Needles & Grooves AotM /// Vol. 44 – February 2023 /// Pavement – Wowee Zowee

TenderLovingKiller® said:
Have you given the recent Terror Twilight reissue with the alternate track order a go yet? I think it’s quite good and maybe even better than the track order they ended up releasing initially but it’s hard for me to adjust to listening to them in a different order after listening to the original track list for the past 20+ years.
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I'm aware of the new reissue, and have listened to some of the bonus material on Spotify (not a huge fan of expanded box sets on vinyl, tbh). Did not realize that the sequencing of the album tracks had changed...is that only on the vinyl edition? Regardless, will need to check it out!
 
hatfieldpdx said:
I'm aware of the new reissue, and have listened to some of the bonus material on Spotify (not a huge fan of expanded box sets on vinyl, tbh). Did not realize that the sequencing of the album tracks had changed...is that only on the vinyl edition? Regardless, will need to check it out!
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Yeah, here is Pitchforks write up on the resequencing:

“As the lengthy process of rendering Terror Twilight finally approached its conclusion, one last point of contention remained. Godrich had long envisioned a running order which would foreground the LPs more digressive, challenging material, beginning with the bonkers freakout “Platform Blues” (tellingly known in a previous incarnation as “Ground Beefheart”) and the menacing bad-trip vibes of “The Hexx,” essentially creating a 10-minute barrier of entry for anyone tuning in with the hopes of hearing the next “Shady Lane” or “Gold Soundz.” It was a bold plan, and one which speaks again to the conflicted nature of the project. Pavement had hired a hot producer and spent over $100,000, or $85,000 more than they’d paid to record the enduring classic Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain five years previous. Now, with his plan to split the album into a “weird” A-side and a more approachable, hook-oriented B-side, Godrich's well-intentioned gambit threatened to torpedo whatever commercial prospects the album possessed. The band was concerned.

Eventually, a compromise was reached with Kannberg leading the way on a revised running order that toggles between the outré and the confectionary—beginning with the Beatles-esque majesty of “Spit on a Stranger” before segueing into the banjo-driven, stoner-Beat poetry of “Folk Jam” and then returning to the austere and moving balladry of “You Are a Light.” This has been Terror Twilight as we’ve known it for 22 years: a strange admixture of the catchiest and most unsettling music of Pavement’s career, culminating appropriately enough with the lovely and ludicrous “Carrot Rope,” the indie-rock sequel to “My Ding-A-Ling” that nobody but Stephen Malkmus recognized we needed.

The vinyl edition of the new reissue restores Godrich’s original running order, and it certainly makes for a different experience: One side Hawkwind and one side E.L.O. The counterfactual sequencing of old LPs has become a trope of the reissue industry and makes for a diverting thought exercise, but this rearrangement does not amount to an improvement. As much as Malkmus and Godrich had become a creative quorum of two on the Terror Twilight sessions, it may have been Spiral Stairs who was, in that moment, seeing the appeal of the fractious group most clearly of all. “I was always to try to make the best Pavement record possible,” he writes in his essay. And so he did.”
 
@TenderLovingKiller® and I meeting in the Pavement-verse

spider-man-pointing-meme.jpeg
 
Matt M said:
This @hatfieldpdx and @TenderLovingKiller® back and forth have me thinking about trying to enjoy Pavement again. Maybe. Probably enjoying the conversation more though. :)
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Just know that Wowee Zowee is their A Ghost is Born, so you might want to start your adventure elsewhere. :D On a more serious note, as a fan of Guided by Voices you should be able to find some Pavement that is in your wheelhouse. Have you listened to Slanted & Enchanted or Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain?
 
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I am a really big fan of Malkmus' Sparkle Hard and especially Traditional Techniques. I first heard him through his excellent covers on I'm Not There and Day of the Dead. Have never really bonded with Pavement but will give them another chance now too. Appreciate the insight shared here.
 
BjorgenFjorgen said:
I am a really big fan of Malkmus' Sparkle Hard and especially Traditional Techniques. I first heard him through his excellent covers on I'm Not There and Day of the Dead. Have never really bonded with Pavement but will give them another chance now too. Appreciate the insight shared here.
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My favorite Malkmus album is his solo debut. That album has songs about a hippie townie dating a younger college co-ed, Pirates, and Yul Brynner and it all works perfectly.


 
Interlude #6: What Could Have Been (AOTMs that nearly made the cut)

Pavement – Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain

For better or worse, I was raised on classic rock, which guided my listening habits through most of college. Sure, I flirted with a few indie bands here and there, but let's be honest The Who, Neil Young and Dylan were in constant rotation. That all changed when I heard Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain. I was instantly hooked, and it was the door to a whole new musical landscape that I'm still exploring today. In short, an incredibly formative record for me. It was my favorite Pavement album for years, until the day Wowee Zowee finally clicked for me. Crooked Rain is hard to find on vinyl at the moment, but I highly recommend picking up a copy when it gets repressed.

Here is a video of "Range Life" I took during their 2022 reunion tour in Oregon (with some great contributions from Nasty).



 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
My favorite Malkmus album is his solo debut. That album has songs about a hippie townie dating a younger college co-ed, Pirates, and Yul Brynner and it all works perfectly.


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Love love LOVE that first solo record, I think I listened to it every day for six months straight! I also got a flexi disc of Jo Jo's Jacket with the album when I bought it...I hope I still have it somewhere...
 
hatfieldpdx said:
Just know that Wowee Zowee is their A Ghost is Born, so you might want to start your adventure elsewhere. :D On a more serious note, as a fan of Guided by Voices you should be able to find some Pavement that is in your wheelhouse. Have you listed to Slanted & Enchanted or Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain?
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I have Crooked Rain 😂
 
hatfieldpdx said:
Interlude #6: What Could Have Been (AOTMs that nearly made the cut)

Pavement – Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain

For better or worse, I was raised on classic rock, which guided my listening habits through most of college. Sure, I flirted with a few indie bands here and there, but let's be honest The Who, Neil Young and Dylan were in constant rotation. That all changed when I heard Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain. I was instantly hooked, and it was the door to a whole new musical landscape that I'm still exploring today. In short, an incredibly formative record for me. It was my favorite Pavement album for years, until the day Wowee Zowee finally clicked for me. Crooked Rain is hard to find on vinyl at the moment, but I highly recommend picking up a copy when it gets repressed.

Here is a video of "Range Life" I took during their 2022 reunion tour in Oregon (with some great contributions from Nasty).



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Ugh, I was supposed to go this concert but we ended up having a scheduling conflict. Edgefield is such a great venue I bet you had a blast!
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
My favorite Malkmus album is his solo debut. That album has songs about a hippie townie dating a younger college co-ed, Pirates, and Yul Brynner and it all works perfectly.


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Love that one too. That said, my favorite is Real Emotional Trash. Some of Malkmus' best guitar work, and Janet Weiss on drums.

No bandcamp for this one, but here is a wobbly video that I didn't take.

 
4080 said:
Love love LOVE that first solo record, I think I listened to it every day for six months straight! I also got a flexi disc of Jo Jo's Jacket with the album when I bought it...I hope I still have it somewhere...
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Ah Yeah, I remember spending most of the Spring/Summer of 2001 cruising around Peoria IL in my 1991 Mercury Topaz with this CD living in my after market CD player. When that album dropped I probably had it just below Crooked Rain and S&E as my favorite Malkmus related album. Over the last 20 years Brighten The Corners and Wowee Zowee have supplanted it but I would probably still put it in front of Terror Twilight.
 
I'mwith @hatfieldpdx here. Got introduced to pavement through the crooked rain era videos on MTV's 120min , loved crooked rain, went back to slanted and loved that as well, but woowee zoowee is still my favourite record of theirs. but overall all 5 are essential in my collection
 
mgp said:
Did any of you all see Malkmus on that Groove Denied tour? It was really something.

Wowee Zowee - just the normal pressing on the Matador site, or is there another one I should be looking for?
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That is the copy I own and I'm happy with it. On a related note, I have a brand new copy that was intended for the winner, but of course @TenderLovingKiller® already has it. As such, he has given his blessing to the idea of getting it in to the hands of someone who wants a copy.

Several pages back, we agreed to give it away PIF style. I was supposed to send a reminder out yesterday morning, but the day got away from me. As such, let's close the hat at 6 pm PST today, and a winner will be drawn. @avecigrec is already in the hat, but there is room for more. If you're interested, just reply to this post (or the earlier one).
 
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