With his usual archness, Stephen Malkmus retrospectively described Pavement as “a medium-big college rock band”. Accurate, perhaps, but disingenuous: for a decade. Pavement were the medium-big college rock band, purveyors of wit, spirit, chaos and imperishable tunes to an audience who tried quite hard not to like those things.
The reappearance of their debut album, then, marks Pavement’s elevation from cultdom to the rock canon. It still sounds magnificent, one of the few records that make smart-alec sloppiness a positive attribute. And the 34 extra tracks of outtakes, Peel sessions, B-sides and live tracks also buck the trend for these daft ‘heritage’ packages by all sounding terrific. So buy it again.
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