This piece originally appeared on a good associate of mine’s website, Mammoth Press (click through for amazing things). This is my pick for best re-issue of 2008 and Pavement’s re-issues should be the template for all re-issues.
The most eloquent description of Pavement I’ve ever heard is provided by singer/guitarist/songwriter Stephen Malkmus himself, and coincidentally enough it lies within this album. “If my soul had a shape, it would be an ellipse.” When he shouts, “I’m on the stereo!” in Brighten the Corners‘ lead-off track “Stereo” it comes off almost less a declaration and more a genuine exclamation of surprise. It’s easy to imagine that in the early days no one would’ve thought they’d hear Pavement on the radio, but by the time this second-last LP was released it wasn’t only possible, but likely.
The sound on most of the tracks is much cleaner and more structured than their earliest material, even though the lead track harkens back to their shoutier, shambolic era with a barked set of lyrics and one of the album’s quickest tempos. Easily one of their best singles, it’s prototypical Pavement: lyrics that seem random at first blush (the line “what about the voice of Geddy Lee/how did it get so high?/i wonder if he speaks like an ordinary guy” leads into “we’ll focus on the quasar in the mist/the Kaiser has a cyst”), jangly guitar lines, and upbeat drums that culminate in a frenzy of power chords and Stephen Malkmus’ howling vocals in the chorus.
But the tracks that lie outside of the first two are what really shape and differentiate Brighten the Corners from its predecessors. Nearly all of the remaining tracks are calmed down and prettied up, slower tempos and guitar figures that are more accurately described as lovely or precious than noisy or rambunctious. There’s ample evidence to back up Matador’s claims that this is the groups most accessible album. The melodies are emphasized in every instance, the playing is precise, and the raw energy of the past yields to a slightly more plaintive deconstruction on what it’s like to grow older and more suburban with every passing year.
The bands of the future that would clearly be influenced by Pavement’s career in general and this album specifically are numerous. At times some tracks sound like 2000’s-era Blur at a time when “Park Life” wasn’t yet a distant memory. Closing track “Fin” even draws the blueprint for the late 90’s “emo” movement, clearly informing the sound and style of groups like Mineral with its excruciatingly slow, beautiful guitar picking and unrushed, pleading vocal.
But in 2009 all of that is irrelevant; we know that the entire Pavement back catalogue (with the possible exception of Terror Twilight, which a lot of people had some problems with) is essentially flawless. The album itself is not the point of this review — it has stood on its own for a dozen years and will continue to do so for dozens to come. As with all the re-issues that began in 2002 with Slanted and Enchanted, it’s the glut of bonus material that we’re really looking at here.
It’s not just the fact that Matador and the band have included 30+ additional tracks on the re-issues (32 on this Brighten the Corners: Nicene Creedence Edition release), it’s the window that each set of bonus songs has opened on the band, their catalogue, and how they wrote and recorded their albums. Since the beginning they wrote and recorded songs that wouldn’t be officially released for another two or three albums, always keeping something in their pocket unless it fit the overall tone and tenor of the album they were planning on releasing.
The extra material highlights the dichotomy of Pavement; while the album was slower, gentler, and more accessible, the guitar freak-outs, the feedback, and the denser versions of songs were left mostly to b-sides and Peel Sessions. The shift is handled well, going from the proper album cuts into a long-form, repetitive version of “and Then (the Hexx),” a song that would appear on the subsequent Terror Twilight album. Another version of the song is included on the second disc as well.
There is more energy, more upbeat material in the extra tracks. The b-sides from the Shady Lane single are the best example; kicking off with a stompier, almost Stones-ish version of “Type Slowly” (”Slowly Typed”) to a blast of genuine punk rock sass (”Wanna Mess You Around,” which culminates in Malkmus growling “I want to fuck around” like he’s channeling the spirit of Keith Morris) and a pure-pop song about getting a great tan on vacation (”No Tan Lines,” complete with falsetto vocals and “ba ba ba” back-ups). “Beautiful As A Butterfly” and “Cataracts” are two unmistakably Pavement unreleased tracks that would have fit incredibly well not only into the band’s catalogue, but also on the album itself without any shoe-horning.
Without a doubt in my mind, the band was writing two albums, possibly without even knowing it. Collected in this fashion the songs clearly show that Pavement was capable of being whatever band it wanted to be. The two closing tracks are the best example of the gamut run in this material. “Space Ghost Theme I” is all rough edges: hammered drums, phasers, random screams and shouts, some of their most violent guitars, and one of the gnarliest “big rock finishes” in the band’s history. “Space Ghost Theme II” shuffles along with shaker accompaniment, a slower, syncopated drum line, cleaner and more organized guitars, and calm almost spoken-word vocals. It’s left brain versus right brain, the uncompromising example of a band doing whatever it feels like and everything coming out genius.
If you haven’t been following Matador’s re-issue series of the band’s back catalogue you are doing yourself a disservice. This is categorically a 10/10 and the best so far in the series, hands down. Every cut here is enjoyable.
Pavement - Fin:
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Pavement - Wanna Mess You Around:
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Many Pavement releases are for sale on iTunes and through Matador Records.
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indie rock, legends, Pavement, re-issues
