Riverpedia archive - 08/03/2021

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=Alone Series=
Alone IV - XIII are a series of demo bundles I’ve released in The Market. Each bundle represents a different era, and are grouped as outlined below.
• Alone IV: Before Weezer
• Alone V: The Blue-Pinkerton Years
• Alone VI: The Black Room
• Alone VII: The Green Years
• Alone VIII: The Maladroit Years
• Alone IX: The Make Believe Years
• Alone X: The Red-Raditude-Hurley Years
• Alone XI: The EWBAITE Years
• Alone XII: The White Years
====Track Lists====
Riverchatters are keeping up to date track lists for each bundle in this google sheet..
====Ratings====
My demos can be rated here. Thank you to gracz for creating and sharing his site while I finalize a native ranking system.
====Album Artwork====
Fans have created and shared their own album artwork for each bundle in a google drive, where you can view or download their concepts, and you can even upload your own work!
==Alone V: Pre-Weezer==
Alone V: Pre-Weezer starts when I was around 11, pretending to be a DJ in Connecticut on my home recorder and ends in 1992 just when I started to write songs for Weezer.
It took me a while to find my voice as a songwriter. I started off trying to write metal riffs. But by the time I moved to LA in 1989, the songwriting and types of music I was exploring really varied.
Before focusing on Weezer, I compiled a number of tapes with full songs, riffs, sketches and even mash-ups with phone calls. And there’s my ‘opera’ tape- 20 plus tracks with me at the piano. Some of these can be a little raw, but they’re a fun listen.
The music got grungy but eventually, I gained focus when I started to write songs specifically for Weezer. This bundle has the first demo for Undone (The Sweater Song) and a number of early Weezer songs that didn’t make The Blue Album.
===Highest-rated by curators:===
#Make Me a Pallet
#Christmas in LA
#Colmusheen
#Little Bag
#Anything 4 You (Take 3)
#I Can’t Forget the Way
#Close Your Eyes and Give Me a Kiss
#Spider Bitch
#Ain’t Got No Words
#Hey M’Darlin
===Highest-rated by neighbors:===
#I Can’t Forget the Way 2
#Hey M’Darlin
#Make Me a Pallet
#Christmas in LA
#Phone Call Interruption
#Wet Dog
#Undone
#Crazy Rock ‘n Rollers
#Hello Men and Boys
#Colmusheen
==Alone III & Alone IV: The Blue-Pinkerton Years==
Once Weezer was underway, I found my voice and a unique, true identity as a songwriter. This bundle starts when Weezer was still rocking the clubs in LA, when I wrote most of the songs that would end up on the Blue Album. You’ll probably find a lot of the songs in this collection familiar—there are the original demos of classic Weezer songs from Blue and Pinkerton, like In the Garage, Holiday or Why Bother?
After the release of our first album, we toured constantly and I at first, found it difficult to write. But I drew inspiration from my disillusionment with life on the road and used that for the concept behind Songs from the Black Hole.
I took a break from touring for leg surgery and to go back to school, where the space opera concept transformed into the ideas that would become Pinkerton.
Even though I put myself out there for Pinkerton, the personal lyrics and complex rock arrangements didn't resonate with audiences like I had hoped. During one of the European festivals we played before the album's release, I remember how the audience connected way more with a musical act that didn’t have guitars, a bass or drums than they did with us. The crowd was drawn to their simple sound with repetitive beats. I spent years trying to emulate that with my own music.
After we stopped touring in the summer of '97, I returned to Boston. But instead of resuming my classes at Harvard, I set out to make music that was the opposite of Pinkerton, a (repetitive sound) with impersonal lyrics. With groups of Boston musicians, I led two bands, one called Homie which played weird, country goofball songs written during Pinkerton, and another that I called Lovely, focused on the music I thought I would play in the future. Some of those songs, like Rosemary and American Girls, are part of the Blue-Pinkerton years because they were my response to the reception to Pinkerton and a hint of what was next.
===Highest Rated by Curators===
#Waiting on You
#In the Garage
#Rosemary
#Superman
#Punk Rock Girl
#Simply State
#Hot Tub
#Too Good For Me
#When You’re Near Me
#Let Me Wash At Your Sink
===Highest Rated by Neighbors===
#Waiting on You
#You Gave Your Love to Me Softly
#Devotion
#Susanne
#Holiday
#In the Garage
#American Girls
#Tired of Sex
#No One Else
#Why Bother 
==Alone VI: The Black Room==
I returned to LA in early 1998 determined to work on a new sound for Weezer's third album. The Black Room is a time where I was struggling to find confidence. I isolated myself and experimented with several different styles of music to find what was next.
I returned to T.K. Productions, where Weezer had its first rehearsal, rented a recording/rehearsal room and worked on various sketch tapes, many of which are in this bundle. The tapes are made up of songs and sketches, and my approach changed throughout the year. At first, I was convinced that Weezer's future lay in repetitive, impersonal yet romantic rock. Then I looked to Oasis for inspiration. By that summer, my inspiration changed to Nirvana and a more dissonant sound. But by the end of the year, I was unhappy with most of what I had done that whole year and decided to take drastic action.
Deciding that I needed to purge myself of all external influences, I cut off contact with the outside world. I painted the walls of my bedroom black, covered my windows and stopped watching TV. I wrote down every musical notion that I had and what type of environment or stimulus was behind it. All for the goal of creating a formula for the perfect pop-rock song. I called this the Catalog of Riffs, and used the numbering system for these songs for many years after.
A year and more than one hundred songs later, I moved out of my apartment to Beechwood Canyon and shared my efforts with my bandmates. There were some clear standouts, like My Brain, which would be the first 'new' Weezer song fans would hear, and Island In the Sun, which went on to be a hit on the Green Album.
Even though I would put this time behind me, the influence of the Black Room would continue to be strong in my songwriting. Songs like Pork and Beans (23 Wan and Wistful Silvertone Riff), Byzantine (TKX-21 There’s a Bomb in the Air), Hash Pipe (TKX-55 Everybody Needs a Place to Rest) and Bird With a Broken Wing (Nothing Matters in the World) all have their roots in these songs and sketches.
===Highest Rated by Curators===
#French Pop
#TK-10 Girls’ Soccer
#Average Town
#TK-7 Sunshine
#Always
#The Black Rider
#Labrador
#Kilmanjaro
#I Hip
#I Want You
===Highest Rated by Neighbors===
#Good Times
#Sweet Love
#Suicide Pilot
#My Brain
#In The Night
#Rosemary
#I Wish You Luck
#Average Town
#TK-7 Sunshine
#TK-8 Stars Shine Bright (Goodnight)
==Alone VII: The Green Years==
I didn’t realize it at the time, but when Weezer got back together in early 2000, we had amassed a whole new set of fans who loved Pinkerton. Which was a different reception to the album than after its release. That spring, we received an offer to play a show in Japan which dwarfed any offer we had ever received for a concert. So Weezer was back on the road.
In the time between Pinkerton and that summer, I was trying to come up with the best system for writing songs. At the time, I didn’t have confidence in myself. And no matter the music I was making, I couldn’t find confidence in that either. I was dependent on my system (still using the Catalog of Riffs) and boosted by the writings of Nietzsche, Goethe and Stravinsky.
Weezer was in demand and we had to make a record. Looking back, I consider the album was made not necessarily through our talent, but more through sheer force of will. I decided to follow the example of “great” men cited by Nietzsche who pursued “world domination.” But for me, that was simply being active in the pursuit of commercial success.
After our tour ended in the fall of 2000, I was back home at my house in Beechwood Canyon where the band and I worked on the songs that would make up Weezer’s third album. Even as we rehearsed, I was still writing and recording new songs on my own. Some of these songs like My Best Friends are Gone (Brightening Day) and Teenage Victory Song would become B-sides for the Green Album. But I didn’t dwell on this time period for long. This phase ended in May of 2001 with the release of the Green Album. We achieved commercial success and I was determined to make the most of it.
===Highest Rated by Curators===
#You Stupid Piece of Shit
#I Wish You Luck
#Hole in Time
#Teenage Victory Song
#My Best Friends are Gone
#No Way
#Fanny Bone
#Gimme Something
#Possessed, Obsessed
#Let’s Get Mellow
===Highest Rated by Neighbors===
#Yer Fun to Play With
#I Wish You Luck
#Hide into the Sun
#Mr. Docksider
#Fanny Bone
#Suddenly I Shot My Mouth
#You Stupid Piece of Shit
#Tremendously Awful
#Pleased to Meet You (Annie, Come Home)
#My Best Friends are Gone
==Alone VIII: The Maladroit Years==
The Green Album was a huge hit, reaching commercial success and audiences we had never reached before. To me, this success validated everything I did to get us where we were. If my approach to music was successful, then I reasoned that the same type of approach to business would succeed also.
I started taking over business responsibilities for the band, parting ways with our manager. I was the new manager, in addition to performing, composing and writing music, and recording music. I renegotiated our contracts and changed the way Weezer worked.
Amid all of this, Weezer was busy. We were on Saturday Night Live. We toured Europe and the United States. We were recording demos for our next album. And throughout it all, I was writing new songs and making demos.
Despite Green’s success, criticism of the songwriting stuck out to me. At the same time, the commercial success told me the method I took to write the songs for Green was the way to go, so I continued cataloguing as I composed. Many of the demos in the Maladroit Years were recorded with just a guitar on an Olympus digital handheld recorder.
Possibilities, Fall Together, Space Rock and others would appear on Maladroit. Other songs in this collection would go on to be attempted for the album, but go unused. Others, such as She Who is Militant, Hey Domingo and Oh, She Left Me There would form the foundation for songs on future Weezer albums (This is Such a Pity, Peace and Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori). One song from this time period, Perfect Situation, would go on to chart higher than any song off Maladroit. And there’s one song (Adio) that I would record with full instrumentation for Enrique Iglesias that he turned down.
Despite the musical productivity, things were starting to unravel. Weezer faced multiple lawsuits from friends and business partners. Maladroit was not the hit album that I thought it would be, hurting our relationship with the label. I was unhappy with the situation and my music and questioning everything.
As the discontent was beginning to build, I would meet producer Rick Rubin, who would work with Weezer on two future albums. His guidance would help me out of this unhappiness, affecting not only my music, but also my life.
===Highest Rated by Curators===
#Message Board
#Strangling My Nook
#Perfect Situation
#Adio
#I’m So Alone
#Tell Me What I Want
#Oh She Left Me There
#Sugar Daddies
#Sandwiches Time
#Up Yours
===Highest Rated by Neighbors===
#I Admire You So Much
#You’re My Best Friend
#Broken Arrows
#Lullaby (acoustic sketch 1)
#I’m So Alone
#Tell Me What I Want
#Victory (I Don’t Want Your Lovin’)
#Message Board
==Alone IX: The Make Believe Years==
Even before Maladroit's release, we were working on the fifth Weezer album. It was a busy time. In addition to touring and supporting Maladroit, I was writing new music, recording new Weezer songs with the band and overseeing all of our management duties. I was busy. I was not happy. And I was having doubts whether I was making the music I knew I was capable of.
In the summer of 2002, during all of this, I met producer Rick Rubin, who we were considering working with for Weezer's fifth album. From our earliest conversations, Rick had an influence on me. He was the first person to challenge my songwriting, for example, suggesting I re-write or re-structure parts of certain songs. No one had ever asked me to do that before. And later on, as I was feeling overwhelmed by all I had taken on, Rick suggested something else: meditation. Despite my initial resistance, I started practicing Vipassana Meditation. The practice had an immediate positive effect- not just on my songwriting, but my life. I realized I didn't need to have traumatic events to inspire my songwriting. Rather, if I focused through meditation, I could concentrate enough to find inspiration from more everyday experiences. And it worked. I was once again writing songs inspired by my life, something fans had been asking for.
Around this time, I also gave up the management responsibilities for which I had fought. I sought to repair relationships and changed my living situation. And after working meditation in to my daily routine, I started writing again with a goal for Weezer's fifth album.
In the summer of 2003, Weezer leased an office, where I recorded several demos with the band and by myself. The Make Believe Bundle starts with some of these summer office sessions. I Was Scared, which was heard on Alone II, was a very personal song from this time about my relationship with my brother.
We headed into the studio to record album five in November of that year. After several weeks of recording, with many finished songs, I was uncertain about the work we accomplished. So I worked without the band and without Rick, reworking old songs and writing new ones. There are several folders in the Make Believe Bundle containing recordings from my solo sessions at SIR Recording studios from February through July.
One of the goals I had was to return to melodic-based songwriting after many years of basing my songs around riffs. The culmination of this was Unchained Melody, a collection of songs from May of 2004. Like the other SIR sessions, Unchained Melody includes new songs as well as songs with origins dating back years, like All I Want to Do (originally heard as She Who is Militant from 2002) and Do You Really Want Me Down (My Brain from the Summer Songs of 2000).
In July, the band and I returned to the studio to resume album sessions. The album would feature some songs from our initial sessions alongside songs I wrote (or developed further) in 2004. In many ways, this time period was one of seeking redemption, trying to right past wrongs and returning to melodic songwriting. Make Believe would go on to bring us two of our biggest hits, (Beverly Hills and Perfect Situation), early versions of which can also be found in this collection.
===Highest Rated by Curators===
#The Formula
#Yahoo (2004-02-27)
#I Wanna Be With You (2004-02-02)
#This is Such a Pity (2004-07-20)
#Simple Fisherman (2004-05-18)
#Till You Set Me Right (2004-06-04)
#Love is the Answer (2004-07-20)
#I Was Scared (2004-07-05)
#Last Chance (2004-07-20)
#Where to Start (2004-07-05)
===Highest Rated by Neighbors===
#This is Such a Pity (2004-07-20)
#Haunt You Every Day (2004-04-23)
#Intro. (also Always, Forever) (Unchained Melody)
#Simple Fisherman (2004-05-18)
#All I Need to Know (2004-02-13)
#Do You Really Want Me Down? (Unchained Melody)
#The Sweetest One of All (2004-02-20)
#Where To Start (2004-07-05)
#Clearer Eyes
#Hold Me (2004-06-04)
==Alone X: The Red-Raditude-Hurley Years==
After releasing Make Believe and touring with Weezer to support our fifth album, I took some time to take care of two important things - I graduated from Harvard and I got married.
At the time, any statements I made about the future of Weezer were vague, leading several media outlets to wonder if the band was done. However, I was focusing on finishing my studies and married life. Even when not active with Weezer, I was developing new songs and demos to share with the band.
One of the most notable things I shared at this time was a collection of demos from early 2007 I called Deliverance at Hand. This mostly-acoustic collection contained songs that I had been working on and would become the basis for 2008's Weezer (the Red Album).
After the birth of my daughter, Weezer released the Red Album. While touring to support Red, I started developing a desire to collaborate. We started holding hoootenannies, where several fans would join the band and I on stage and play some of Weezer's biggest hits. The collaborative mood evolved, where I started working with other writers for the first time in years.
Because I do not include collaborations in these bundles, the Raditude and Hurley albums may seem underrepresented. However, there are still several songs from each album represented as part of this bundle. Overall, this bundle may seem a bit all over the place, but when I listen to these songs, I can hear the confidence and joy the experimentation brought me.
===Highest Rated by Curators===
#Softies
#Respect
#The Angel and the One
#Run Over by a Truck
#Mother Dearest
#King
#Here Comes The Girl
#Daydreamer
#Hot Little Tramp
#Here Comes The Girl
===Highest Rated by Neighbors===
#The Angel and the One
#Run Over by a Truck
#Miss Sweeney
#Pig
#Autopilot
#Here Comes the Girl
#My Brain is Working Overtime (Piano)
#East Coast or West Coast
#My Bark is Worse than My Bite
#Sweet Love (v01 DB 2)
Further Reading:
Ilizarov Procedure
( Last edited by Lisa at 2021-08-03T02:20:01Z) 
=Help=
Ways you can help:
properly format all of these wiki articles. Make the formatting consistent. Use the Markdown syntax guide at the link.
( Last edited by Lisa at 2021-08-03T02:32:20Z) 
=Most Wanted Demos=
A list of the most wanted demos is available for viewing here. This list is maintained by users of the site, using fan request polls and feedback from Rivers about the availability of each demo.
Please contact users geewiz or King Tom for more information.
( Last edited by Lisa at 2021-08-03T02:28:25Z) 
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