Weekly Artist Overview: Pavement - Page 3

Young no longer fit into the band's direction and either quit or was fired in 1993. His replacement was Steve West, an old friend of Nastanovich.

As good as Slanted and Enchanted is, there are many who think their next album, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, is even better. It was the album that broke them to the mainstream, thanks mainly to "Cut Your Hair" a pop hit and MTV staple. The album is much cleaner than the debut, for better and worse, but the songwriting continues to improve, from the countrified "Range Life" to the dark "Newark Wilder". "Range Life" got them into hot water with Billy Corgan, for including a swipe at Smashing Pumpkins in its lyrics. Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain lacks some of the head-scratching mystery of previous releases, but keeps their off-kilter fragmentary tunefulness in place, making it more accessable. More importantly, it represented the real cohesion of Pavement as a band, rather than Malkmus and Kannberg plus. They go from rock to pop to jazz to country as musicians, rather than clip-art artists, often within the same song. "Stop Breathin" is a heart-rending ballad, "Unfair" is an angst riot, "Silence Kit" begins as a mash of wah-wah and fuzz before slipping into an airy California pop tune. Pavement demonstrates here how from chaos comes order, a very different message from earlier heroes like Velvet Underground, who took order and turned it to chaos. Slanted and Enchanted captures Malkmus and Kannberg in their inspired naivete; Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain captures Pavement as it matures. Another first-rate indispensible 1990's album. It also made the charts, peaking at #121.

Not everybody loved them, however. Pavement joined the 1994 Lolapalooza tour and received very mixed reactions from the audience, ranging from adoration to hostility; at one stop in West Virgina, the crowd pelted the band with rocks, forcing the red-faced and upset band to walk offstage mid-set.

The band spent 1994 recording a follow-up, and Malkmus and Nastanovich also lent a hand to Starlite Walker, the debut album by the Silver Jews, led by their college friend David Berman.

Either because of their underground success, or their overground mixed reception, Pavement got their next album together quickly; Wowee Zowee was released in early 1995. At first listen, it sounds like the band was trying to please everybody; even for them, it was a diverse offering. The styles bounce all over the place; from punk, to English beer hall, to country, to jazz, to soul, to west-coast pop. They take a few more swipes at contemporaries, this time Ween, Suede and Stereolab. The overall tone is more melancholy, with stately washes of feedback that recall Neil Young in places. No quasi-hits in the sense of the straightforward "Cut Your Hair" are present. In a sense, the band merely does what it has always done; taken a post-modern approach to music, in which anything becomes grist. However, a critical backlash was beginning; the same critics who once lauded their eclectic fragmentary approach were now condemning them for it. In truth, the album isn't quite as good as its predecessors, or at least, it isn't as acessable. It is one of those albums that require several plays, upon which it sounds like a logical and well constructed follow-up. It sold about the same, peaking at #117.

The backlash continued for almost two years. In 1995 the band again joined Lolapalooza, and were miscast as a main stage band, they played to sparse audiences; had they been second stage, they probably would have fared better. A 1996 EP, Pacific Trim was released, and gained them weak notice from the press, who noted a retreat from the eclecticism they disliked on Wowee Zowee, and now disliked the retreat. Indeed, it is an un-Pavementlike recording; its four songs were originally intended for the Silver Jews, but when a recording session was cancelled, Malkmus had Pavement record them instead. It's a minor, but pleasant enough addition to their catalog.

Brighten The Corners, from 1997, is a subtle change for the band. A little more muted than in the past, they instead channel their eclecticism into creating a solid set of songs that hold together a little more, sonically. It opens with the withering dissonance of "Stereo", which reveals a hidden, joyously delivered chorus. Kannberg's "Date w/IKEA", features distorted vocals that retain their melodicism, "Shady Lane" is catchy and guitar based, "Blue Hawaiian" features some hip-hop inflections that grow on the listener, given a chance. "Fin" borders on sadcore, with its grandiose bleakness. Once again, it takes a couple of listens to realize the stately beauty of the album. While Malkmus and Kannberg get a little too wise-guy for their own good in places, it doesn't diminish the overarching and ambitious musical statements. It's a full return to form, and proved their best selling so far, reaching #70 on the charts.

Article Author: uao

uao isn't my real name.

Visit uao's author page — uao's Blog