The Rentals | Return of The Rentals

HIDDEN GEM
The Rentals
Return of The Rentals
1995 | Maverick

In 1995, long before Weezer’s careening success and Brian Wilson-esque studio drama, Matt Sharp took a step away from his Weezer bass duties to front his own band, a New Wave-y pop band called The Rentals. And it’s a good thing he did. Considering the dearth of no-fun, nu-metal dominating the radio and MTV, Sharp’s debut with his newly formed band, Return of The Rentals, was a welcome sorbet to clear a palate overpowered by Bush, Korn, etc.

Sharp and Weezer drummer Pat Wilson used their post-Blue Album downtime to produce an album that embodied most of the best things about early 80s pop music. It’s filled with simple, churning bass and drums, washed over by warmly-distorted guitar, a torrent of vintage MOOG synthesizers and Petra Haden’s (of that dog. and The Decemberists fame) violin and warm harmonies. Return is what The Buggles would’ve sounded like if they’d stuck around for grunge, or what Gary Numan could’ve done, had he embraced pop over techno. Incredibly reverential to its influences – nearing the point of referential to Gary Numan – on closer, “Sweetness and Tenderness,” Return is the sounds of Left of the Dial, boiled down into a compote.

It would be difficult to make “Buddy Holly”-era Weezer seem tough, but Sharp and Co. sound downright twee on “Waiting,” a warm, bouncy song that’s all about how hard it is to write a warm, bouncy song. “Move On” is a modernized “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” wherein the narrator pleads with his love to pack a bag and get ready to hit the open road. Lead single “Friends of P” is pure bubblegum: nonsensical lyrics (“I’m a good guy for a gal/So won’t you look my palm over”), tightly bouncing harmonies and fun-fun-fun keyboards.

Of course, it tanked. I think the video for “Friends of P” lasted a day on MTV. People who’d hated Weezer for their lack of gravitas certainly weren’t going to be receptive; and Weezer fans had not been gripped by the 5-year gap between albums that instigated a side-project frenzy, so Return disappeared from the canon relatively quickly. Nevertheless, Sharp left Weezer in 1996, focusing full time on The Rentals. The result, 1999’s sloppy, sexualized Seven More Minutes, (and each subsequent Matt Sharp record, for that matter) was hardly worth leaving Weezer for, and simply wasn’t worth listening to. Return of The Rentals, though, quite worth the listen.

by Brook Pridemore