Originally released in April 1995, fresh off the success of Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, the band recorded a deliberately chaotic and eclectic album that sounded nothing like its predecessor. With influences from the Groundhogs to the Frogs, Captain Beefheart to the more obscure mid-'80s central California hardcore bands, Wowee Zowee confused critics and alienated fans. Yet it became a fan favorite over time. The songs have a darkness that now seems appropriate and with Bryce Goggin at the mixi   [ read more ]

2xCD $15.99

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With its vast array of musical styles, Wowee Zowee isn't as accessible as Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain or as immediate as the bracing, noisy pop of Slanted & Enchanted. Pavement never abandon their warped pop aesthetic, they simply expand it, incorporating elements of folk-rock, English music-hall, soul, jazz, country, as well as adding asides to such contemporaries as Suede ("We Dance"), Ween ("Brinx Job") and Stereolab ("Half a Canyon"). Alternating between majestic epics like "Grounded" and ragged narrativ   [ read more ]

CD $10.99

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Pavement's fourth proper LP. On Brighten the Corners, the rock hero in Pavement reemerges as the dominant stereotype, making the lyrical idiosyncrasies on which critics of the band like to harp into witty window-dressing. Nowhere is this dichotomy better heard than on the electrifying opener, "Stereo," which rages with anthemic power-chords and a rock-star chorus ("Hey! Listen to me! I'm on the stereo"), while also pondering the longest-standing mystery in rock, the voice of Rush singer Geddy Lee ("h   [ read more ]

CD $12.99

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Like the previous Pavement deluxe editions, released every two years since 2000, this package treats Pavement's fourth album right with two CDs containing the entire 1997 album, remastered from the original tapes, plus all the B-sides and compilation tracks from that period and a plethora of unreleased live and studio tracks. The CDs come in an embossed slipcase with a 62-page perfect-bound book containing photos, ephemera, writings and more.

2xCD $15.99

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A collection of all of Pavement's low-fidelity early singles and EPs, which feature considerably less melody than Slanted and Enchanted. It's nice to have this rare material on one CD, although the music is defiantly anti-CD. Those who boarded the train with the acclaimed Slanted and Enchanted should catch up on what they've missed. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

CD $15.18

It may be a bit reductive to call Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain the Reckoning to Slanted & Enchanted's Murmur -- not mention easy, considering that Pavement recorded a song-long tribute to R.E.M.'s second album during the Crooked Rain sessions -- but there's a certain truth in that statement all the same. Slanted & Enchanted is an enigmatic masterpiece, retaining its mystique after countless spins, but Crooked Rain strips away the hiss and fog of S&E, removing some of Pavement'   [ read more ]

CD $11.38

Even back in 1991/1992, fans, geeks, and critics found it irresistible to compare Pavement to Nirvana, the underground band that made the concessions to the mainstreams and reaped the rewards, expecting the group that remained doggedly underground to make a rush for the charts, even if it really never made sense, especially when you became acquainted with their debut. Ten years later, give or take a month, each group has a reissue in the store -- one with one track to bait collectors to buy 13 songs t   [ read more ]

CD $18.03

Slanted & Enchanted is a left-field classic, a record that came out of nowhere to help establish a new subgenre of rock & roll. Pavement had already sketched out their sound, as well as their amateurish lo-fi aesthetic, on a series of indie singles before recording their debut, but Slanted & Enchanted is where they pulled all of their disparate sounds together into a distinctive style. At first, the primitive sound of the record is the most gripping thing about Slanted, but soon the true i   [ read more ]

CD $11.38

Since Pavement switched course with each record -- Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain was nothing like Slanted & Enchanted, and Brighten the Corners was decidedly different from the brilliant, warped Wowee Zowee -- it's a little disarming to realize that Terror Twilight merely deepens the sound of its predecessor. Guitars burst to the forefront every so often -- most notably on the dense jam "Platform Blues" and the shouted choruses of "Billie" -- yet they're usually used as texture. Nothing   [ read more ]

CD $11.38

Pavement's expanded double-disc 2002 reissue of Slanted & Enchanted -- dubbed Luxe & Reduxe in its deluxe incarnation -- was a landmark for expanded reissues, not just because it was the first time an indie rock band was subjected to such an exhaustive exhumation of the vaults, but because it was excellent in both its execution and material. Peel Sessions, heavily bootlegged live concerts, B-sides, and EPs were collected on a package that raised the bar on reissues of '90s alt-rock classic   [ read more ]

CD $18.03