By the time Weezer’s Make Believe dropped in 2005, so had my faith in Rivers Cuomo, irretrievably. I still enjoy the band’s first two records on occasion, especially Pinkerton, for which I like to credit departed bassist Matt Sharpe, whose absence has been sorely missed. He brought a special level of sincerity, humor, and unpredictability that the band has lacked ever since his departure in early 1998.
Cuomo has just never been able to tap into the vulnerability of Pinkerton in a way that translated into solid, catchy, and affecting songs. His robotic, post-Pinkerton formula has maintained only a surface-level relationship with his art and his audience. I think the initial commercial and critical failure of Pinkerton deeply wounded Cuomo, causing him to wall himself off from conveying anything genuine since.
The legendary Songs from the Black Hole sessions have never seen the light of day, but bootlegs of bits and pieces have surfaced, wherein fans have collected scraps here and there to try to compile the closest composite of what that collection should be. The music all stems from the rich Pinkerton-era, where Cuomo was at the top of his game. According to Bargain Bin Beats, the album was “originally designed to be a rock n’ roll opera consisting of many parts that merged together [sic] the project sadly never saw the light of day and due to contractual agreements between Rivers Cuomo and his record company it may never be heard in it’s entirety.”
Tracklist:
01. Countdown
02. Blast Off!
03. Who You Callin’ Bitch
04. Oh Jonas (Maria’s Theme)
05. I Do
06. Come to My Pod
07. Oh No, This Is Not for Me
08. Tired of Sex
09. She’s Had a Girl
10. Dude, We’re Finally Landing (Good News!)
11. I Don’t Want Your Lovin’
12. Getchoo
13. I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams
14. Superfriend
15. Superfriend (Reprise)
16. O Lisa
17. You Won’t Get Me Tonight
18. Why Bother?
19. Waiting on You
20. No Other One
21. Devotion
22. Purification of Water
23. Longtime Sunshine
24. Longtime Sunshine (Reprise)
Download here.
4 responses so far ↓
1 sharpless // Feb 25, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Please click the following link and adjust your article appropriately. This is not the Songs From The Black Hole album, but a fan’s pathetic attempt at cobbling together something that resembles it. I debunk it here:
http://sharpless.tumblr.com/post/81488403/hotg0ssip-lieslieslies-click-through-for-album
2 Eric Greenwood // Feb 25, 2009 at 4:49 pm
the post already explains that: “…wherein fans have collected scraps here and there to try to compile the closest composite of what that collection should be.”
3 Floipoid // Apr 1, 2009 at 5:19 pm
I remember downloading this forever ago off of another site someone linked to on Across The Weez (a fan forum). It was explained that it was a fan playlist.
4 cal // Dec 8, 2011 at 7:48 pm
sharpless is almost correct. much of the list above is BS. but Superfriend and O Jonas are in fact from SFTBH. The reason O Jonas “sounds nothing like Rivers” is because… duh… it isn’t. It’s the female role of the opera (Maria), sung by Joan Wasser.