Rivers Cuomo – Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo album review

2 stars (out of 5)

0

Rivers CuomoDefinitely interesting to any Weezer Fan. It gives you an insight into which parts of Weezer are exclusively Rivers’ input.

The first punch in the face though is the recording quality. A few minutes of this CD and I was left frustrated and very aware that my wallet was that little bit lighter. This isn’t a CD you’ll listen to in your car. In fact I’m not sure I’ll listen to most of it again unless for a quick look at what are very obviously demos.

Here’s a warning: The demos seem to be in chronological order. The last track on the album ‘I was made for you’ sounds good enough to be on a solo album. You can pretty much ignore the first 6 tracks though because the quality is so rubbish.

To me this seems like a very lazy way to release a solo album. Why not re-record the best songs? I love Weezer so this is very disappointing. I think Rivers could write a great solo album but instead has chucked a load of demos together for something that’s about as useful as a b-sides album.

Once you get past track six to ‘Longtime Sunshine’ I assure you you’ll feel less angry at having spent £10.99 on some demos (but still a little annoyed). The songs improve as does the sound quality and there’s no rapping like in ‘The Bomb’. I wouldn’t feel right releasing this for £10.99 when Radiohead are charging a little as you like for their latest efforts and Pennywise are giving their album away for free. I guess what I’m saying is download this album, give it a few listens and then if you simply can’t live without it, buy it.

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