Pavement:Classic or Dud

What's weird is that I have internalized Standard Critical Discourse enough to think of S&E and Crooked as "the classic Pavement albums" but if I actually contemplate my listening habits, in the last 10 years I've played Wowee Zowee and Brighten the Corners 5x more than either of those. "Transport is Arranged," "Stereo," "We Are Underused" are three of their greatest songs.

But of course, yes, "Debris Slide," that is majesty.

(I don't care about "Box Elder" anymore though!)

I was always a little sad they didn't ever try to go the Perfect Depth route / style ever again. Wonderful noise rock.

I just find the early stuff a bit hard on the ears. I don't mind 'lo-fi' but I'm just not into harshness, and I just don't think the songs are as good. Crooked Rain has incredible songwriting, as does BTC. Might mean something that BTC was the first album I heard and the one that got me into them.

"Grounded" (in its original state) was left off of Crooked Rain, then rerecorded for BTC. There is nothing even close to it on BTC.

That said, I also think it's pretty overrated... 4+ minutes of 3 chords with a cool intro/outro and a weak chorus (?)... it's basically "Summer Babe pt. 2".

^^^...then rerecorded for BTC WZ

that post started so well...

it's not overrated, you just don't like it

also, it's 'fight this generation' that's "summer babe pt 2"

pavement threads on ILM are reliably weird.

whether or not you dig WZ (I also think it's their best) the whole thing just SOUNDS so good

sounds like fondue or an electric blanket

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azEy4OUeZs4

the Space Ghost Coast to Coast episode where Pavement is introduced as The Beatles is pretty classic

hell yea

The jam they do at the end is a bonus cut on the BTC reissue

Yeah not fighting against consensus at all but:

S/E - Fascinating debut
CR/CR - Near perfect ideal of an indie-rock album
WZ - Their best album
BTC - Their most underrated album
TT - accurately rated mild disappointment

But I think Brighten The Corners is the one most overdue for a reappraisal. It's a fantastic late '90s rock album with a character all its own, even if it's not exactly what I come to a Pavement album looking for.

― Evan R, Thursday, February 8, 2018 5:59 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^^ This

New Malkmus & Jicks track sounds like a lovely lost Pavement B-side

https://open.spotify.com/album/2NSpjbEnOdNMJU9F2ELEgF

Just came here to post that. Think it's the best (or at least most acceptable) thing he's released in a very long time. Reminds me of Major Leagues, one of my favourite Pave ballads

I like Brighten The Corners, not really a TT fan though. Transport is Arranged is one of my favourite Pavement songs. I really don't like Shady Lane though which seems to be a fan favourite.

dang going through my old bookmarks has inspired me to listen to "Brighten the Corners" today. I always think of it as one of the albums I'm not as familiar with but then I put it on and know every song inside and out. I also COMPLETELY forgot how fucking good "Old To Begin" is.

Classic top to bottom

Brighten The Corners is probably my favourite Pavement album, its one of those albums that instantly reminds me of a specific time of my life. My girlfriend at the time had parents who owned an independent record store, so I got to tape a copy a few weeks pre-release and played it to death. Pavement did a UK tour about a week before the album actually came out and (being a cheeky twat) I took it with me and the whole band were happy to sign it, top geezers.

I was so underwhelmed by Brighten the Corners that I sold it—not usual, being a broke kid in the '90s meant constantly selling old CDs to buy new ones—but like half a year later I bought it back and it was one of my favs for years afterward. Been ages since I've listened to it start to finish though.

lol i have basically the same history with BTC. bought it around 98, listened to it several times and was bored.
slapped it on a couple years later and was like "ok wtf every song here is great"

Was my first Pavement album but would suggest it as an entry point due it's slow-medium tempos for much of it. Was there a reason given for Harness Your Hopes being a b-side? And even then, why did it wait until the following album releases for it to come out?

Now here are the best albums, ranked.

brighten the corners is fine. it's fine! it is not better than crooked rain

LOL – I’m not even clicking

me neither, not after mookie's comment

It's all the same album, dudes.

lol what

the #1 is otm though

great TT blurb

thanks

tough to get worked up about a ranking of.....five albums

That's the fun part. It's like arguing about Joy Division.

I wonder if someday I'll go back to Terror Twilight and really *feel* it the way I do the other four records.

BTC gone down and TT gone up in my estimation throughout the years.

Too much mid-paced torpor on BTC and I really like the shiny Godrich production on TT now.

Don't agree Alfred re your low ranking of Crooked Rain, nor your take on "Cut Your Hair."

It's Slanted And Enchanted. And Crooked Rain would be my #1, though I love Wowee Zowee, too.

alfred's rankings otm, btc over cr only by a hair

btc has the benefit of not having 'hit the plane down'

i prefer hit the plane down to the two spiral stinkers on btc

I quite like "Date With Ikea"

wowee zowie is obviously the best and TT is really good

crooked rain will always be my favorite. it came out on valentine's day 1994, a month and change before kurt cobain blew his head off. an uncannily timed meta-"rock" record, "unfair" as dorm eulogy 1, and then 'the elegant bachelors', and "there's no survivors", and "good night to the rock n roll era" . . .

btw I seem to be that rare Pavement stan who really likes the SS songs

I don't mind the SS songs at all.

Terror Twilight would've been at least 8 times better had Side 2 opened up with something like "For Sale: tPSoI" instead of "Ann Don't Cry".

I'm kind of Wowee Zowee>Everything Else.
I wonder if Watery, Domestic is still as great as I thought it was at the time.

it still has frontwards, texas never whispers and shoot the singer so yes /cif

huh Watery, Domestic (or the expanded Slanted and Enchanted) are not up on (UK) Spotify. Finally a reason it wasn't stupid to have spent £10 on 10 minutes of music at Zhivago Records in Galway in 1997.

anyway Alfred's ranking is OTM

uh... Watery, Domestic still remains the best 12 minutes of music ever released.

good mourning!