Jackals, False Grails: The Lonesome Era

So I didn’t win the “most imaginative” contest either, but whatever. If making the other list and posting it here taught me anything, it was that I needed to make another playlist with all the Pavement songs I wanted to include last time but couldn’t.

But first, I wanted to give a shout out to Chris Young, who “hipped” me to Pavement back in ‘92. Thanks Chris, that was a good call.

Also, there are a few observations I made during my recent obsessive reevaluation of the Pavement music. One is that Steve Malkmus is a really great lead guitar player. His solos are up there with Neil Young and J Mascis, and if anything I think his playing is fresher and more inventive. He’s continued the guitar exploration on his solo records, which seem to get get better with each release.

The other thing is that I really like the Pavement lyrics. Even the ones that don’t make any sense. They got a lot of flack at the time for supposedly not caring or meaning what they sang about. But I think the emotion and meaning is there, it’s just coded in such a way that it doesn’t become dated. Would “Newark Wilder” be a better song if Malkmus had spelled out that he had a crush on his sister’s friend, or that he was involved in a love triangle? I doubt it. It’s the mystery of the lyrics that helps the song work today, as if he knew he wouldn’t be in his early 20s forever and didn’t want the songs to be frozen to that viewpoint. Also, “ride in on horses and break up divorces” just might be the greatest rhyme ever.

Without further ado, here is the REAL Pavement greatest hits, utilizing all those B-sides, Peel sessions, and album tracks that didn’t quite make the cut for whatever lame reason last time. If someone were to ask me why I think Pavement’s music has staying power, I might direct them to this compilation.

1. Fin
2. Texas Never Whispers
3. Nail Clinic
4. Circa 1762 (John Peel Session – June 23, 1992)
5. You’re Killing Me
6. So Stark (You’re A Skyscraper)
7. Elevate Me Later
8. Haunt You Down
9. Roll With The Wind
10. Angel Carver Blues / Mellow Jazz Docent
11. Newark Wilder
12. Kennel District
13. Kentucky Cocktail (John Peel Session – June 23, 1992)
14. The Hexx (BBC performance circa Terror Twilight)
15. Heckler Spray
16. Raft
17. Secret Knowledge Of Backroads (Peel Session – June 23, 1992)
18. Unfair
19. From Now On
20. Sue Me Jack
21. Unseen Power Of The Picket Fence
22. Loretta’s Scars
23. Westie Can Drum
24. Fight This Generation
25. Starlings of The Slipstream
26. Strings Of Nashville
27. Here (loud version)
28. We Dance

If anyone is aware of a good website or software for making playlists that can be embedded here, let me know.

Cream of Gold

I’ve had a love/hate relationship with Pavement since the early 90s. I can relate to almost all of the common criticisms: They weren’t as good after they fired the original drummer; they get credit for starting “lo-fi” when they emerged at the tail end of the movement; they were too “ironic” to be taken seriously; they sing too much (OK, I got that last one from my lovely fiancee).

But I also think that most of these critiques miss the point. Their third EP was called Perfect Sound Forever, and pretty much summed up the Pavement idea as far as I’m concerned. Take the best parts of the Velvet Underground, The Fall, Sonic Youth, and Jesus & Mary Chain; add a uniquely American sense of humor and lots of beer and weed; throw in a blender; puree. The result was the ultimate indie rock party band. I laughed, I cried, I almost wrecked my first car singing along to “From Now On.”  The debut album Slanted and Enchanted was the natural progression from those early EPs, and was the first thing I heard by Pavement. As far as I was concerned, I had found my favorite band. (I can’t thank Josh Doerger enough for lending me these cassettes back in ‘92.)

A series of brilliant Peel Sessions and one amazing EP followed the album, and my expectations for the second record were so high that they could never possibly be met. This was when I was still young and thought that bands could be brilliant forever. Had I fewer preconceptions, I might have been as impressed by Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain as everyone else was. Instead I was deflated, publicly wondering “what is this country bullshit?”

That summer I rediscovered Crooked Rain and now admit that it’s a classic; the album Pavement needed to make in order to move forward. But the remainder of their career was hit or miss. For every “Rattled by the Rush” there was a “Carrot Rope” lurking in the bushes, ready to pounce. The mushy album version of “The Hexx” is made even sadder when contrasted with a live BBC session that has circulated online, where the band performs the song with an intensity lacking on most of their recorded output. Spiral Stairs can be heard at the end of the song remarking, “death to irony! That song just rocked.” This was proof that Pavement had never really lost their ability to make great “serious” music, nor had they lost their sense of humor. But by the time this version was making the rounds on Napster, Pavement had called it quits.

Which brings us to the present day. Pavement have reformed for a series of festival dates, and they have a “greatest hits” retrospective coming out. Matador Records had a contest to see who could guess the track-listing. Of course I took the plunge, and proceeded to whittle down Matador’s 100 song “pool” into 23 tracks that would somehow summarize the band’s strengths, while covering their entire career. The BBC sessions were not in the pool, and only one compilation track could be chosen. Most of the B-sides were also missing. This automatically ruled out a lot of my favorites. Still, I had an extremely difficult time deciding what to leave out.

That’s when I realized: if I’m having trouble narrowing it down to 23 songs, this band must have been pretty fucking good.

I decided early on to go for the second prize category, “most imaginative.” It would have been boring to just list all the songs I know are popular among Pavement fans and critics. So while I couldn’t put all my favorites, I tried to make something that I could be proud of while covering most of the bases.

The first place winner has already been announced (he got 17 of 23 right; I got 15.) I don’t expect to win the second place category, because I never win anything. And I have a tendency to sequence my compilations similar to the albums the tracks originate from (I had like five “track 2″ songs in a row). But it doesn’t matter, because I had a blast making this thing, and it has made me want to go back and listen to all the Pavement albums, B-sides, Peel sessions, and live tracks all over again.

Quarantine the Past Contest Winner and Track List

Were Pavement the best American indie rock band of the 90s? Were they better than GBV or Sebadoh? It doesn’t matter. To quote Stephen Malkmus in an awesome compilation track that didn’t make my list: “It sounds good in my car, so it must be a hit.”

Here is my Pavement “best of” submission. I’ll try to post it as an actual playlist later. Feel free to make your own, I shan’t judge…

1. Gold Soundz
2.  Frontwards
3. Debris Slide
4. Shady Lane/J Vs. S
5. Rattled By The Rush
6. Trigger Cut / Wounded-Kite At:17
7. Billie
8. Greenlander
9. Stereo
10. Range Life
11. Father To A Sister Of Thought
12. Perfume-V
13. Embassy Row
14. She Believes
15. Cut Your Hair
16. Date w/IKEA
17. Grounded
18. Silence Kit
19. Summer Babe (Winter Version)
20. Cream Of Gold
21. Perfect Depth
22. In The Mouth A Desert
23. Shoot The Singer (1 Sick Verse)

You Handsome Devil

I know I haven’t posted in a while. So what was so important that I felt compelled to awake from my lethargic slumber after three months and attempt to enlighten the online masses, you ask? Was it anger at the right-wing attempt to sideline health care reform? Disgust over the media zeal surrounding the Tiger Woods scandal?

No, it was exasperation at the fact that James Franco is playing Allen Ginsberg in a new film called Howl.

Now, I have nothing against Franco. He was great in Freaks and Geeks. That episode where he learns to play D&D? Priceless.

But let’s face it. He’s a good-looking guy, better suited to portraying James Dean than Ginsberg. I mean, here is James Franco:

And here is Ginsberg:

What, David Cross wasn’t available?

I mean, this trend of hiring handsome young actors to play average-to-weird looking people has got to stop. I don’t care if you’re Christian Bale or Jared Leto – you are putting some talented, average looking character actor out of work. Stop it! And shame on you, Hollywood casting agents. There are enough Spiderman, Terminator and Glitter Vamp sequels to go around for all the dreamy hunks of Tinseltown. Find the best actor for the role, both in talent and physicality. Am I supposed to be impressed by the “range” of these pretty boy actors? Give me a break.

And while we’re at it, Tim Burton – get off Johnny Depp’s nuts. No one needs to see that guy play Barnabas Collins.

R.I.P. Robert Ginty. He will be pushed too far no more…

Get off the Radio

Honestly, I don’t mind Top 40 music. There is a time and a place for it. When I was a kid, I loved being able to find the latest hits just by flipping between two or three stations on my transistor. I knew that once the new Duran Duran jam had debuted on my favorite station, I would only have to wait ten minutes tops before I could hear it again, on my other favorite station.

As I grew older, my tastes became (slightly) more refined, and I drifted away from the mainstream radio stations. Now that I have access to mp3s, I find mainstream radio to be completely obsolete. Plus, the music itself has grown arguably worse in the post-grunge, post-metal, post-hip-hop (yes, hip-hop is dead, folks) era. Unfortunately, the Top 40 has lived on, and now there are entire satellite radio feeds dedicated to regurgitating the most brain numbingly irritating hits of the past three decades.

I recognize that this music has its place: On top 40 radio stations, in dance clubs, or in the private homes of people with horrible taste in music. But why does it need to be pumped into every single public space at top volume? I should be allowed to eat my lunch outside in peace without being bombarded by songs about love, sex, and dancing. Of course this makes me seem like a bitter old man, and I’m reminded of the Robert Crumb cartoons where the artist would rail against the ubiquitous nature of popular music. At least when Crumb first started bitching about it, the music was actually halfway decent. I think even he would admit now that The Doors are infinitely preferable to…uh…I really have no idea who any of these “artists” are. They all sound the same to me.

What’s that you say? Obama wants to feed me to robots? Speak up, sonny! I can’t hear you over the din of this horrible popular music!

Help the Aged

I posted this on the other thing, but it deserves it’s own blog entry. The ignorance of the right wing has reached another new low, as they prepare to violently defend the rights of…corporate medical insurance companies?

The “mandatory euthanasia” rumor is an interesting one, as it basically is designed to prey on the elderly. As disgusting as this may be, I was reminded of this classic SNL commercial parody. It’s a matter of time before we see ads like this one, stating that “Obama wants to feed old people to robots!”

I can’t get the thing to embed so click the link please

Silly Love Songs

Abby Richter (Katherine Heigl) is a romantically challenged morning show producer whose search for Mr. Perfect has left her hopelessly single. She’s in for a rude awakening when her bosses team her with Mike Chadway (Gerard Butler), a hardcore TV personality who promises to spill the ugly truth on what makes men and women tick. Bristling at first sight, the contentious co-workers make a bet: if his tips on how to land and keep a guy don’t work, he’ll quit the business. But while Mike coaches Abby through a fledgling romance, can he avoid falling for her — and can she avoid falling for him?

Can I avoid kicking your ass, Hollywood?

On a similar note, popular music also still sucks. I listened to a string of current “hits” today, none of which deviated from the lyrical concept of “this is true love and no one understands how we feel.” When are people going to stop trying to make art out of romance? My girlfriend accused me of not knowing anything about romance recently, which may very well be true. Well, I do know that it makes for the worst art imaginable.

Curiously enough, I watched the film Roadie last night, and found the romantic interplay of the main characters to be very sweet – even though it centered around a portly redneck type who falls in love with an underage would-be groupie. Maybe there was something about the 70s and early 80s that made romantic films “work.” Perhaps a certain naivete, or even a genuine fucking emotional perspective. Now that all originality has been squeezed out of popular culture, where does that leave romance? Are we simply catering to a revolving door of presumably ignorant teenagers who think their emotions are unique, and worse, don’t have any knowledge of pop culture history in which to put them in perspective? At least when I was entering my own confused adolescence I knew enough to listen to some old Fleetwood Mac records instead of Color Me Badd or whatever crap was on the radio.

Getting back to the Heigl/Butler rom-con fiasco. They are obviously marketing this garbage to women in their 20s – 30s and their unfortunate boyfriends/husbands. I don’t know what to say about that except that I’m glad my lady prefers zombie films.

Stop Your Crying

Big fine could be big trouble in downloading case

I no longer have any sympathy for the RIAA. I don’t give a shit how much money Destiny’s Child’s lawyers supposedly lose from Kazaa. Stop harassing people for filesharing. No one said shit when we were making cassette mixtapes in the 80s and 90s, but now it’s a big deal because of the Internet. Looks to me like the last gasp on an industry that hasn’t figured out how to adapt to changing technology.

And to musicians who complain about filesharing: If you’ve been paid royalties for your music, consider yourself very fortunate. I’ve never been paid royalties for my music, and I can still record, perform, and write songs. If you need money, get a day job like the rest of us and shut the fuck up.

The only people I feel some sympathy for in the entertainment industry is filmmakers, because I realize how expensive it is to make films. But the audacity some of these guys have to assume that consumers will buy their films sight unseen…it boggles the brain! I was renting and dubbing video tapes as soon as I could walk to the fucking store. If the industry was going to crash, it would have happened long before the internet was invented.

This doesn’t mean I am without conscience when it comes to downloading. I try to give back to the industry when I can. But that’s because I can afford to buy a DVD or record every now and then. When I was broke, I rarely paid for anything except concert tickets and VHS rentals, and I don’t remember hearing any bands complaining about slumping record sales due to cassette dubbing back then (roughly 1985 to 2005). The film industry did not appear to be in crisis. Strange how things suddenly change…

Green is the Colour

I grew up with sort of a snobbish disdain for television, which didn’t quite stop me from watching it, but perhaps made me less obsessive than I might have become. It also enabled me to stock up on my book-readin’, which is a good thing because I hardly read anything that’s not linked from a Facebook update these days, and it’s good to have more than a couple words at your disposal when writing a blog.

Since investing in a high definition 16×9 television a couple years ago, I got over my holier-than-thou ways and logged some serious hours in front of the boob tube. My justification was that there was a lot of intelligent programming on TV now (sort of true) and I could watch it commercial free thanks to DVDs and digital downloads (true).

One of the results of this new found attraction to television was that I discovered the oeuvre of Joss Whedon, the guy who created Buffy and Angel. His work has its supporters and its detractors; personally I can take or leave Buffy, I absolutely loved Firefly, and I enjoyed about 80% of Angel. Without a doubt, the three best characters on Angel were Doyle (who only lasted one season before actor Glenn Quinn met with a tragic death), Lorne (played by Andy Hallett), and Charisma Carpenter’s ass (as Cordelia).

So I was deeply saddened to learn (yes, via Facebook update) that Andy Hallett passed away on Sunday after battling heart disease for the past few years. His character gave the show much of its heart, sophistication, and humor, and I always got the impression that Whedon had based the character on Andy himself. So, if I may nerd out for a moment here: Krevlornswath of the Deathwok Clan, you will be missed.

You Little Shits

I’m so glad there’s a new Fast and Furious movie. That’s just what Hollywood needs to do right now: release another high gloss, widely promoted mainstream film that glamorizes street racing. There aren’t enough douchebags driving around in expensive cars as it is, swerving in and out of traffic and causing accidents and deaths on a daily basis in and around Los Angeles County.

I realize that I sound like a crotchety old man here, and I’m sure you can picture me puttering around in my 96 Honda Civic like a scared granny on the road. Let me just clarify that like any other red blooded male, I enjoy driving fast. The difference between me and say, an 18 year old with a brand new tricked out Mustang street racing at night, or a corporate type with a BMW going 90 through rush hour traffic, is this: I DO NOT WANT TO DIE. I also do not want to kill someone (at least not by accident, on the freeway). These are the basic qualities that separate me from a TOTAL FUCKING DOUCHEBAG. And let me tell you, there are plenty of those in this city already.

Actual Douchebags

So please, Hollywood, I beg you: make as many torture porn flicks as you want. Make as many silly drug comedies as you want. But please, lay off the drag racing fetish material. The type of person these films appeal to is very suggestible. It is the type of person who actually pays attention to car commercials. It is the type of person who speeds up when the rest of the traffic is slowing down. It is the type of person who swerves in and out of traffic so they can beat other cars to the next stop light. Don’t give them any more encouragement!

Also, if you are one of the aforementioned douchebags: maybe you can try making all the other traffic on the road disappear using the weight of your collective egos. Then you can zip around like little pixies without endangering any human lives except your own. Until you achieve this feat, please be aware that I am trying to remain calm, but will probably eventually go Bronson on your ass. (And I’m talking Death Wish 3 armor piercing bullets Bronson, not Mr. Majestyk melon farmer Bronson.)