Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo

Rivers Cuomo | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 18, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Geffen Records
• ASIN: B000Y30ODQ
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #42,853 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most of these have already been released, December 17, 2007

By 

S. Marzioli (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo (Audio CD)

There have always been a lot of rumors regarding Rivers' secret stash of unreleased demos. Most of them, we were told, have never been heard by any but the closest friends of the band. However, Weezer has always been kind enough to "leak" the best of them over the years, especially when official studio releases were scarce. As such, a majority of the best songs on here have already been released in fairly good to excellent quality mp3s. In that regard there will be few surprises for the hard core Weezer fan.

However, you can't judge a project on such terms. Even though only 6 of the total track list (of full length songs) are totally new (or 7 if we allow Buddy Holly demo), the songs here are absolutely fantastic. Blast Off, for instance, has long been Weezer's most famous Song From The Black Hole. Now fans can hear it in its entirety, without that annoying abrupt ending. Long Time Sunshine and Lover In The Snow also make an appearance and have been some of my favorite Cuomo demos for years! Songs like Chess make it obvious that the sound was tweaked for maximum quality. Obviously there's only so far you can take a tape deck home recording, though, so expect a rough sound throughout!

For any long time Weezer fan I think this will be a very satisfying collection. I've always had a hard time placing these demos in some sort of order when making mix tapes or mp3 play lists. Now, with Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo, the decision has been made for me. Hopefully future projects of this sort will come along. I wouldn't mind better quality demos of the Summer Song 2000 set or maybe a release of the Homie side-project. In any case, I think Rivers deserves a lot of praise for making these available!

Update 3-2008: I'm sure this has probably been said before, but Blast Off is a different edit than the mp3 version Weezer released previously. Don't erase your mp3 version just yet! The CD version is missing "fine" at the 43 second mark!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great collection from the Geek God Weezer Frontman!!!, December 18, 2007

By 

David Kaelin - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo (Audio CD)

This is a very interesting collection of demos from the vault of Rivers Cuomo's home recordings. This is a must for any die hard Weezer fan (which is really who the album was made for.) If you are just a casual fan you probably won't really care about this album, because it is what it is...just a bunch of songs in their rawest form. Remember this is not Weezer. It's really cool to finally hear these long awaited songs finally on CD!! Definite highlights of this album are Superfriend(probably the best song on here,) Lemonade, Blastoff, Crazy One, Buddy Holly (demo) and I was made for you. Superfriend, Blastoff, and Lemonade have that "old school" Weezer vibe that we all miss so much!. You gotta love old school Synth!! Hopefully if this album is successful we will get a round two of good ole Rivers home recordings!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 4 1/2 Stars, December 18, 2007

By 

Ron (Jersey) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo (Audio CD)

This was a nice surprise when I found it. There was talk that Weezer would never make another album. But then Rivers releases this nice collection of demos(many sound very polished) and there is a promise of a new Weezer album in April. I had not heard a lot of these demos, so most are a first listen for me. I liked Superfriend a lot. That one could have been on the Green album. Chess and Blast Off really rock. Little Diane could have been released in the late 50's/early 60's with its vibe. Some of the songs are out there and may take a few listens to really appreciate. I have heard some reviews compare it to Pinkerton, but it is really a nice cross section of Weezer sounds. Any fan of the band should pick this up.