Alone: The Home Records of Rivers Cuomo

Anyone who knows of Rivers Cuomo (Weezer) will probably be aware of how unbelievable it is that he has found the inner-cofidence to allow the world to hear him in his rawest state.

This awkwardly shy, yet driven musician has produced a collection of demos and 'didn't quite make it tracks' that are both a joy to behold and a real eye-opener.

The 18 tracks scoot around the time line of Rivers' life with the CD liner notes detailing the reasons behind the composition, plus the lyrics, and why it has never previously been aired.

'Alone' holds many poignant moments. 'Songs from the Black Hole' was Rivers' attempt at writing a musical version of Red Dwarf (UK Fan reference) and very funny it is too. It would have made a surreal follow-up to the Blue Album! (Glad they went with Pinkerton!)

'Crazy One' describes a girlfriend who broke his heart... you can hear Rivers whimper at the top of this track (still hurting from the recent events) and 'This Is the Way' may show the direction that Weezer are heading in.

Some of the demo-tracks are unashamedly raw (duff vocals are left in) yet the album never suffers for it. Instead it delivers a revelatory insight into Rivers Cuomo and ultimately carries some damn fine tunes.

I think it's universally agreed that Cuomo's writing peak was reached in his earlier musical material: where River's was more experimental in his writing process, not being held down by any boundaries. 'The Blue Album' and 'Pinkerton' capture the magic of River's top writing ability - both albums being fan favorites (even though I still love everything after it). For fans who miss the likes of this then 'Alone: The Home Recordings' should make for a pleasurable listen.
'Alone: The Home Recordings' is a collection of demos created by Cuomo over a period of time. Since these were personal recordings River's is not held back by any boundaries, literally putting on tape what ever he felt like. Cuomo spans many different ideas and genres in this collection of recordings making for an interesting listen: from the zany 'Rage Against the Machine' sound on 'The Bomb' to the cool, soulful 'This is the Way'. There's even an early demo on the legendary 'Buddy Holly'; giving us an early impression of what River's sought to achieve from the master recording.
I really like this album but I can only recommend it to the fans. Casual listeners probably won't appreciate this as much as the fans. However, I think fans will enjoy this. The songs are great by themselves; no matter who wrote them. But the sound quality varies on the songs with a few skips here and there but its very rare and occurs more in the earlier material. But it makes the songs seem even more personal: as though they have come straight out of the studio to you.
So, as stated before, this is definitely one for the fans. As a long time fan I enjoyed the collection of songs and how varied they were; reminding me of just how great Weezer are :-).