rank the songs on Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain

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in honor of its 10th anniversary reissure today/tomorrow...

1. elevate me later
2. unfair
3. gold soundz
4. silence kit
5.(tie)cut your hair
5.(tie)range life
7. stop breathin'
8. fillmore jive
9. 5-4 equals unity
10. newark wilder
11. heaven is a truck
12. hit the plane down

― peter smith (plsmith), Monday, 25 October 2004 17:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Gold Soundz
Elevante Me Later
Stop Breathin
Silence Kit
Unfair
Newark Wilder
Cut Your Hair
Heaven Is a Truck
5-4 = Unity
Fillmore Jive
Hit the Plane Down
Range Life

― morris pavilion (samjeff), Monday, 25 October 2004 18:06 (twenty-one years ago)

1. Haunt You Down
2. 5-4 = Unity (vocal version)
3. Unseen Power of the Picket Fence
4. the rest

― 57 7th (calstars), Monday, 25 October 2004 18:08 (twenty-one years ago)

01 Silent Kid
02 Unfair
03 Newark Wilder
04 Ell Ess Two
05 Cut Your Hair
06 Gold Soundz
07 Stop Breathin'
08 Range Life
09 Fillmore Jive
10 Heaven Is A Truck
11 5 - 4 = Unity
12 Hit The Plane Down

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Monday, 25 October 2004 18:09 (twenty-one years ago)

(x-post - I guess Cut Your Hair is actually better than Newark Wilder; I've just heard it too much, so its value is deflated.)

― morris pavilion (samjeff), Monday, 25 October 2004 18:09 (twenty-one years ago)

ooooh - a bold evasion of the question!

― peter smith (plsmith), Monday, 25 October 2004 18:09 (twenty-one years ago)

(xxxpost)

― peter smith (plsmith), Monday, 25 October 2004 18:09 (twenty-one years ago)

"Not Guilty"
"What's the New Mary Jane?"

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Monday, 25 October 2004 18:16 (twenty-one years ago)

12. Heaven is a Truck
11. Newark Wilder
10. Unfair
9. Hit the Plane Down
8. 5 - 4 = Unity

(HUMONGOUS FUCKING LEAP IN SONG QUALITY)

7. Silence Kit
6. Elevate Me Later
5. Range Life
4. Gold Soundz
3. Fillmore Jive
2. Cut Your Hair
1. Range Life

Few albums make differentiating between good songs and bad songs as easy as Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain.

― The Good Dr. Bill (Andrew Unterberger), Monday, 25 October 2004 18:24 (twenty-one years ago)

whoa, whats wrong with unfair?

― peter smith (plsmith), Monday, 25 October 2004 18:27 (twenty-one years ago)

"hit the plane down" isn't nearly as bad as everybody seems to think it is. i kinda like it myself. show some love to spiral, people!

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 25 October 2004 18:29 (twenty-one years ago)

"Unfair" is one of Pavement's most classic songs! Especially live.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Monday, 25 October 2004 18:30 (twenty-one years ago)

I think there's a huge dropoff in quality after "Gold Soundz," but that this fits with the "history of rock" theme - side 2 has a great lead song, then descent into filler, like so many LPs of the LP era (I know this may have not been "intentional").

― morris pavilion (samjeff), Monday, 25 October 2004 18:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I like "Hit the Plane Down" too - "There's no surVIvors!"

― n/a (Nick A.), Monday, 25 October 2004 18:39 (twenty-one years ago)

mmm. I find it hard to think of this without listening through again, but I don't want to do that until I get the reissue. And it's not out in the UK until the 1st on November, grr.

I might change it later.

01. Gold Soundz
02. Stop Breathin'
03. Elevate me later
04. Cut yr Hair
05. Silent Kid
06. Range Life
07. Filmore Jive
08. Newark Wilder
09. Unfair
10. Heaven Is A Truck
11. 5-4 = Unity
12. Hit The Plane Down

A lot of these are for sort of sentimental/memory reflex reasons - Gold Soundz was the first Pavement song I really liked, and it's stuck with me because of that, and it's the same with most of the ones nearer the top.

― John Cei Douglas (John Cei Douglas), Monday, 25 October 2004 18:44 (twenty-one years ago)

"Unfair" just really isn't that enjoyable a song.

― The Good Dr. Bill (Andrew Unterberger), Monday, 25 October 2004 19:04 (twenty-one years ago)

i agree dr bill, all the same i'm actually looking forward to picking this up tomorrow in spite of myself

― Roger Fidelity (Roger Fidelity), Monday, 25 October 2004 19:10 (twenty-one years ago)

I can't live without this for too much longer.

― The Good Dr. Bill (Andrew Unterberger), Monday, 25 October 2004 19:15 (twenty-one years ago)

1. Fillmore Jive
2. Elevate Me Later
3. Gold Soundz/5-4 = Unity
4. Cut Your Hair
5. Silence Kit
6. Unfair
7. Newark Wilder
8. Range Life
9. Hit the Plane Down
10. Stop Breathin'
11. Heaven is a Truck

― jel -- (jel), Monday, 25 October 2004 19:16 (twenty-one years ago)

"Unfair" just really isn't that enjoyable a song.

Oh come on, it's super-fun to sing "THIS IS THE SLOW SICK SUCKING PART OF ME."

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 25 October 2004 19:18 (twenty-one years ago)

eh. The rest of that first side is so good it can't help seeming suck in comparison.

Woah, I just realized I listed "Range Life" twice. "Stop Breathin" should've been my #5.

― The Good Dr. Bill (Andrew Unterberger), Monday, 25 October 2004 19:22 (twenty-one years ago)

It totally blows my mind that there are Pavement fans who dislike "Unfair." It's so obviously one of their best songs.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Monday, 25 October 2004 19:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Stop Breathin
Unfair
Elevante Me Later
Cut Your Hair
Range Life
Gold Soundz
Silence Kit
Fillmore Jive
Newark Wilder
5-4 = Unity
Hit the Plane Down
Heaven's a Truck

― a banana (alanbanana), Monday, 25 October 2004 19:38 (twenty-one years ago)

1) Newark Wilder - only song in open tuning, love the creepy ballads. A foreshadow: "Three of us that is enough" = recorded by SM, Mark and West in Random Falls.
2) Stop Breathing - best coda in their catalog (even though it's a Can rip), best underground rock tennis refs. since alex chilton was singing about his deluxe Head racket.
3) Heaven Is A Truck - Jennifer Herrema as The Rose Bowl Queen (Thank you to the USC Marching Band).
4) 5 - 4 = Unity = Dave Brubeck's Take FIVE - the Fab FOUR's "He's So Heavy" = a complete ripoff of the 2nd song on side B of Lawndale's Sasquatch Rock
5) Silent Kit = Starts off like #1 Record AND Like Flies On Sherbert "...ecstasy feels so warm inside til five hours later I'm screwing myself with my own hand"
6) Unfair - SAVE MONO LAKE (cf: Polanski's Chinatown)... "lost in the foothills on my bike: a trick enduro(!!!). Say goodnight to the last psychedelic band from Sacto [sic], Northern Cal!"
7) Fillmore Jive - San Francisco, California 1993
8) Range Life - Don't Go Back To Lodi
9) Ell Ess Two - yeah I saw you Range Rovin' with the REM guitarist three years later
10) Cut Your Hair - alone in a crowd, a bartered lantern broken
11) Gold Soundz - sounded completely tossed off last time i heard it
12) Hit The Plane Down - only SM's Happy Mondays ref ("You're twistin' my melon man") saves this from complete shit.

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 25 October 2004 19:39 (twenty-one years ago)

awesome

― morris pavilion (samjeff), Monday, 25 October 2004 19:44 (twenty-one years ago)

1. gold soundz
2. hit the plane down
3. unfair
4. elevate me later
5. range life
6. cut your hair
7(tie). silence kit
7(tie). newark wilder
7(tie). fillmore jive
7(tie). stop breathin'
8. heaven is a truck
9. 5-4 equals unity

― frankE (frankE), Monday, 25 October 2004 19:49 (twenty-one years ago)

this is hard. CRCR is in my all-time top 5.

Stop Breathin
Unfair
Newark Wilder
Gold Soundz
Silence Kit
Elevate Me Later
Fillmore Jive
Range Life
Cut Your Hair
5-4 = Unity
Hit the Plane Down
Heaven is a Truck

― beaty (beaty), Monday, 25 October 2004 20:59 (twenty-one years ago)

"Unfair" talks about the Atkins diet in 1994 which is rather prescient (or damning... take your pic).

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 25 October 2004 21:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Stop Breathing is the best.

PRE-slsk, I waited months for this to come out, got out of school on a freezing cold winter's evening and went straight to Camden to buy it. Walked home through the heavy snow as the light faded, listening to it, rapt, on my discman. Best record-buying memory ever.

― Damn Yankees- High Enough (nordicskilla), Monday, 25 October 2004 21:11 (twenty-one years ago)

"Unfair" talks about the Atkins diet in 1994 which is rather prescient (or damning... take your pic).

-- gygax!

Aren't you talking about "Elevate Me Later" (stars + protein)?

― Mark (MarkR), Monday, 25 October 2004 21:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes, I've only listened to the album 2-3 times forgive me.

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 25 October 2004 21:32 (twenty-one years ago)

"1) Newark Wilder - only song in open tuning"

is this true???

― Roger Fidelity (Roger Fidelity), Monday, 25 October 2004 21:44 (twenty-one years ago)

gold soundz
stop breathin
silence kit
newark wilder
cut your hair
range life
elevate me later
5-4 = unity
unfair
heaven is a truck
fillmore jive
hit the plane down

11) Gold Soundz - sounded completely tossed off last time i heard it
-- gygax! (gygax0...), October 25th, 2004.

but doesn't that quality pretty much capture the essence of pavement's whole point of existence? the first three full-lengths all sound carefully contrived in their laziness, with gold soundz being the epitome of that wonderful conceit.

― j.m. lockery (j.m. lockery), Monday, 25 October 2004 22:09 (twenty-one years ago)

i like the songs where they don't sound like "lazy" "slackers", but more like a fantastic rock band.

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 25 October 2004 22:13 (twenty-one years ago)

I wanted to be a slacker, it was my greatest ambition.

― Damn Yankees- High Enough (nordicskilla), Monday, 25 October 2004 22:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Atkins' diet was quite big in the 70s. Maybe Malkmus was just being slow.

― Alba (Alba), Monday, 25 October 2004 22:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Well it slimmed down in the 80s/90s.

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 25 October 2004 22:26 (twenty-one years ago)

i can see why folks hate hit the plane down but i actually kind of enjoy it. it definitely makes more impact than nondescript crap like "gold sounds"

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Monday, 25 October 2004 22:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Ah, come on. When he sings: "And you're the kind of girl I like / Because you're empty, and I'm empty / And you can never quarantine the past" it's like the defining Pavement moment.

― Alba (Alba), Monday, 25 October 2004 22:54 (twenty-one years ago)

i like the songs where they don't sound like "lazy" "slackers", but more like a fantastic rock band.
-- gygax! (gygax0...), October 25th, 2004.

i agree, i just don't think the two are mutually exclusive. i love the sound of this album, which is low-fi (read: lazy sounding) while at the same time very wistful and occasionally poignant. nowhere is this combination more present than when 'gold soundz' kicks in, which is the album's summit. (this is the same reason i love bee thousand so much; substitute 'big fan of the pigpen/queen of cans and jars' for 'gold soundz')

― j.m. lockery (j.m. lockery), Monday, 25 October 2004 22:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Unfair has never seemed like the greatest song to me, although I like a lot of the lyrics and phrases it involves. I think the others just got me earlier. But you know, just because a song is nearer the bottom on my list doesn't mean a lot... I really like all the songs on the album, at any given moment!

I've given some thought to using the chorus of "Stop Breathin" as some kind of weird obscure insult... but I have a feeling that would only ever make me laugh. I just have this odd image of this scrawny indie guy shouting "Stop breathing, stop breathing..." in a kind of melodic way at the people who berate him. An hilarious moment 4 reals!

Gold Soundz is what sold me on Pavement, it just sort of perfectly encapsulates a moment for me, some sort of post-Summer romantic time when the weather's still nice but it's starting to slip away.

― John Cei Douglas (John Cei Douglas), Monday, 25 October 2004 22:57 (twenty-one years ago)

'Hit the Plane Down' is perhaps the greatest (maybe second, after 'Conduit For Sale!') weapon in the arsenal of people who think Pavement rip-off the Fall.

― Sasha (sgh), Monday, 25 October 2004 23:35 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't think there's any question that 'Conduit For Sale!' takes first place.

― Alba (Alba), Monday, 25 October 2004 23:38 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't hear this album as lo-fi at all.

― Mark (MarkR), Monday, 25 October 2004 23:43 (twenty-one years ago)

No, I was gonna say. When I first got it I was astonished at how complexly arranged and 'well-produced' it sounded compared to their previous work.

― Alba (Alba), Monday, 25 October 2004 23:45 (twenty-one years ago)

this is one of my favorite albums ever.
never thought about what gygax say--"Silence Kit" starts off like "Sherbert." Yeah, them chords are Chilton-esque.

1. Unfair--I find this song incredibly moving, the guitar is brilliant...
2. Newark Wilder
3. Gold Soundz
4. Cut Your Hair
5. Heaven Is a Truck
6. Stop Breathin
7. Silence Kit
8. Elevate Me Later
9. Range Life
10. 5-4
11. Fillmore Jive
12. Hit the Plane

― eddie hurt (ddduncan), Tuesday, 26 October 2004 00:22 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm a bit surprised that 'Heaven Is A Truck' is so low down on most lists. When h sings "Loosen my dress / Tie me up just like all the rest" in his world weary way, it really gets me.

― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 26 October 2004 00:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I really like that part too alba

and Gold Soundz is pavement's best song, hands down

i'm in a pavement mood tomorrow. While I'm being frivolous - how's the DVD?

― Roger Fidelity (Roger Fidelity), Tuesday, 26 October 2004 00:52 (twenty-one years ago)

'"Unfair" just really isn't that enjoyable a song.'

That does not compute.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 26 October 2004 01:13 (twenty-one years ago)

That DVD kills.

― danh (danh), Tuesday, 26 October 2004 01:41 (twenty-one years ago)

rank the songs is such a great meme.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Tuesday, 26 October 2004 02:02 (twenty-one years ago)

1. Elevate Me Later
2. Gold Soundz
3. Unfair
4. Fillmore Jive
5. Silence Kit
6. Cut Your Hair
7. Stop Breathin
8. Heaven is a Truck
9. Range Life
10. Hit the Plane Down
11. Newark Wilder
12. 5-4=Unity

― a. begrand (a begrand), Tuesday, 26 October 2004 02:37 (twenty-one years ago)

John Cei Douglas SO OTM.

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Tuesday, 26 October 2004 02:40 (twenty-one years ago)

(way upthread.)

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Tuesday, 26 October 2004 02:40 (twenty-one years ago)

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