For a while (a few years now), Weezer fans have been waiting for the third installment of Rivers Cuomo’s Alone series, containing not only a CD full of home demos, but also a 200+ page book, the Pinkerton Diaries, focused on the years surrounding Weezer’s second album.
The book and CD, which were self-published by Cuomo, were shipped this week. And I got mine today.
I haven’t been able to read or listen to everything, but so far, it’s incredible. The songs on the CD (only a few of which actually ended up on Pinkerton) are a lot rougher than on the other Alone discs. The book is detailed, with content from the day The Blue Album was released through the fall of 1997. There’s a lot of insight, whether it’s on the development of Songs from the Black Hole, his Harvard essays or plans for music after Pinkerton.
As an added bonus, the small run of books was individually numbered, and the first 500 ordered received signed posters. I ordered within ten minutes of the Twitter announcement last month. Somehow, my poster is numbered 34 and my book is numbered 387.
It’s clear that Rivers and crew put a lot of work into this. The book/CD cost $75, which, from my knowledge of the printing industry, is worth it. It’s a small-run self-published project and I wouldn’t be surprised if this doesn’t make money for Rivers.
Of course, I’d like it to- I’d really like future editions, particularly one covering 1997-2000. And I haven’t even finished this one yet.
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