'Alone' and loving it

Alexi Horowitz | Generation: Next

5/1/2008 - 5/1/08

I have been doing dishes for 15 minutes and have no desire to stop. Everything else has been pushed aside in the wake of Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo, a feast of grungy yet clean alternative-rock music. Rivers Cuomo, Harvard graduate and frontman of the rock band Weezer has finally compiled an excellent milieu of his home recordings that never made it onto Weezer albums or into the public eye. The CD has been in my kitchen boombox for a couple of weeks, and I feel that's where it belongs.

This new album is a compilation of Cuomo's solo recordings dating to 1992, when he first started producing his own material with an 8-track recorder. The CD shows a variety of musical and vocal styles from the prolific Cuomo. "Blast Off" is a classic Cuomo production with a clean-cut grungy guitar sound and clear Beach Boy vocals, while "Lover in the Snow" demonstrates a softer, more melodic side.

The lyrics have a personal feel to them as Cuomo strums away and sings about his everyday life. The album includes 18 previously unreleased songs, including several from the scrapped Weezer album Songs From The Black Hole and original versions of such classics as "Buddy Holly" off of their Blue Album. Overall, the album demonstrates some of the best songs and ideas that Cuomo has produced and highlights his genius.

This is an excellent album all-around with Weezer-style rock ballads, soft love serenades and cool, punk-rock guitar solos. The record not only shows development of many Weezer songs but it also showcases Cuomo's unique talent and amazing productivity. It is an essential for any Weezer fan and is a good album to start with for first-time listeners.



Alexi Horowitz is a senior at Santa Fe Preparatory. You can reach him at alexihorowitz@hotmail.com.