Rivers Cuomo: Do We Really Need Alone II? So Soon? Really?

Look, don't get us wrong: we love us some good ol' classic Weezer. But it seems like these days the band is more focused on getting records out the door than getting good records out the door. This year's Red Album was a pretty MOR effort into the same radio-pop that made Make Believe a bit of a disappointment. What's more, Rivers' demo album Alone really didn't live up to the hype. Sure, it was fun to hear some of the demos and unreleased tracks, but let's just say into the heavy rotation track it did not go.

So it's with some trepidation and skepticism that we great the advent of Alone II, the apparent companion piece to the first record. Granted, it has an uber-awesome vintage photo of Rivers on the cover (see above), but we simply find it hard to believe that the content will be superior to the first volume. I mean, if they had better stuff, wouldn't they have put it on the first go-round? That being said, there are a few items on the tracklist that leave us curious enough to probably pick this one up. For one, there are some pre-Blue Album demos, and for another there are three tunes from the legendarily sidelined album Songs From The Black Hole. So, yes, Weezer marketing machine: you win this round. We're still tempted enough by the vintage tunes, that we'll come begging for that thing we're so skeptical of. But be warned: our patience with mediocrity wears thin.