Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells A Story
Rod the Mod finds his solo footing, headed for stardom, with the Faces in his wake.
6:00 AM GMT 22/06/2011
Features Disc of the day
Pavement
Wowee Zowee
(Big Cat, 1995; expanded reissue on Domino, 2006)
Indie-rock poster children deliver sincerity and musicality in one surprise package.
My favourite Pavement record is, not coincidentally, the least “cool” – the one where singer Stephen Malkmus’s barrage of pop culture ref-riffing lets up, and in place of arch allusions to Smashing Pumpkins and Geddy Lee, there’s an absence, a sense of loss deeply felt and only vaguely obscured by cleverness. At the same time, this was the point – now that reliable new drummer Steve West had bedded in – that Pavement’s balance of post-Fall clattering and knee-weakening melody began to tilt in favour of the latter. Wowee Zowee’s rapprochement with classic rock brings the poignant country textures of Pueblo and bluesy grumbles of Half A Canyon, while the band’s experimental inclinations – check the woozy cello on Fight This Generation’s 4am bar rant – augment rather than diffuse their impact. Grounded could be their best ever song, its mournful, needling guitar intro uncoiling darkly into cloudbursts of anguished distortion, adding dread gravity to Malkmus’s pseudo-nonsense about daughters playing contract bridge and the howled declaration: “boys are dying on these streets!” In the end, this is why Wowee Zowee lingers when, for all their strengths, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain or Brighten The Corners do not. Like a shrink’s ink blot test, Malkmus’s seemingly random spew is pregnant with unsettling images (like Rattled By The Rush’s arresting “caught my dad cryin’”), unresolved hurt and intimations of mortality (“Check that expiration date, man / It's later than you think”). He’s blue and green, green and blue and, for once, connected with the universal id.
Danny Eccleston
Posted by Danny_Eccleston at 6:00 AM GMT 17/10/2008
Further Listening
Pavement – Slanted & Enchanted (Big Cat, 1992)
Built To Spill – There’s Nothing Wrong With Love (Up, 1994)
Sebadoh – Bakesale (Sub Pop, 1994)
Previous Disc of the day
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Earl Brutus - Larky
Last salvo of Ginsters Pasty-Warholism from Britpop ramraiders.
12:04 PM GMT 08/06/2011
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Loudon Wainwright - T-Shirt
An overlooked small wonder from an unpredictable career.
6:00 AM GMT 03/06/2011
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Landscape - From The Tea-rooms Of Mars… To The Hell-holes Of Uranus
Dry computer club Futurists, upon hitting implausible chart paydirt.
6:00 AM GMT 17/05/2011
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Causa Sui - Summer Sessions Vol 1-3
Epic Danish jams, for when the neighbours get you down.
6:00 AM GMT 12/05/2011
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Comments
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Pavement are greek gods in disguise. I'll love them forever, eva evaaaaaaaa! :)
Posted by Ruairi at 9:57 AM GMT 17/10/2008 Report Abuse
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Surely 'Crooked Rain' was the point when the songs with tunes began to outweigh the archness? There's still plenty of unlistenable stuff on 'Wowee Zowee', making it a step back towards the noise terrorism. It's funny -- I tend to find that 'Slanted' and 'Wowee', as well as all Scott Kannberg's songs and his Preston School records, are The Hipster's Choices, while it's deeply unfashionable to prefer 'Crooked Rain', 'Terror Twilight' (my favourite), or Malkmus' Groundhogs apeings. In certain circles, admitting to preferring 'Shady Lane' to 'Date w/ Ikea' is tantamount to preferring Manhattan to Brooklyn.
Posted by Stephen at 12:50 PM GMT 17/10/2008 Report Abuse
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RE: Stephen
I think that Stephen has a valid point. Crooked Rain is smoother, more accessible and less sprawling than Wowee Zowee. Crooked seemed more compact, and when Wowee came out it seemed harder to digest. Still, Wowee is my fave Pavement LP, and it's great to see "There's Nothing Wrong With Love" get a mention!
Posted by Mike at 1:55 PM GMT 17/10/2008 Report Abuse
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RE: Stephen
I think that Stephen has a valid point. Crooked Rain is smoother, more accessible and less sprawling than Wowee Zowee. Crooked seemed more compact, and when Wowee came out it seemed harder to digest. Still, Wowee is my fave Pavement LP, and it's great to see "There's Nothing Wrong With Love" get a mention!
Posted by Mike at 1:56 PM GMT 17/10/2008 Report Abuse
Reply to this post
RE: Stephen
I think that Stephen has a valid point. Crooked Rain is smoother, more accessible and less sprawling than Wowee Zowee. Crooked seemed more compact, and when Wowee came out it seemed harder to digest. Still, Wowee is my fave Pavement LP, and it's great to see "There's Nothing Wrong With Love" get a mention!
Posted by Mike at 1:56 PM GMT 17/10/2008 Report Abuse
Reply to this post
Comment on this post