Pavement:Classic or Dud

sterlewine (which is always phrased in my head like 'spill the wine' by war) on gary: https://sterlewine.substack.com/p/the-return-of-the-turnpike-troubadours

JUst found this was up on youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctNH51SmyoU

I saw them at Brooklyn Steel last night. They had me when they opened with Elevate Me Later, possibly my favorite Pavement song. We also got a bunch of WZ favs (Black Out, Father to a Sister, Half a Canyon, Fight this Generation). A beautiful Here closed the first set.

I think what we're seeing with this one, too, is kinda like a high school reunion ... at 10 years, you're happy to see people but really not far enough away from graduation to think of it as a big, special deal and you've not aged enough to really have the perspective that life doesn't last forever, it's the people and relationships that matter, etc. Then at 20 years, you're starting to understand that more and so you start to appreciate seeing old friends, recounting the memories, etc.

i think this is well said ...

And hey, they sounded great, seemed to be having fun at the show I saw. Very good vibes.

― tylerw, Friday, October 7, 2022 3:36 PM (eleven months ago) bookmarkflaglink

I endorse this view. It was the best show of theirs I've seen (2x in '99 and 2x in 2010). The band seemed into performing in a way they hadn't any of the other times I had seen them. Appreciative. Generous. (Maybe this was all in my head). All the young people being into it was really nice as well.

I mean the way they jammed out certain songs, they should just keep touring. Get a little of that Wilco jam-adjacent money. Hacky sack in the parking lot.

Ah man, that setlist looks amazing. "Half a Canyon" is the song I'd most like to see them do live.

I’d like Malkmus to be able to return to his solo career, but if they did another round of touring in ‘24 I might have to catch them again

stephen going the neil route with pavement as his crazy horse would be my vote

^^^ yes

really jealous I wasn't able to see them on this tour but absolutely loved them in 2010 so if I don't see them again I still have my "saw them one more time" feeling to get me past the pretty bad terror twilight show I saw in New York at the end of the 90s (indeed that show in some sense *was* the end of *my* 90s)

I was at one of those (Irving Plaza) shows…

Seeing them in fall ‘22 was especially big for me because I missed the 2010 tour entirely

I caught last night's Brooklyn Steel show, and as I was standing in line, I was pretty amazed that everyone around me seemed to be in their early or mid-20's, and at least one person mentioned they were too young to make the first reunion in 2010. My first Pavement show was in 2010, and likewise, it seemed like I was surrounded by college kids or 20-somethings. It seemed to be a sign that their audience doesn't really age the way other acts have - for example, when I saw Beck's solo one-off in 2021 at Irving Plaza, I got the feeling most of the people there had been listening to him in the '90s.

And yes, it was a great show, and perfectly complemented that 2010 show I saw, which was kind of the perfect show for new fans if you could only see one show - a virtual "best of" setlist, and incredibly the few popular favorites that weren't played at that show were played last night. ("Here" was most welcome.)

opened with Elevate Me Later, possibly my favorite Pavement song. We also got a bunch of WZ favs (Black Out, Father to a Sister, Half a Canyon, Fight this Generation). A beautiful Here closed the first set.

jealous!

I know there’s probably no money to be made in it, but I’d love the band to cobble together some sort of composite commemorate live LP - maybe the best of the best style.

Or pick two of the best shows and issue them as a double album (or whatever). Yes, I know most of these shows have surfaced as fan bootlegs, but surely Pavement were doing their own higher fidelity recordings here and there.

would be cool! i think they should take a page from Sonic Youth and start digging into their live archives, put some good shows up on Bandcamp, etc. When I interviewed Spiral late last year he said they had a bunch of stuff lying around.

Just saw this while looking up a Podcast Mike Stax mentioned on his own Ugly Things one
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4AVvPthXIIL2SVshBdkZyl?si=b9c145731669491a

I caught them 5 or 6 times on the 2010 tour, and was pretty bored by the time I got to the last few (didn't help I worked 4 nights of shows at Brixton in a row so some obvious burnout on my part). But putting that aside the 2 shows I saw last year were far far better than any of the 2010 ones and I'm so glad I got to see them.

I went to a show at a tiny venue last night (The Kilowatt SF) and recalled it was the last place I'd seen Pavement prior to last year's reunion shows, maybe 100 people fit in there. So I had a 25 year gap between that show and the latest reunion.

35 years ago today:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slay_Tracks:_1933%E2%80%931969

<3

Thanks Steve, I needed a reason to feel old today.

35 years?!

it can run for president now

christ

steve. . . you're killing me

The Wedding Present's bass player bought a copy in New York, brought it back to Leeds and within a year the Weddoes recorded (with Steve Albini!) a cover of "Box Elder" as a b-side to "Brassneck". That's somewhat amazing in retrospect.

Pavement never got credited for that on 'Bizarro' either iirc

Covered by The Wedding Present was definitely something that popped up in every early mention of Pavement I saw in the music press.

is it is good as their Steve Harley cover?

Definitely not.

7” box set announced: https://store.matadorrecords.com/cautionary-tales-jukebox-classiques

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

Some of other things they’ve done (like this) kinda baffle me

standalone repro of og swirl grey vinyl Demolition Plot w/ racecar tire stamp on inner sleeve or gtfo

xpost i dunno, i think things like this and the Godrich tracklist TT and the S+E demo tape they made are *relatively* clever ideas.

i am kind of starting to wonder if Scott finally figured out that they can just repackage the same stuff in different ways, add old flyers and art and stuff, put it on vinyl and people will buy it. no reason they can't / shouldn't fill in the gaps between anniversary years with 2 LP live sets.

until the color vinyl bubble bursts, a band like this can just milk that market forever, i think.

I think it’s v cool (luv that it has Haunt You Down / Jam Kids), tho I have most of em. Never heard of the Black Out 7”.

Wish they had somehow included Dancing With the Elders (split w/Medusa Cyclone)

no idea why someone would buy this, but i'm fine with them getting paid

how about: they don't have any of the band's 7"s?

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].