Frequent readers of Popgun Chaos know about my love/hate relationship with Weezer. It’s because of Weezer that I fell in love with music. Listening to the blue album opened my world to different kinds of music and from there, I went out into the world to research music that I couldn’t find on the radio. Still, as much as I used to love Weezer, I’ve been relatively disappointed with their past two efforts and I started to wonder if I was wrong to love Weezer in the first place. I began to fear that maybe they were a passing fad for me like They Might Be Giants, or (dare I say it? I dare) Sugar Ray (please forgive me. One album. 14:59. Don’t act like you didn’t own it too).
I’ve gone back through Pinkerton lately and it still holds up as a great album and though I plan on purchasing the deluxe edition reissue of the album complete with previously unreleased tracks, I don’t really have the $30 to put down on an album I technically already own. Also, Weezer has another collection of unreleased songs called Death to False Metal and I’ll probably pick that up sometime soon.
Recently, I purchased the Rivers Cuomo Not Alone EP and while I was a bit worried because it was six tracks and an interview with Terry Gross (the greatest interviewer ever) and I wondered if it was worth my money. Sure enough, it was worth every penny.
The album is very low-fi and it’s a fantastic collaboration between Cuomo and a group of musicians. The feeling is a group sing-along as people belt out the lyrics to their favorite Weezer songs, and it made me grin from beginning to end. El Scorcho was particularly snappy and fun and a great reminder of why I loved this band in the first place. It didn’t necessarily make me feel like a kid again, and it didn’t really make me nostalgic, but it made me appreciate the love I have for this band.
Buddy Holly perhaps benefits the most from the sing-along atmosphere as everyone screams their hearts out on the track. You can tell Cuomo is having fun too. As the track ends, he asks the band to play it again, but play a ska version and the up tempo just makes you want to dance.
The only weak part of the EP comes in the form of Butterfly, but even that track wasn’t painful to listen to. It’s played on a banjo and I kept imagining Kermit the Frog belting out the song, but it was really just the same thing. Still, even though experimentation was lost on this song, I really listened to the lyrics again and found them to be still elegant and beautiful.
When it comes down to it, this EP is a celebration of the great songs that Weezer has done throughout their career with a group of people who love Weezer. It may not be incredibly original, and it may not be perfect, but it’s definitely worth the money to recapture your faith in what was once an absolutely fantastic band.
It gives me faith in future Weezer albums.
Apropo of side notes, have you seen the Kermit the Frog music video version of “Hurt”?
You almost lost me at Sugar Ray.
Maybe I’ll give Weezer one more chance. As long as I receive a formal apology for “Beverly Hills.” Haha no, it’s okay. Everyone makes mistakes. Except you, of course.