Rivers

I give Rivers Cuomo a lot of shit on this blog. However, his recently released set of demos.... well it ain't bad.

There are several reasons I give Rivers a lot of shit. First of all, I love the guy. I really do. But listening to his previous couple of albums, I just don't get that love flowing through me. The first couple of Weezer albums were great. They helped define who I am. At the time, it broadened my horizons to the underground (Pavement, Sonic Youth) that I never knew existed. Weezer really stood out in the crowd.

Recently, though, Weezer just blends into the crowd they helped influence. And I hate that they don't attempt to separate from it.

That being said, on with Alone.

The simple reason I like it is that it's full of tunes from Weezer's best era. And it helps re-establish my faith in this guy because that sound still sounds good. I never grew out of Weezer. They just got bad.... or lazy, or whatever. I can still listen to the '90's Weezer albums and get worked up. I listen to Make Believe and I want to throw up. Simple. It's not my fault. It's their fault.

I love finally hearing some of Songs from the Black Hole. They sound freaking great. The songs from the hiatus years are nice too. I love the "Buddy Holly" demo. It's all great!

Suddenly I'm excited for their new album. I'm pretty cautious with that excitement though. There is one song on Alone that was supposed to be on that new album. It's called "This is the Way." And it is AWFUL!! Seriously Rivers? You wrote a song that bad?? Don't blow this buddy. Some of us are still actually cheering for you.