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.

Weezer Presale This Morning @ 10 AM

Despite our skepticism at The Weez's recent conduct and musical output, we figured this was worth a mention: the band will be playing a show at San Jose State on October 13th, and there's a presale starting at 10 AM this morning. Sure, there's no Matt Sharp, and the last few albums have has their weaknesses, but don't you still want to hear Rivers thrash on a few tunes live? You can grab tickets here, the password is "beans".

New Weezer: A Return To Form

So, Weezer have just posted the lead single from their forthcoming self titled "red album", and it sounds pretty damn good. Being that we (along with, oh, everyone else) were highly disappointed in Make Believe, we really are hoping that this go around is a bit better. If the single is any indication, we may be in for some "Pork and Beans" still has the big, crunchtastic riffs that have come to dominate the band's sound of late, but there are also sweet sounding pianos, all the backing vocals you could want, and some nice acoustic guitars. Sure, it sounds like Weezer, what do you expect? But, it's got soul: something that the band had been lately lacking.

Stream: Weezer - Pork and Beans mp3: Weezer - Pork and Beans (lower quality)