who pens
lyrics about his affections for
half-Japanese girls (el
Scorcho), inadvertently
falling in love with a lesbian
(Pink Triangle), and the
safety he finds in comic
books and dungeons &
dragons (In the Garage, from
the first album)? He’s also a
hopeless romantic, as most of
Weezer’s songs deal with

falling in love (No Other
One, Falling In Love), and
often with the wrong girl (in
No Other One, his girlfriend
does drugs that “scare him
real good”).

But he’s also one hell of a
songwriter. Cuomo is able to
take a pop music sensibility
and combine it with. a
crushing guitar sound, yet
never sounds forced. I’ve
heard complaints that
Weezer’s songs are almost
too simplistic. Granted, they
never stray far from three
chords, but it is that very
simplicity that lends the
songs an anthemic power.

You almost can’t resist
singing along. Any excess
guitar-wankering would only
get in the way. Cuomo’s
vocals are adequate. He can’t
croon like Eddie Vedder or
scream on key like Kurt
Cobain, but again he doesn’t
need to. Matt Sharp and
Patrick Wilson provide solid
rhythm , and Brian Bell’s
guitar meshes seamlessly
with Cuomo’s to achieve
maximum distortion without
the whole thing sounding like
a bowel movement.

Watch for ‘el Scorcho’, the
first single from ‘Pinkerton’
on Much. If it grabs you,
you’ll probably love the rest
of the album.

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