by
Rivers Cuomo
- Record Label: Geffen
- Release Date: Dec 18, 2007
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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Alone will stand as an idiosyncratic gem in his catalog, showcasing him at his eccentric best.
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Alone is quirky, but also an intriguing glimpse into one artist's creative process.
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If nothing else, Alone reminds us that a lot of those over-ambitious, silly-on-paper ideas often blossomed in Cuomo's hands, and there was more to Weezer in their early days than just crisp power-pop and cute videos.
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It’s not perfect, but it never tries to be. It shows Rivers Cuomo disarmed and open, doing what he loves.
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For Weezer fans awaiting the next installment, it adds up to a fascinating glimpse into the inner workings of Cuomo’s sweet, strange mind.
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While Alone is a big ol’ mishmash of varying quality, it is, for the time being, the closest any of us will get to Cuomo’s former songwriting charm.
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For a collection of lo-fi home demos, Rivers Cuomo's Alone, in its better moments, sure does sound at times like a return to form.
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Many emotions clearly still linger, but as a songwriter, he seems to lack the desire that he once had to simply be sincere. [Feb 2008, p.95]
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BlenderSome are endearingly autistic... And some are sublimely idiculous. [Mar 2008, p.97]
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But interesting the material is not: The tunes feel same-y and undercooked, and without a band to push him along, Cuomo's sad-dude act gets old fast.
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The sum of its charms--and there are a few--add up to something for only the most devoted in the Cuomo cult.
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It's safe to say that Alone--a vigorously eclectic but mostly charmless collection culled from more than a decade's worth of Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo's home recordings--is strictly for hard-core fans of the geek-pop underdogs.
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White people shouldn’t try to be funky.