Matt Sharp / Rivers Cuomo album

From Weezerpedia
Untitled Matt Sharp / Rivers Cuomo album
by Matt Sharp and Rivers Cuomo
Released Unreleased
Recorded 2004
Genre Alternative Rock
Label n/a
Matt Sharp chronology
Matt Sharp
2004
Matt Sharp / Rivers Cuomo album
(unreleased/unfinished)
The Last Little Life EP
2007
(The Rentals)

The untitled collaborative album by Rivers Cuomo and Matt Sharp is an unfinished project by the two musicians that has generated significant speculation and enthusiasm among Weezer fans. The pair rehearsed together in December of 2003,[1] leading to Cuomo making a guest appearance at a Sharp solo performance in Fullerton, CA two months later. Sharp described 15-16 "new song ideas" that the pair had worked on, but only one track - "Time Song" - has ever surfaced. Six months after the Fullerton performance, Sharp described the project as unlikely to be brought to fruition[2].

Live performance

"Well Rivers and I have been talking about a lot of things lately, and one of those things is the thought that we may make a record together someday. This is one of the first ideas we started working on together, it's called "Time Song...""

- Matt Sharp, February 12, 2004[2]

Surprising many fans, Cuomo joined Sharp on stage on February 12, 2004 during a stop on Sharp's solo acoustic tour. Cuomo had previously attended one of Sharp's shows the year prior[3]. The pair played four songs together: "Mrs. Young," "Time Song," "Say It Ain't So," and "Undone - The Sweater Song." "Mrs. Young" was the pair's first formal collaboration, beginning as a Sharp-penned 1993 demo originally written for Weezer. Cuomo assisted with the song's arrangement and the band considered releasing it as a b-side, but it never saw the light of day.[4]

Karl Koch described the show as significantly positive for the two musicians' relationship, stating that it "came off well and delighted the audience, and marked a public end of the estrangement that had persisted between the two former bandmates for several years. With the legal (and emotional) issues cleared up, the two have gotten back in touch as friends and are now keeping in touch and sharing music, separately from their individual works in Weezer and Matt Sharp solo. Once in a while, hell does freeze over."[5]

Two weeks after the performance, Sharp told Rolling Stone that he and Cuomo had "decided to not to put a label on anything as of yet... At this point, we’re both being open to all possibilities creatively and just enjoying the process.”[3]

Dissolution

"Unfortunately our own special brand of disfunctionality may keep us from giving this collabaration [sic] the proper attention anytime soon."

- Matt Sharp, August 2004[2]

Little is known about the circumstances that led to Cuomo and Sharp discontinuing this effort at putting a record together. To date, Cuomo does not appear to have commented on it publicly.

Potential songs

Performed live by the pair

Rehearsed together

Additional unreleased Sharp demos from the period

Additional Cuomo-Sharp song

Gallery

See also

References