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.
― Badgers (dog latin), Thursday, 8 February 2018 19:29 (six years ago) link
"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".
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Thursday, 8 February 2018 19:53 (six years ago) link
^^^...then rerecorded for BTC WZ
that post started so well...
― Roberto Spiralli, Thursday, 8 February 2018 20:14 (six years ago) link
it's not overrated, you just don't like it
also, it's 'fight this generation' that's "summer babe pt 2"
― brimstead, Thursday, 8 February 2018 20:15 (six years ago) link
pavement threads on ILM are reliably weird.
― tylerw, Thursday, 8 February 2018 20:46 (six years ago) link
whether or not you dig WZ (I also think it's their best) the whole thing just SOUNDS so good
― Entrepreneurial Jism Unshackler (Hadrian VIII), Thursday, 8 February 2018 21:20 (six years ago) link
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
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Thursday, 8 February 2018 23:02 (six years ago) link
hell yeaThe jam they do at the end is a bonus cut on the BTC reissue
― brimstead, Friday, 9 February 2018 00:19 (six years ago) link
Yeah not fighting against consensus at all but:S/E - Fascinating debutCR/CR - Near perfect ideal of an indie-rock albumWZ - Their best albumBTC - Their most underrated albumTT - accurately rated mild disappointmentBut 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
S/E - Fascinating debutCR/CR - Near perfect ideal of an indie-rock albumWZ - Their best albumBTC - Their most underrated albumTT - 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
― Steve Reich In The Afternoon (Against The 80s), Friday, 9 February 2018 09:50 (six years ago) link
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
― Badgers (dog latin), Friday, 9 February 2018 10:08 (six years ago) link
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.
― Colonel Poo, Friday, 9 February 2018 10:31 (six years ago) link
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.
― the masseduction of lauryn hill (Stevie D(eux)), Thursday, 8 March 2018 14:39 (six years ago) link
Classic top to bottom
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, 8 March 2018 15:21 (six years ago) link
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.
― raise my chicken finger (Willl), Thursday, 8 March 2018 15:34 (six years ago) link
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.
― Evan R, Thursday, 8 March 2018 16:30 (six years ago) link
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"
― brimstead, Thursday, 8 March 2018 17:54 (six years ago) link
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?
― PaulTMA, Thursday, 8 March 2018 19:18 (six years ago) link
Now here are the best albums, ranked.
― The Silky Veils of Alfred (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 27 August 2018 01:32 (five years ago) link
brighten the corners is fine. it's fine! it is not better than crooked rain
― mookieproof, Monday, 27 August 2018 01:50 (five years ago) link
LOL – I’m not even clicking
― stan in the place where you work (morrisp), Monday, 27 August 2018 01:53 (five years ago) link
me neither, not after mookie's comment
― alpine static, Monday, 27 August 2018 02:04 (five years ago) link
It's all the same album, dudes.
― The Silky Veils of Alfred (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 27 August 2018 02:05 (five years ago) link
lol what
― k3vin k., Monday, 27 August 2018 02:17 (five years ago) link
the #1 is otm though
― k3vin k., Monday, 27 August 2018 02:19 (five years ago) link
great TT blurb
― k3vin k., Monday, 27 August 2018 02:22 (five years ago) link
thanks
― The Silky Veils of Alfred (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 27 August 2018 02:32 (five years ago) link
tough to get worked up about a ranking of.....five albums
― call all destroyer, Monday, 27 August 2018 02:33 (five years ago) link
That's the fun part. It's like arguing about Joy Division.
― The Silky Veils of Alfred (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 27 August 2018 02:36 (five years ago) link
I wonder if someday I'll go back to Terror Twilight and really *feel* it the way I do the other four records.
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Monday, 27 August 2018 03:22 (five years ago) link
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.
― . (Michael B), Monday, 27 August 2018 08:09 (five years ago) link
Don't agree Alfred re your low ranking of Crooked Rain, nor your take on "Cut Your Hair."
― curmudgeon, Monday, 27 August 2018 14:44 (five years ago) link
It's Slanted And Enchanted. And Crooked Rain would be my #1, though I love Wowee Zowee, too.
― canary christ (stevie), Monday, 27 August 2018 14:56 (five years ago) link
alfred's rankings otm, btc over cr only by a hair
― devvvine, Monday, 27 August 2018 16:05 (five years ago) link
btc has the benefit of not having 'hit the plane down'
― devvvine, Monday, 27 August 2018 16:08 (five years ago) link
i prefer hit the plane down to the two spiral stinkers on btc
― mizzell, Monday, 27 August 2018 17:00 (five years ago) link
I quite like "Date With Ikea"
― Paul Ponzi, Monday, 27 August 2018 17:23 (five years ago) link
wowee zowie is obviously the best and TT is really good
― global tetrahedron, Monday, 27 August 2018 17:48 (five years ago) link
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" . . .
― reggie (qualmsley), Monday, 27 August 2018 19:04 (five years ago) link
btw I seem to be that rare Pavement stan who really likes the SS songs
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Monday, 27 August 2018 19:53 (five years ago) link
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".
― pplains, Monday, 27 August 2018 21:43 (five years ago) link
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.
― campreverb, Monday, 27 August 2018 21:50 (five years ago) link
it still has frontwards, texas never whispers and shoot the singer so yes /cif
― a roomba of one's own (rip van wanko), Monday, 27 August 2018 21:54 (five years ago) link
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
― A Box of After Dinner Comics Shipped to Your House Each Month (seandalai), Monday, 27 August 2018 22:08 (five years ago) link
uh... Watery, Domestic still remains the best 12 minutes of music ever released.
― Scam jam, thank you ma’am (Sparkle Motion), Monday, 27 August 2018 22:09 (five years ago) link
good mourning!
― The Silky Veils of Alfred (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 27 August 2018 22:11 (five years ago) link
― Paul Ponzi, Monday, August 27, 2018
The sparkle of that twelve-string intro never fails to grab me. Then SS sings the non-chorus and I've flopped out of his arms.
The actress? She's always breaking things.
― Groove(box) Denied (Raymond Cummings), Monday, 27 August 2018 22:16 (five years ago) link