by Michael LelloWeekender Editor
If as many people who talk about Pavement listened to Pavement, the indie rock band would be multiplatinum millionaires; percussionist Bob Nastanovich wouldn’t need to work in the horse-racing industry, and bassist Mark Ibold wouldn’t bartend or moonlight with Sonic Youth.
It’s cool to drop Pavement’s name, and it seems that the name is thrown around loosely — almost as loose as the jangly slacker rock the band perfected. With reunion shows underway and a “greatest hits” (the band didn’t really have any) package released last week, now is a good time to take stock of just what the idiosyncratic Stephen Malkmus-led group was all about.
Inactive since 1999’s “Terror Twilight,” Pavement’s legend has grown during its dormancy, and “Quarantine The Past: The Best of Pavement” shows why. What was “wrong” with Pavement in the eyes of the mainstream — and what was right with Pavement in the eyes of its discerning fans — is summed up in “Shady Lane.” A toe-tapping verse leads to a bright chorus, and it sounds like we’re heading for radio land. But then the chord turns minor and things sound sour, and now there’s no way you’ll hear this on an active-rock or modern-rock or whatever-they-call-it-now-rock station. And this is for the best. What would Pavement have become if it did make it further than mere flirtations with the mainstream (a Lollapalooza tour and a video for “Cut Your Hair”)? Weezer?
Pulling together 23 newly re-mastered tracks from the band’s five albums and odds and ends from EPs and compilations, “Quarantine” shows all sides of Pavement. Malkmus’ penchant for pop melodies is apparent from the get-go with “Gold Soundz.” And while early tunes like “In The Mouth A Desert” from 1992’s “Slanted and Enchanted” give credence to Pavement’s reputation as lo-fi pioneers, there are impeccably produced, layered sounds on later material, too, like “Spit on a Stranger” from “Terror Twilight.” We also get the domestic-minded “Date w/ IKEA,” sung by guitarist Scott “Spiral Stairs” Kannberg and the wistful “Shoot the Singer (1 Sick Verse)” from 1992’s “Watery, Domestic” EP.
A big part of Pavement is Malkmus’ bitter snark, and it’s in fine form here on tunes like “Box Elder” — “I got a lot of good things coming my way/ And I’m afraid to say you’re not one of them” — and “Unseen Power of the Picket Fence.” In the latter, he sings, “Some bands like to name-check, and one of them is R.E.M.” Get it?
Rating: W W W W
