As Weezer's frontman, Rivers Cuomo has proved adept at writing jagged little pop-rock songs. But there's plenty of evidence that Cuomo is a bit, how you say, off-kilter — a talented space cadet prone to depression, sexual frustration and locking himself inside the studio, the sort of guy who may have trouble finding his pants in the morning. So you might hope this collection — demos and home recordings from just before Weezer's inception to the present, with no filter other than Cuomo's own brain — would show off the weirder side you only glimpse intermittently in Weezer songs.

Not so much. The strangest Alone gets is a novelty cover of Ice Cube's "The Bomb." There are also several experiments with overlapping harmonies, a "Buddy Holly" demo and a synth-pop sketch called "This Is the Way." But most songs are either Weezer-esque rockers ("Lemonade") or folky diddles with singsong melodies that seem to be nicked from some children's song ("Chess"). Almost every cut is sort of sweet and sort of catchy, and a couple are good — the closing "I Was Made for You" stands up well with Weezer's best songs.

But interesting the material is not: The tunes feel same-y and undercooked, and without a band to push him along, Cuomo's sad-dude act gets old fast — Alone is overrun with lyrics like "What's wrong with me?/I'm kinda funny/I'm not a dummy/But I'm all alone." Given Cuomo's penchant for obsessive writing and recording — he has, supposedly, discarded hundreds of songs, some no doubt hewing the intricate formulas of pop success he's cracked — the fact that there's very little here to hold your attention is a bit puzzling.

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CHRISTIAN HOARD

(Posted: Dec 13, 2007)