Prokofiev's Lieutenant Kije begins with a musical sneeze - to alert the listener to take the joke not too seriously. Beverley Hills, released just a week in advance of Weezer's new Make Believe album, serves the same purpose - and starts with an ironic drum-roll as if introductory to a circus act - which all but children realise is make believe.
This single, together with the video filmed at the Playboy Mansion in Beverley Hills during February, provides a fanfare for the new album: it poses questions for and delectates the imagination of Weezer fans. What are they getting up to now?
It's at one and the same time sani-rap and redolent of the retro side of Robbie Williams, and there is nothing here for which we might have been prepared by Pat Wilson's outstanding album The Special Goodness. This is wonderful singing from Rivers Cuomo, quite apart from his having written the penetrating words. More penetrating, however ambiguous, when accompanied by the video. Hugh Hefner plays along. This is Weezer: playing along.
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