The Rentals

The Rentals: Return of the RentalsReturn of the Rentals (1995)
Maverick

Reviewer Rating: 4

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Contributed by: eatdogseatdogs
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Published on January 24th 2012This album…It's a one-time piece that got it right. All the old college indie rock and nerdy elements of '90s emo are compiled here, horn-rimmed glasses included. Fuzzy guitars, electrified violins, humble drums, awesome dual male/female vocals and the amazingness of the Moog. Aww, the Moog. That sy.

This album…It's a one-time piece that got it right. All the old college indie rock and nerdy elements of '90s emo are compiled here, horn-rimmed glasses included. Fuzzy guitars, electrified violins, humble drums, awesome dual male/female vocals and the amazingness of the Moog. Aww, the Moog. That synthesizer just sets the tone and gives the music a sort of whimsical feel. Fans of Slingshot Dakota and Matt & Kim take notice.

Matt Sharp left Weezer and progressed with his band, the Rentals. Later releases are highly acclaimed. Still, it was Return of the Rentals that pretty much sealed it for most folks. Take some of the quirky moments from the two best Weezer albums, mix in a little bit of new wave, a la the Cars and then combine them to make heartfelt, downsized pop music, and you get this album. Opening track "The Love I'm Searching For" gets things started with hummable melodies provided by female vocalists Cherielynn Westrich and the Haden sisters, Petra and Rachel. "Waiting" is crazy catchy and Sharp allows himself some room to breathe and move around. You can tell this is his baby. "Friends of P." was an unexpected chart hit and made all the rounds on music channels. The accompanying music video was made for under $1,000 bucks and is remembered fondly for its weird sense humor and cheapness.

"Move On" is a more subtle song, relying on nice distortion and the soft drumming of Patrick Wilson (also of Weezer) to carry the weight. The contrasting vocals of Sharp and the girls are quite pleasant to hear. "Please Let That Be you" is the closer to the first half of the album and probably the highlight of all the tracks. What was once a possible Weezer B-side called "Mrs. Young", Sharp took the track, rearranged it to have Rachel sing Rivers Cuomo's parts, and thus created a song which became a staple of the band.

The second half of the album tends to drag in some places, but tracks like "Brilliant Boy," "Naive" and closer "Sweetness and Tenderness" give a good reason to see it to the end. And that's it. The Rentals are still remembered, but often not enough. Some music of the time like the Get Up Kids, All-time Quarterback and Superchunk sort of mixed in well with this, but it was later acts like Ozma, Motion City Soundtrack and the Postal Service that really took notice. It's a nice little slice of music to check out sometime.

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

amrsalah (January 30, 2012)

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hugochavez (January 28, 2012)

good stuff

i-type-poorly (January 25, 2012)

One of my favorite albums of all time. Seven More Minutes was great too, and got such an unfair shake. If only that album didn't bomb, The Rentals probably would have stuck around much longer; rather than disappear and return only as a rebranded name for Matt Sharp's boring self indulgent solo work.

pinkerton (January 25, 2012)

great album with great instrumentation!! muktiple moogs, two chick singers, just great stuff.

johnnyz77 (January 25, 2012)

going to listen to this and see how it holds up. i really did like their other album. my college radio station spun it all the time.

Spooky (January 24, 2012)

Love me some "Friends of P"

Coons (January 24, 2012)

Oh yeah, there's the reviews for the songs about time thing. My bad dude.

eatdogs (January 24, 2012)

yeah, i couldn't figure out the timeline that well. sheesh, i remember the time when all these things happened thoguh. weezer had just dropped pinkerton and i was on a ski trip jammin' melon collie and the infinite sadness. i recall seeing the music video for el scorcho and then that was it. it's like weezer had disappeared...

Jelone (January 24, 2012)

Dude, there's like 4 other Rentals reviews on the site.

coons (January 24, 2012)

I was just thinking "I wonder why there's no Rentals reviews?"

saveourship (January 24, 2012)

"Return of the Rentals", that is.

saveourship (January 24, 2012)

Matt Sharp hadn't left Weezer at the time "The Rentals" was released. The band was on hiatus, as Rivers was still at Harvard and the band had yet to record Pinkerton, Sharp's second, and last album.

colin (January 24, 2012)

haha this album ruled.

Skibz777 (January 24, 2012)

I really used to like this album back in the day...it's supremely enjoyable, but I have to admit 'Seven More Minutes' is the better record.