Pavement:Classic or Dud

still don't understand tbh, but i am (clearly) not a collector

Do people who buy these things know about Spotify? It's much cheaper

I’m fine with Pavement getting paid! I’m just being a jerk. Get them checks!

I think the TT reissue (even with the changed tracklist) seems more immediately logical - they’d done the prior studio albums, and this was them finally ending the cycle.

"easily fooled" and "strings of nashville" are great

thassa lotta money tho

That box is cool but I'd rather Drag City or whoever just keep Perfect Sound Forever in print on its own.

I keep saying this, but if they want my money they’ll release select live shows as physical media

Absolutely this. Feel like Sonic Youth starting to release physical editions of old archival shows has been successful, I'm sure they'd sell tons!

And I get why they'd release this box, there are plenty who will snap this up and they'll get paid, but... I can't imagine any Pavement thing I'd want less.

<q>Do people who buy these things know about Spotify? It's much cheaper

― H.P, Wednesday, March 13, 2024 11:17 PM</q>

this is certainly one way to look at the music you love

god dammit

Never heard of the Black Out 7”.

This was a limited release available with pre-orders of the expanded WZ in 2006.

New 7" records typically cost between $7-$15, so considering that this set is 17 records, the price isn't really outrageous by current standards.
I've got a few of the originals between Summer Babe and Pacific Trim, and probably own just about everything else between Westing and the deluxe cds.
The set does look pretty cool, graphics/packaging-wise, so I might do it.

You got what you deserved there alpine
(This boxset does look vry cool and would be nice to have)

when i interviewed Spiral last year, this is what he said about future archival stuff:

Spiral Stairs: We did a big deal with Matador a few years ago to do the catalog worldwide, so we came up with a few ideas. The movie thing was one of them, reissuing Terror Twilight and Westing was another. We’re probably gonna do like a singles box. And I really want to do a proper box set. We’ve got a lot of live stuff that we’ve recorded over the years that we’ve never done anything with and there’s some very early stuff that I’ve unearthed. There’s really cool archival stuff that people would probably be interested in. Having it all in one nice box set would be great. The older I get, these box sets are all I buy now. [Laughs].

true enough, HP.

good info, tylerw. sounds about like i imagined. i suspect Spiral wants to flush out the archives and pay his mortgage, and SM wants little to do with it but isn't going to stand in the way. no surprise the relationship with Matador changed a bit ... someone has to push them to keep the faucet dripping.

Oh cool, the box set is streaming(!)

...but there's nothing new on these?

I thought it was just the Westing comp and the album reissue b-sides* repackaged in their original form...?

*(which were already all available on streaming)

correct, nothing new.

although i will say it is kind of nice to have this stuff separated from the proper albums. reminds me of my 2CD homemade compilation of their b-sides that i made in, like, 1998ish - "Four Channel Destiny"

granted, this is soemthing you can easily do with streaming playlists, but i don't make playlists.

I think those alt versions of "Black Out" "Extradition" weren't streaming before(?)

But otherwise, yeah, I agree with alpine static – while you could recreate the track list, I still think it's cool that they made it available as a standalone thing.

Huh – the alt "Black Out" has "Gonna haunt you down, haunt you down..." lyrics

"Extradition" sounds pretty close to the album track

Also, I guess you still need to dial up the Westing... comp to hear the "Perfect Sound Forever" tracks (so Drag City Incorporated get their $0.0000002)

...and ftr, that's exactly what I'm doing now. I've never known most of these songs by title, but damn... "Internal K-Dart" and "Perfect Depth" are such anthems. After hearing those, you kinda have to play the final EP, and close out the trilogy.

Pavement have finally gone Gold:
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2024-05-21/pavement-steven-malkmus-a-new-gold-record-tik-tok-harness-your-hopes

On May 16, the song (Harness Your Hopes) hit the RIAA’s classification for Gold status, meaning it hit the sales equivalent for 500,000 units across platforms. Malkmus was just as confused as the public by the song’s ascent — “I heard it was on a playlist or something,” he told Stereogum. “I’m not an expert on Spotify but, you know, one of those ‘Monday Moods’ or whatever the f— they do.”

lol SM

“Im pushing 60 i dont care”

Pretty wild that this is Pavement's top 10 on Spotify:

1. Harness Your Hopes 148M
2. Cut Your Hair 42M
3. Range Life 32M
4. Gold Soundz 27M
5. Spit on a Stranger 16M
6. Stereo 11.9M
7. Zurich Is Stained 11.3M
8. Shady Lane 10.8M
9. Grounded 10.1M
10. Father to a Sister of Thought 9.2M

Zurich is Stained 11.3M is the actual title

40M daggers

Here's the long version of how this song has exploded and a great read. Glenn McDonald is a hero too.

https://www.stereogum.com/2105993/pavement-harness-your-hopes-spotify/columns/sounding-board/

How cleanly the top 10 divides into tiers: S = "Harness Your Hopes", A = the three big radio-friendly songs from Crooked Rain, B = a career spanning selection of wistful tunez (+weird outlier "Stereo")

Stereo is an iconic Pavement song not a weird outlier

Yeah always felt that was a breakthrough single of sorts

What about the voice of Geddy Lee etc

an esteemed ilxor even took their name from it!

yeah, Stereo was a single at their commercial (until recently) peak, no?