Alone: The Home Recordings Of Rivers Cuomo 1992-2007 : Rivers Cuomo : Review : Rolling Stone

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.

CHRISTIAN HOARD

(Posted: Dec 13, 2007)

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Give us your review of Alone: The Home Recordings Of Rivers Cuomo 1992-2007

Review 1 of 4

4of 5 Stars

Pretty good collection of songs here from rivdawg. I had most of them before this was released, but ti's nice to have a little more polished version of some of the songs. I love "Superfriend." That's really all tere is to say. I can only imagine what it would sound like if it ever met its full potential. (Sung as a duet). Most of the others I've already acquired so I won't dive into those. And as silly as this may sound to loyal, long-time Weezer fans, yes "Superfiend" is fantastic, but I think my favorite on the collection is "I Was Made For You." I don't know if it was the timeing of hearing it around the holidays or just that it's a fresh track, but I fell in love with this song. It struck a nerve with me, and when he hits the peak during the solo...priceless.

Mar 9, 2008 13:01:02

Review 2 of 4

5of 5 Stars

If the obnoxiously-named CHRISTIAN HOARD had any musical taste, or anything like a nuanced sense of beauty, he'd get that everything released by Rivers is a fucking blessing. I didn't cry when Weezer broke up, but I cried inside.

The lyrics he disapproves of in his mini-review are the typically brilliant polished gems from Rivers we have all grown to adore. Yes, all. This is Riversezes' inner world in his actual voice. It sounds like irony but the joke is that it's not. It is sweet. It does rock. Rivers always rocks.

He's also sensitive.

I've only downloaded 4 songs so far but they're all kick ass. What kind of music critic wouldn't love Lemonade or Blast Off!, or any of them? What kind of monster would be a music critic? Seriously, can you imagine? I get douche chills just thinking about it.

Rivers is what rock is at its best, dummy. What, is there such a wealth of rock right now that it makes any sense to diss the greatest Cuomo ever? (Today's Brian Wilson.) Power chords! We like them!! We like to hear endless, almost-funny whining about girls!

Long Live Rivers! Long Live Weezer! CHRISTIAN HOARD's review is 10 times more pointless than the Iraq war. Or at least 8.

****** (Super-Classic, even after only hearing 4 songs.)

Dec 24, 2007 06:28:18

Review 3 of 4

Not Rated

Rolling Stone has a had a history of having their head up their ass. Pinkerton is one of many blunders. However, it seems like with every album after Pinkerton, (outside of this collection) they want to assure Rivers that they are, in fact, fans. "Make Believe" is by far the worst Weezer album ever, both lyrically and musically and yet RollingStone praised it with 4 stars. It has very middle of the road, bad pop songs with embarrasingly bad lyrics. "My love is higher than a mountain, deeper than the sea..." HORRIBLE!!! Yet, RollingStone will bash another band of the same ilk, The Killers, because of their supposedly less-than-stellar lyrics. The first 2 Weezer albums were obviously the 2 best and yet received the 2 worst reviews from this publication. Let's face it: RollingStone sucks and yet here I am on their site.

Dec 21, 2007 08:09:59

Review 4 of 4

5of 5 Stars

Rolling Stone gave a great review! Just like the awesome review they gave Pinkerton in 1996! Oh wait they said it was one of the worst albums of the year! This is not much of a review but it's more of a rant about how ignorant rolling stone is. I would probably disagree with every review and top 100 rating etc. because rolling stone praises overrated artists and complains about every little detail when it comes to underrated and in my opinion more talented bands. Rivers Cuomo/Weezer is one of the most creative bands of all time. I'm sure there are others that may be better but it's all a matter of opinion but I do wish Rolling Stone was a little more fair and tried to give more bands attention.

Dec 17, 2007 17:46:59

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