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Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo’s solo album, “Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo,” is a “mostly good” mixed bag.
Although Cuomo’s best work has been with Weezer, this should not be enough to repel anyone from checking out Cuomo’s demos.
This is especially true for long time Weezer enthusiasts, who will have some of their questions about the band answered by tracks on this CD.
Each song finds itself isolated somewhere between records, discarded during the band’s studio sessions, or a result of some bizarre experiment by Cuomo.
Each song tells a story about where he was at various points in his career.
Because of this, a Weezer fan will find the CD a curious treasure from the mind of the band’s composer. Others may hear a disjointed sounding collection of sad songs that don’t really work with each other.
The CD moves through tracks dating from 1992 to 2007.
These songs include simple experiments in vocal recording, a recorded boyhood band practice argument about hairstyles, dark stabs at emotional presence and a collection of poppy tunes that clearly indicate Weezer’s deepest roots.
Certainly one of the most interesting things about this album is the list of tracks that Cuomo wrote as part of a non-Weezer musical adventure in 1995. To explore the potentially negative aspects of a rockstar life, Cuomo spent much of the year working on songs for his “rock musical” called Songs from the Black Hole.
“Blast Off,” “Who You Callin’ B****?,” “Wanda,” “Dude We’re Finally Landing” and “Superfriend” are all characterized by lyrical dialogue between characters discussing their shallow and destructive misconduct.
These songs incorporate the buzzing guitars, distorted bass and tiny drums that Weezer fans will likely recognize from the 1996 album, “Pinkerton.”
“Dude, We’re Finally Landing” brings the CD to its most strange and “un-Weezery” state with an unaccompanied three-part vocal symphony.
Many of the numbers from Songs from the Black Hole did end up on “Pinkerton,” which (according to the narrative in the CD jacket) left Cuomo at a creative crossroads in 1997. This is where the songs, “Lover in the Snow” and “Crazy One” came from. Working with lyrics inspired by fantasy, traditional pop song structure, and instrumental minimalism, these tracks show how Cuomo was able to maintain the sincerity in his writing between “Pinkerton” and the “Green Album.”
“This is the Way” is especially uncharacteristic of Cuomo.
The song is an urban pop tune setting dramatic piano to street beats. It nearly made it onto the 2005 release, “Make Believe” and may still be an option for future releases, Cuomo said.
For those who grew up on Weezer — this CD is something special.
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