Alone in mediocrity

Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo is arguably one of the most enigmatic artists of the last 20 years, due to his fans' die-hard allegiance and all the dramatic subplots that have dogged Weezer since 1996. Over the years, Cuomo wrote hundreds of songs fans never heard -- including the scrapped record Songs From the Black Hole -- and he's finally released a collection of them on Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo. \nAny major fan of the Weez knows the band's best material was made with the band's first two albums Weezer (The Blue Album) and Pinkerton, both of which are located in the highest pantheon of legendary emo-pop. Since Weezer's return in 2001, the songs have been nothing more than weightless, pop fluff such as "Beverly Hills." Thankfully, Alone's tracklist -- which contains songs from 1992 to 2007 -- is chronological, making it easy to distinguish between Cuomo's heyday and whatever the hell he's been doing since. \nAll the strong songs here are from the aforementioned Black Hole, a supposed concept album about space travel as a metaphor for success. One of those tracks "Blast Off!" is a short ditty that includes a Weezer (Blue Album)-style riff and a garbled voice distortion, but it's some\nthing you'd expect from Cuomo circa 1995.\n"Superfriend" also sounds similar to quality Weezer, with a simple, foot-tapping melody accompanying quirky lyrics from Rivers: "What the hell am I doing here / Thinking with my willie / Knowing I don't love her I tell her no / Then kiss her toes." It's not a fantastic song -- much like most of the older songs here -- but it's great to hear stuff that's created rumors for years.\nSadly, once the album delves into more recent demos, the mood completely sours. The over-produced shallow rock songs show up, and if you're a longtime fan, they will probably fill you with rage similar to that of your first listen of Make Believe. \nThe worst offender is "This Is The Way," which was scrapped from Weezer's upcoming album for good reason. It includes "singing" from Cuomo as he continuously spurts "This is the way baby," which would work if this was a Justin Timberlake track, but here it's simply embarrassing. \nAlone does a great job of capturing what could have been and what is for Cuomo and his fans from the past 15 years. The good outweighs the bad here, but unfortunately, Cuomo is satisfied with continuing to deliver the bad from here on out.