My Favorite 23 Pavement Songs
Posted By Ben W. on September 18, 2009
All that listing of Beatles songs got me excited last week.
All this talk of Pavement reunions got me excited this week.
So I decided to combine the excitements to form a giant explosion of excitement — my list of great Pavement songs.
Get excited…
MY FAVORITE 23 PAVEMENT SONGS
23. Silence Kit
One of SM’s best vocal melodies ever. You could take this vocal melody, sing it well, produce it well, speed up the beat and have one hell of a power pop song. (update: this vocal melody sounds so good because Buddy Holly wrote it first! [thanks Hilly])
A great two-for-one song. Tough to decide which is better — the heartbreaking waltz of the first half, or the driving paranoia of the second.
21. Grounded
The chiming guitar figure at the beginning is enough to get me.
20. 5-4=Unity
If there was any doubt before, this is where they started demonstrating that they could, in fact, play their instruments. Really, really well.
19. I don’t blame Nigel Godrich’s production for the failure of Terror Twilight. Malkmus just should have brought in more songs like this.
18. Father To A Sister Of Thought
Another lovely slice of tuneful sadness from Wowee Zowee, far and away my favorite Pavement album. Love the steel guitar in the break here, too.
17. Two States
The Spiral Stairs songs really sound like The Fall. And it’s awesome.
16. Serpentine Pad
The Spiral Stairs songs really sound like The Fall. And it’s still awesome.
15. We Dance
You know an album is going to be special when the first words you hear are “There is no castration fear.”
14. Summer Babe
I eat my fingernails every day like they’re just another meal, too!
This is when the band seemed to feel like they could do anything they wanted, knowing that it whatever it was it would sound like gold… segue…
12. Gold Soundz
I tend to underrate this one as it’s not as great as Crooked Rain’s other singles (see below). But that’s a high standard to chase. This is still pretty great.
11. Black Out
I don’t really know what “Look at no one when you’re talking/Felt like rattlesnakes we’re walking” means, but it’s often stuck in my head.
10. Cut Your Hair
The “hit.” And still a pretty damn catchy, hilarious and accurate tune.
The band was a lot more aggressive in its early days. This is the brand of Pavement that sounds like an influence on Mclusky.
Malkmus sported his own unique off-kilter vocal delivery from the jump. But he really started playing with the fractured, stop-start, start-stop, Shatner-esque rhythms (that he still uses today) in full on Wowee Zowee. And nowhere was this most ev…. id…. dent than on this, that al… bum’s….. lead sin…. .gle.
7. Shady Lane
Musically, it’s pleasant enough. But holy hell, what a vocal performance. The vocal rhythms, melodies and lyrics are among the best in the Pavement catalog.
6. Trigger Cut
I love the way he holds on to the EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE in “electricity.” The sha-la-la-las in the bridge are pretty ace too. Little details, sure, but it’s these little details that help elevate the band from out-of-tune garage crap to out-of-tune garage genius. Or as Spinal Tap would say, “It’s such a fine line between clever and stupid.”
5. No Tan Lines
A B-side on the “Shady Lane EP,” how it was not fast-tracked for inclusion on the Brighten The Corners album I do not know. It’s so good. I know I keep raving about Malkmus’ vocal cadences, but listen to this! He’s really good at fitting words wherever he wants them to go.
4. Range Life
Probably most famous for the lyrical jabs at the Stone Temple Pilots and Smashing Pumpkins. And don’t get me wrong — those are great. But what gets me, even 16 years on, is the absolute perfection in sound the band achieved on this track. The drums sound amazing. The blend of guitar strum and piano couldn’t be better. It’s just a brilliantly executed song on every level.
3. Stereo
What can you say to describe the awesomeness that is this song? It’s the band’s best chorus, without doubt. Their best video, without doubt. The best-ever use of the oft-overlooked malaria/hysteria rhyme, without doubt. The best-ever in-song Rush reference, without doubt. It’s got it all.
2. Here
Malkmus wrote a lot of sad, slow, calm songs as the band’s career progressed — many of them beautiful. But nothing ever quite matched this early gem.
1. AT&T
See Thursday’s 12:12 Tune of the Day.
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Great list, although I do believe Range Life should be No. 1.
no “Date w/ Ikea?” jeez.