Crooked Rain Crooked Rain

Every time I listen to Pavement I think “wow, I should listen to more Pavement.”

I love this album. Pavement is such an important band that not enough people know about.

Day 23 of Albums You Must Hear… 1994 was the peak of alternative rock music in some ways, and the beginning of the end in others. Kurt Cobain would lose his life and bring an end to Nirvana, the greatest band of the 90’s. (Solely my opinion). Other mega acts, though, would break into the mainstream around this time, such as The Foo Fighters, Weezer, Green Day, and Smashing Pumpkins, to name a few. Those are all tough acts to follow, however, a band called Pavement would release their second album, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain in 1994. Full disclosure here, I never knew the band Pavement before receiving this album, though it seems through their indie rock band accomplishments over a few years, they accumulated a decent cult following in the U.S. and U.K. Pavement would never sign a major label deal. The only song familiar to me on Crooked Rain is the single Cut your Hair. I remember seeing a clip of the video on Beavis & Butthead way back when, in which they referred to Pavement as ‘Buttwipe Music’. While I know that was said in the context of a joke, I mean it is Beavis & Butthead, another comment made by the cartoon duo was to ‘try harder’. Thats a statement I can’t get behind when it comes to the music from this band, though. While Cut Your Hair has a catchy tune right out the gate, the rest of the album is totally lackluster. The band is totally talented, just not memorable to me. If you ask me, the thing that made Nirvana the best alternative band of the 90’s is the simplicity of the melodies. I still don’t understand all of Cobain’s lyrics but I damn sure know the melodies of the hooks, drum patterns and chords. I get the feeling that Pavement is trying too hard be complex and not to “sell out” that they avoid making catchy tunes. On the song Range Life, they poke fun at Smashing Pumpkins and Stone Temple Pilots, which is fair, but those bands were able to have cross-over success without watering down their brand. They made catchy songs. The only other song to catch my attention was 5-4=Unity, a fully instrumental jam session that showcases the band’s undeniable musical talent. I just wish the songs on this album had more re-playability. The music video for Cut Your Hair has the perfect low budget, nonsensical vibe of the mid 90’s, though, and was fun to watch 27 years later. Please share your thoughts, memories and opinions!

This is an odd one - while it was playing I was thinking this is brilliant. But after it I realised I can't actually pick out any of the tracks. It was sort of one massive amorphous blob of California stoner shoegaze indie that I really enjoyed as a unit, but don't think I'll ever just put a track from it on to listen to. The whole thing start to finish or gtfo. I can hear a bit of Suede, a bit of Beck, Blind Melon, Sonic Youth and The Thrills in there. Lovely stuff.

I didn't expect to like this but I ended up quite enjoying it. It's lo-fi, post-punk, idie rock and the vocals are sketchy but... it has... something. It feels like these guys were legitimately into this and enjoying themselves. It reminds me a lot of some of my favorite indie bands and artists (Gasoline Heart comes to mind) and I'm into this. The sparse instrumentation lends an opennes to the mix that makes the whole album feel like it's breathing. It's so different from the Phil Spector "Wall of Sound" mix style that's so popular these days and it's refreshing...

Grunge was a reaction against stadium rock, and this is a reaction against grunge: small-scale, personal, lo-fi; with an air of reluctant self-pity replacing anger.

What’s not to like? I mean this is probably the ultimate “indie” record. Slacker vibes galore, messy guitars that always somehow end up on beat, bursts of noise and energy followed by moments of calmness. I really like this record a lot. One of my favorites. Favorite song: Range Life Least favorite song: There ain’t one

Not a perfect album, but close. I'd never noticed before how much Malkmus sounds like Tweedy and Wilco here. Never been a huge fan of Cut Your Hair, but Fillmore Jive is a classic tune to end it. Essential album.

This afternoon I read a line by Penelope Fitzgerald, describing one of her tragicomic protagonists, that feels right for a vital and deliberate attribute of this record: “Her reach exceeded her grasp”. These songs are perfect collapses, their loftiness richer for how their exquisite compositions trip over into a gorgeous, noisy heap, disarming me - life is serious, but it is also absurd, and we should laugh. This was almost the first record I bought on release that I love without reservation, pipped the year before by Rid of Me. My brother Will and I went to see them in Manchester when they toured this album, and they were glorious. Such fun. Simon, I leave the floor to you, mon ami.

What is indie rock? Someone not signed to a major label? (I'm not signed to a major label, Greg. Am I indie rock?) Today the term indie rock seems to have no meaning. It isn't exclusively used for independent label bands, and it doesn't refer to a specific musical style. I could tell you I like indie rock, but really that doesn't tell you much, and while I like many bands that would be classified as indie rock, I also dislike plenty of indie rock. But Pavement is (was?) indie rock. When bands maintained that anti-major label thing for their whole career. (Tangent to the tangent - I heard a story on the radio yesterday about a new book called "Sellout" by Dan Ozzi - "A raucous history of punk, emo, and hardcore’s growing pains during the commercial boom of the early 90s and mid-aughts, following eleven bands as they “sell out” and find mainstream fame, or break beneath the weight of it all." Sounds super interesting.) So, anyways, Pavement stayed indie. And in the 90s I wasn't cool enough to be indie. (All mainstream grunge, flannel, and undercuts.) I've always meant to go back and listen to more Pavement. They're a band I thought I would enjoy, but never sought out. I know "Cut Your Hair" pretty well, and still think it's great. But the rest of this album was enjoyable too. I hear Built to Spill a lot in Pavement's sound - they came in at the tail end of Pavement's run, and I got into Built to Spill as I was trying to figure out indie rock in the mid-aughts. I think I prefer Built to Spill, but I enjoyed "Crooked Rain Crooked Rain." (Built to Spill is not on the list. They're not British enough. Well, not that Pavement is at all British, but... whatever.)

I can only imagine that this made it into the list of albums you must listen to before you die as an example of terrible 90s music. By the end of the album, I feel utterly trolled with how bad it is. The guitar work around minute 3 of Stop Breathin is very nice, but that's the only redeeming quality about this album. If I could rate it negatively, I would. Unfortunately, the lowest I can give is a 1.

A girl who I had a big crush on gave me a pirated tape of this in 1995. I didn’t know it was pavement but I listed to it a lot. It was a nice blast from the past!

By the end of Crooked Rain Crooked Rain, if you’re not thinking to yourself “I should start a band and try to make a record as great as this”… well, maybe we should just give up hope for the future and call it a day. It’s inclusion on this list is not only warranted, it is essential.

pavement should hold the spot in the cultural consciousness that nirvana does

Implacably disaffected noise-mess by smarty-pants brats who work every angle--infectious melody, discord, suburban rebellion, the range life--but refuse to commit to any. Perhaps the only thing that speaks to the politics of their music louder than that mix is [screamed]: "NO LONG HAIR!"

4.1 + I was an early teen when these guys hit the scene. At the time, I was a huge Smashing Pumpkins fan. I had a buddy who was a Pavement fan. Somehow we always argued about which band was better - the two fanbases felt diametrically opposed, and some vague beef between them further drove a wedge. The fact that Pavement called out SP specifically in "Range Life" feels like a petty dick move. To me the rift feels like the cool kids (Pavement) ragging on the spastic drama kids (SP). The cool kids are all about not trying too hard, while the drama kids suffer, often pretentiously and publicly, for their art. On hindsight, both camps seem insufferable. Setting all of this "who's-in-who's-out" nonsense aside, Crooked Rain Crooked Rain is a cool (again with that word) and composed with interesting guitar textures, poetic lyrics and slack vocals. I understand and appreciate their venerated status in 90s indie rock.

Just a little indie classic for a sunday night. Love this and their first album, laid back and just simple great songwriting. 'Gold Soundz' has such a strong nostalgic feeling to it, love the climax at the end of 'Elevate Me Later', and 'Unfair' melts my face everytime.

It’s a 4.5 that I’ll round up to a 5. Other than the extreme dissonance of Hit the Plane Down, I really don’t think there’s a bad track on this album; there’s a lot of Nirvana to this at the start, but it slowly blends in a bit of R.E.M. as well, and that general soundscape just worked really well for me. I think this album shines best in its guitar and percussion work, but the vocals hold up pretty well against them, as do the lyrics for a good chunk of the album. Just a really strong listen for me; glad we got this one, and I feel good with a 5.

Pavement is the best. Classic album. This one has some great songs on it. Stephen Malkmus' lazy voice is great. Silence Kid is a good opening track, that guitar riff with all the fuzz sounds awesome. Range Life and Gold Soundz are quintessential Pavement songs. The perfect balance of heaviness while still being fun and catchy to listen to. In the midst of hair and grunge bands, this album came and set the tone for modern indie music.

I don't know how I haven't heard this before. Amazing sound and songwriting.

Show me a word that rhymes with pavement and i wont kill your parents and roast them on a spit. I know its a different album but fuck it

Just love the whole Pavement sound. Also love their Anglophile leanings (otherwise they'd be called Sidewalk)- inventors of what we now consider to be "indie". Absolutely love the inpenetrability of the lyrics. On this album, the lyrics to the final verse of Range Life are my favourites. Particularly starting Beef with Billy Corgan (something Corgan is still bitter about today) and Malkmus announcing he's hot for the Stone Temple Pilots. Genius. Just noticed they're doing a reunion tour of the UK next year.....time to get my tickets!

this album was pretty cool. i knew a couple of songs off of this one beforehand, but have never listened to the album in full. pavement is a band i've heard a lot about but never fully experienced, and i can say that i am looking forward to my next experience with them. normally, i am a bit iffy on slacker vocals, but they work really well here, especially in juxtaposition with the more upbeat, raucous sounds. my favorite track on this one was "cut your hair" which is a perfect example of this. i would say the strength of this album is not necessarily in the musicianship, but the crafting of a sound. and i really enjoyed the sound!

Oooh what a joy to listen to this all day! Have loved Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain since I first bought the CD in a basement store on St Marks Place in summer '94 (god, I must have been insufferable). Crystallizes everything I want in guitar music, riffs a go-go, oblique but clever, accessible lyrics, half-arsed chaotic delivery that is really well practiced, a dash of Buddy Holly and Dave Brubeck, screaming "career/Korea" and slagging off the Smashing Pumpkins. This review cannot do the album justice. Gold Soundz. Elevate Me Later. Unfair. Fillmore Jive. The whole thing from beginning to end. My favorite album from my favorite band? Sometimes. Start it over and this time try!

Peak 90's Indie/Alt rock. I've always preferred 'Slanted and Enchanted', as I find some of the tracks on here, like 5-4=Unity or Hit the Plane Down, as rather jarring, but I suppose they ultimately help make this album unique. Regardless, this is still a 5 star.

Thought this was quite good, listenable, indie rock. Sounds like it could have come out this year.

An indie rock classic. A shambling mess of an album. Excellent.

Heavier than I was expecting- for some reason I thought Pavement were like shoe gazing indie blah peddlars. 2 tracks in and they’re ok I guess... I could imagine these tracks on an indie movie soundtrack. Oh! I know this song! Cut your hair. I don’t know where from but I’ve absolutely heard this before. Very Dandy Warhols. Really enjoying this actually- grown into it a lot. “And we’re coming to the chorus now” at the end of the first verse of Gold soundz 😂 I like a quirky weird instrumental track too.

I love Pavement. Listening to them never fails to take me back to a time and place when they were probably my favorite band. I prefer Slanted and Enchanted to this one, but they are both incredible albums. I wish grunge had never happened and Pavement/Sebadoh/Dinosaur Jr. had been the sound of the 90’s. Then maybe the Goo Goo Dolls and Limp Bizkit and Korn and the boy bands and Brittney’s and Christina’s wouldn’t have taken over and there would have been no Woodstock ‘99 or 9/11 or War on Terror and Gore would have won in 2000 and there wouldn’t have been a writer’s strike and The Apprentice would have never made it to air and Trump would have died in semi-obscurity and COVID-19 would have been stopped early by an efficient presidential administration. But it was not to be. Thanks Kurt.

Generic early 90s rock. Has a bit of a Weezer edge to them, but I think early Weezer was better. Nothing too memorable or catchy here. I sort of liked Cut Your Hair.

classic 90s whiny indie music. Basically average to bad, not interesting.

started and thought - decent, but then it just sounded samey and then it just stopped. Meh.

First track seems like a weird mashup between Jane's Addiction and Buddy Holly. By end of this album, I felt a palpable sense of relief that it had finished.

Ah yes, the godfathers of incredibly boring indie rock. I've tried so many times to get into these guys, and now, upon this most recent listen, I can safely say it's never going to happen.

Not the kind of music I like. Lacks polish, the guitars are all over the place, the rhythm is boring, the vocals raw, the overall structure feels very simplistic.

that was ok. none of that is stuck in my memory. it's got a really good sound, the levels and tones of all the instruments and singing all work well, but there's a lack of any actual tunes. its like these and weezer started out at the same place and weezer decided to go with catchy hooklines and pavement went the opposite way to whatever this is. bit of a shame really, cultivate a nice thing and then not back it up with any substance.

I wish I could give this zero Stars. I I feel like they are trying to rip off The flaming lips and Jay from dinosaur Jr. That one song grabbed me. I found the whole thing to be trash and nearly unlistenable. I hope this is the worst that we get.

I really don’t think this is required listening. At times painful.

I get why this album would be on the list, underground indie rock with (IMO) strong punk leanings but vocally and lyrically …. Not my cup of tea … Probs wound’ve been a lot of fun in concert but outside of the experience of them live …. Not so interested …. Gives me a vibe of what Elbow would’ve been playing in high school when they were trashed in a garage before they cut the lead singer/guitar player who was on an ego trip ….

US Indie Garage rock, was never going to enjoy, put on that angsty whiney vocals "oh no someone told me to cut my hair" then it's a super no, music should be fun, just a nothing album.

Can't find a better word than ugly

The opening sounds like someone trying to play 'Alright Now' from memory but forgetting how it goes and coming up with something else by mistake. I couldn't take more than a minute of it before moving on. Same on subsequent tracks - eventually, I just hated it.

Remember that day your mom told you to stop singing? Yeah, well. Then why did you release an album?!

Did not enjoy this discordant album.

OK. So somehow this is considered essential? This is considered to be outstanding to the point that it is considered an album that everyone should listen to prior to their eternal passing? You know, there are albums already that I have listened to on this project that I've thought... well, you know, it isn't my style at all, but I can see why there is merits in it, that it contains something that could be considered as ground breaking or ahead of its time or even passable. What I hear when I listened to this album was... boredom. I heard a style of alt rock that was prolific in the era, I heard some vocals that really only made themselves known to me because they seemed less than average, and I was far from enamored. In fact, when the album finished, a song from the Jesus and Mary Chain came on that was far superior to anything I heard on this album. No thanks.

This was the first Pavement album I heard, when a friend lent me the expanded version and The Velvet Underground & Nico on the same day. I immediately loved this one and they've been one of my favourite bands since. 1969 Live ended up being the album that made me fall for VU, so I clearly have a thing for sloppily played country rock. The early versions of these songs in Gary Young's garage studio with him on drums aren't bad, but they show the band was right to hire a proper mixer (who could also play piano) and to bring in a drummer with a slow swinging style who didn't greet audiences on the door with free cabbages and abandon songs partway through to attempt cartwheels. The early versions of several Wowee Zowee songs show they were right to hold them back and they were thinking carefully about how to make the album flow well as a whole. The weak link is Hit the Plane Down, though it works as a short, sharp shock to take you from the delicate, yearning prettiness of the preceding songs to the mock-epic closer. I like having at least one of Scott's songs per album, but Coolin' By Sound is a better song and maybe it would have worked as well in that position. I love this record, but if I was going to recommend just one Pavement album that people should listen to, it would be Wowee Zowee.

Classic

Supreme

Amazing album by an amazing band. Probably not my favorite Pavement album cover to cover (that would be Wowie Zowie), but does have one of the best songs ever (Gold Soundz). Fillmore Jive, Silent Kid, Cut Your Hair...all amazing. 5/5

This was awesome

idk yet

A great great album

"„I was 14 when Crooked Rain came out. And modern rock radio, at least in Philadelphia, was playing weirder, cooler ’90s stuff on the air, which is where I heard “Cut Your Hair” for the first time. I just thought that song was cool. It’s by no means my favorite song on the record, especially now. But the album as a whole didn’t hit me right away; with every listen, though, it got better and better. I was heavy into skateboarding at the time, and “Range Life” was my favorite song. And I should say before that point Smashing Pumpkins were one of my favorite bands, but when Malkmus name-checked them on that song, of course I switched over to their side. “Stop Breathin’” is another favorite of mine; it’s just so jangly and melodic. It truly was a classic rock record.“ Kurt Vile gibt wirklich genau auf den Punkt wieder, was 1994 meine Feelings und meine Auffindesituation waren: gekriegt haben sie mich zuerst mit der Single Cut Your Hair, die ich total catchy fand - die aber gefühlt in die falsche Richtung zeigte als ich zum ersten Mal ins instantly gekaufte Album reinhörte. Bei dem brauchte ich dann 2-3 Anläufe, bis plötzlich (vermutlich erst NACH dem Kalifornien-Urlaub im selben Jahr) "Range Life" einschlug wie selten was. Und dann war es große Liebe für diese perfektionierten Unperfektion, der ich bis heute treu bin. Malkmus' schiefer Gesang, das Leiern, der ständig verschleppte Beat (bei Konzerten kriegt der Drummer ja auch gerne mal ein Back-Up an die Seite bekommt) - hier haben wir Slackertum und Generation X noch viel greifbarer als Douglas Coupland es aufschreiben konnte. Range Life und Gold Soundz sind immer noch Lieblingssongs, aber Fillmore Jive die totale Geheimwaffe. Naja, so geheim natürlich gar nicht. I need to sleep - lasst euch das gesagt sein.

Go back to those gold soundz

In my collection before recommendation. Love this

Best Pavement

I forgot how much I like Pavement.

Heaven is a truck that got stuck on the freeway…

Great super 90s, angie recommended it to me lol

great album. cut your hair, gold soundz, range life...all bangers.

Such a unique and enjoyable album by a great band. Fav song: Elevate Me Later

To me, this is nothing less than the quintessential 90's album. They've toned down their The Fall influences from the last album and mixed them with that slacker approach that they've come to embody. Malkmus' lyrics, which often sounds like they are improvised, are more concerned by how the words sound than by what they mean, yet he manages to deliver them in a way that makes them sensible and evocative. This is one of my favorite albums of all-time and listening to it never fails to make me happy.

no puedo escribir sobre este disco con objetividad simplemente porque lo amo. silent kit te introduce estilisticamente en lo que vas a escuchar y la cosa se pone melanco con una de mis favs, stop breathin. cut your hair es el unico hit que metio pavement, esta bien. que se yo gold soundz es un tema super nostalgico en el que cualquier persona que tenga una historia especial con la musica se puede sentir identificado, y range life tiene esas refes a los pumpkins y los stone temple pilots que son un refljeo de epoca: ellos, las estrellas, y nosotros los fracasados. el indie es uno de mis generos favoritos porque cuando saca un disco como crooked rain es imbatible. las canciones estan escritas por hombres adultos con problemas de hombres adultos: no hay pelados con voz de rana o rubias suicidas. vivir en el capitalismo tardio es soportar la sobreoferta, el estímulo constante y a la vez necesitar mas. es sentirse vacio incluso estando lleno. i wanna range life, if I could settle down....

Incredible sunday arvo nu dad rock. Loved the Dave Brubeck nod.

Only a couple week spots. Not a fan of the slower songs but the rest holds up. Classic.

Gold sounds

Banger after banger

I love this album. It defined a part of my life and it is really one of the the best of the low-fi indie rock genre in my opinion. Although it was never hugely successful, it had a strong cult following and I was 1000% a member of that cult. My friends and I used to parse out Steve Malkmus' clever/ironic lyrics and recite them as poetry to each other. Although I've moved past that degree of lead singer crush/hero worship, this is still a really well crafted album and these guys are great musicians. Now I can appreciate not just the hipster irony (I'm really over that part of it, actually) but the moments of touching pathos ... "Put it on a postcard: Dad, they broke me." Fantastic album and a personal favorite. 5/5

I do these long lists to hear new stuff. Everywhere once in awhile having an all time favourite is comforting.

Amazing, classic indie album!

Probably my favourite band ever

Este es el sonido que me gusta. Y tiene Range Life.

This is great. Funky sound, interesting instrumental sections. I didn't follow lyrics closely but greatly enjoyed the sound. Album art reminds me of Flying Dog beer art.

So peculiar. I kept thinking that I didn't like it, but then I REALLY did like it. I will absolutely listen to it again. It took me somewhere else.

I like Pavement. The famous singles here are Cut Your Hair, Gold Sounds and Range Life, all of which are excellent: hooky and lyrically cool. The opener Silence Kid and closer Fillmore Jive bookend the album nicely - Silence Kid kicks the album off with high energy and a good guitar riff while Fillmore Jive wraps things up using a slower tempo and some droning jamming. Some of the lesser-known tracks don't really stand out too much as individual songs, but everything works well together in the context of an album, which is probably the only way I'd really like to listen to this - this is a much better experience as a whole album than if individual tracks popped up randomly on a playlist, which I suppose is the point of the listening project. Other standouts: Elevate Me Later, Stop Breathin, 5-4=Unity for its jazzbo riffing

Despite bands such as Nirvana and Green Day, Pavement was one of the most important bands from the 90's. Crooked Rain is my favourite Pavement album and it confirms that Stephen Malkmus is one of the best songwriters of his generation. A classic record, definitely a must hear!

An alt-rock classic and one of my all time faves

Got a Silver Jew's album yesterday and a Pavement album today, interesting...I've known and loved Pavement's singles for a long time but I don't remember listening to this album through many times. I definitely will be again, there's some great tracks on here, apart from the obvious 3. It goes to show that a band doesn't have to take themselves too seriously to produce great music.

nice! Probably my fav pavement album

I like it a lot. Every song is extraordinary and I like the whole album, it is nearly perfect.

I’m a pleb, this is by far my favorite Pavement LP

90s alt rock, kinda felt like a mix of Weezer and Pixies and a few others. Really enjoyed it

Reminded me of Radiohead

I just saw Pavement live in person three nights ago, so this has been very fresh in my mind. Great record, I go back and forth which album of theirs is my favorite, and this one is always middle of the pack. Great to listen to it again a few days after seeing so many of these songs live.

Already a banger album, I've heard it before!!

Nearly my favorite album. Don't care for hit the plane down

De la nostalgie en intraveineuse ça n'a jamais tué personne

Nice, a bit rocky, but different Experimental, but not too crazy Wow, it just gets better abd better, nice solos, nice transitions Really awesome find! This is going to my favourites

Brilliant

Here's a really nice album by a band I have never heard before. Pavement is an Indie Rock group from California, created in late 80s. They rose to fame as a completely underground band, refusing to give live shows at the beginning, which created a sort of legendary status. This, together with a rather experimental approach to the compositions on the album, was what most likely put it on the list of greatest albums ever. Is it enough? We have seen records here, that didn't even have half of those accolades, yet it is still surprising to see more 'just good' albums. Crooked Rain Crooked Rain has 12 songs, and most of them have a certain gimmick, or a style, by which they are composed. Each song starts as a typical pop/rock tune, that you could hear in a radio everyday, but by the midpoint of it, it turns into a very alternative, interesting and original sequence. As an example, first song of the album "Silence Kid", starts as a sort of soft rock with a cowbell, and then breaks the mold and decomposes itself, together with a vocalist, who clearly doesn't care about clean singing. Yet the song has its charm and stays with you for a while, similarly as the rest of the album. It is a very pleasant surprise and a big candidate for an album I will come back to again.

I love Pavement, was great to hear their earlier stuff!

One of my absolute favorites of the 90' indie boom, I also think it's pavements best, with classics like stop breathing, cut your hair, and of course Gold Soundz, Crooked Rain Crooked rain had Stephen Malkmus and gang capture lightning in a bottle.

I actually really enjoyed sure, it was really awkward and even a little annoying but they had some really cool stuff in there and I loved those interesting time signatures they did on tracks 7 and 8 9/10

One of the greats

5 stars

You can draw a straight line from R.E.M. to Pavement to Wilco. Or to be more specific, from Murmur to Crooked Rain to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. They're all classics. This is the Pavement album for those who like the Eagles and can appreciate bands like Stone Temple Pilots and the Smashing Pumpkins being taken down a peg. It's also a decent argument that Stephen Malkmus is the Donald Fagan of the indie-rock scene. Pavement's first two albums are both justifiably on this list, and this is the one that I prefer. Don't @ me.

I was in college when this album came out, and I probably caught "Range Life" or "Cut Your Hair" on the radio at the time. But I never really took the time to get into Pavement's music. I'm happy to admit I was off the mark back then, because this album is pretty brilliant. It fits in perfectly with what was going on in music in 1994, but Pavement has a musical depth lacking in a lot of their peers. The album is musically much smarter than it pretends to be, kind of in the same vein as some of Alex Chilton and/or Big Star's work. There are some nice jangly country rock-ish sounds and hints of a melodic pop hook here and there. But it's layered under a prickly, noisy veneer with strategic uses of dissonance and quiet. Stephen Malkmus' laid back, slacker-y vocals belie some surprisingly poetic and affecting lyrics - musings on war, love, disaffection and self-doubt. This is the kind of album I just want to hear over in over because there's so much in there to hear. I really loved hearing it today. Fave Songs (All songs, from most to least favorite): Range Life, Stop Breathin, Silence Kid, Fillmore Jive, Newark Wilder, Cut Your Hair, Gold Soundz, 5-4=Unity, Unfair, Heaven Is a Truck, Hit the Plane Down, Elevate Me Later

Bought this LP after I was denied getting into a bar to see Yo La Tengo. Loved it. Was later denied getting into a bar to see Pavement. Effing Puritanical laws denied me many good shows as a teen. 5-4 = Unity is super fab.

Know it, love it. Easy listening day for me!

Malkmus and the boys make more gold sounds on possibly Pavement’s best album. Quirky, idiosyncratic, Pavement do their own thing and bring others along for the ride. I really love the sound they make, the ambling lyrics, the switches in tempo, the evident ability to make great poppy tunes such as Cut Your Hair and Gold Sounds which they then undercut with shouting or discordant guitar stabs. It’s just them and god love them for that.