Looking Sharp, Matt

On the eve of the rerelease of Weezer's wonderful Pinkerton, I thought we should all take a step back in time to 1995 and look at another musical project that occurred simultaneously to that album.



Anyone even vaguely schooled in Weezer history knows that post-Blue, Rivers Cuomo locked himself up in an effort to write a space-themed, synth-filled rock opera, Songs From the Black Hole. (Massive paraphrasing, forgive me!) That album never eventuated, but some of its' demos were reworked into Pinkerton songs ('Tired of Sex' and 'Getchoo' among them).
'Hold on', I can hear you say, 'Why did Black Hole never come about?' The answer, straight from Cuomo's mouth: 'RotR'. Return of the Rentals, that is.

Bassist Matt Sharp had become restless pre-Pinkerton and, together with Weezer drummer Patrick Wilson and various members of that dog., put together a Moog-drenched side-project, the Rentals, whose debut, RotR, came to epitomise all that Rivers sought to do on Black Hole. Cuomo was surely dejected at the time, but given that this album led to Pinkerton, one assumes it's a good thing Sharp did what he did!



The rentals never broke into the mainstream in the way that Weezer did, but that's okay. Their debut (and to a lesser extent, their two more recent releases) is a tight nugget of synth-y glory, wrapped in deadpan humour and wonderful male-female vocal harmonies that might not drag you to the Black Hole, but are certainly spaced-out in their own way. 'Friends of P.', the album's only single (and a minor MTV hit) is the high point of the record, and is worth a listen anyday. 'I only get two loves in my life' sings Sharp, '...tell me what's going to be.' Sharp may have released two more Rentals since 'Friends', but he could never top it. Hell, who could?

The Rentals - Friends of P.

Download 'Friends of P.' and sink into a Moog-fueled heaven. Then pick up the album from Real Groovy or, more likely, your local secondhand shop. Thank me later.