Crooked Rain is great, but I always wondered why the general concensus shifted towards it being the greatest pavement album. I have always liked Wowee Zowee and S&E better because they seem a bit more ragged and meandering. To me, the greatness of Pavement albums always stemmed from the fact that they were a big mass of looseness that worms its way into your head once you've heard their album a few times.
If I could choose one Pavement album to hold up as a classic, it would still be Slanted and Enchanted. I was just wondering what people thought about this, because it was included on SDF's list (which was completely solid by the way).

Here's a list...

70’s
The Pop Group - Y
Can - Tago Mago
Ash Ra Tempel - Seven Up
Gang of Four - Entertainment!
Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures

80’s
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation/Bad Moon Rising/Sister
Dinosaur Jr. - You're Living All Over Me
Comsat Angels - Sleep No More
Bauhaus - The Sky's Gone Out
Husker Du - Zen Arcade/ New Day Rising
The Chameleons - Strange Times
The Church – Starfish/ Heyday
The Sound - From the Lion's Mouth
Pere Ubu – The Modern Dance
Live Skull - Cloud One
My Bloody Valentine – Isn’t Anything

90’s
Catherine Wheel – Ferment/ Chrome
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Unwound - Fake Train/ New Plastic Ideas/ Repetition/ The Future of What
Polvo - Today's Active Lifestyles
Plexi - Cheer Up
Bailter Space - Robot World
Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas
The Posies - Frosting On the Beater
Swervedriver - Mezcal Head/ Raise
Lowercase - The Going Away Present
Sonic Youth - Goo
Nudeswirl - S/t
Quicksand - Slip
7% Solution - All About Satellites and Spaceships
Sebadoh - Bakesale
Rollerskate Skinny - Horsedrawn Wishes
Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space
Mogwai - Young Team
Band of Susans - The Word and the Flesh
You Am I - Sound As Ever
Idaho - Year After Year
Slowdive - Souvlaki
Juned - Every Night For You
Bardo Pond - Amanita
Bare Minimum - Can't Cure the Nailbiters
All Natural Lemon & Lime Flavors - Turning Into Small
Juno - This is the Way it Goes and Goes and Goes
Magic Dirt - S/t
Swivel Stick - Notes Towards a Mental Breakdown
...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - S/t
Hovercraft - Experiment Below
The Sea and Cake - Nassau
Manic Street Preachers - Everything Must Go

00’s
National Skyline - This = Everything
Southpacific - Constance
At the Drive-In - Relationship of Command
Poem Rocket – Psychogeography
Absinthe Blind - The Everyday Separation
Dismemberment Plan – Change
...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead - Source Tags & Codes
ILYA - Poise Is The Greater Architect
Six by Seven - The Closer You Get
Juno - A Future Lived in the Past Tense
Bethany Curve - You Brought Us Here

This message has been edited. Last edited by: slipdream,

quote:

Originally posted by slipdream:
Here's a list...

70’s
Can - Tago Mago
Ash Ra Tempel - Seven Up
Gang of Four - Entertainment!
Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures

80’s
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation/Bad Moon Rising/Sister
Dinosaur Jr. - You're Living All Over Me
Comsat Angels - Sleep No More
Bauhaus - The Sky's Gone Out
Husker Du - Zen Arcade/ New Day Rising
The Chameleons - Strange Times
The Church – Starfish/ Heyday
The Sound - From the Lion's Mouth

90’s
Catherine Wheel – Ferment/ Chrome
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Unwound - Fake Train/ New Plastic Ideas/ Repetition/ The Future of What
Polvo - Today's Active Lifestyles
Plexi - Cheer Up
Bailter Space - Robot World
Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas
The Posies - Frosting On the Beater
Swervedriver - Mezcal Head/ Raise
Lowercase - The Going Away Present
Sonic Youth - Goo
Nudeswirl - S/t
Quicksand - Slip
7% Solution - All About Satellites and Spaceships
Sebadoh - Bakesale
Rollerskate Skinny - Horsedrawn Wishes
Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space
Mogwai - Young Team
Band of Susans - The Word and the Flesh
You Am I - Sound As Ever
Idaho - Year After Year
Slowdive - Souvlaki
Juned - Every Night For You
Bardo Pond - Amanita
Bare Minimum - Can't Cure the Nailbiters
All Natural Lemon & Lime Flavors - Turning Into Small
Juno - This is the Way it Goes and Goes and Goes

00’s
National Skyline - This = Everything
Southpacific - Constance
The Universal Chrome - Meet the Universal Chrome
At the Drive-In - Relationship of Command
Poem Rocket – Psychogeography
Absinthe Blind - The Everyday Separation
Dismemberment Plan – Change
...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead - Source Tags & Codes
ILYA - Poise Is The Greater Architect

that is a beautiful list of albums

the list is definitely solid.

i'd put dplan's emergency and i (90's) in there before their album change.

also, you gotta put a few talking heads albums in there though.

quote:

Originally posted by blankfrank:
Crooked Rain is great, but I always wondered why the general concensus shifted towards it being the greatest pavement album.

If I could choose one Pavement album to hold up as a classic, it would still be Slanted and Enchanted.

Those two albums are the best examples of each side of Pavement. They are vastly different from each other, but it's hard to objectively choose which is greater. If you're into the more refined Pavement, you'll prefer CRCR, but if you like the looser, edgier style, you'll go with S&E. Wowee Zowee would fall somewhere between the two in approach with a mixture of the bizzare and the refined, while Brighten the Corners and Terror Twilight are further expansions of the CRCR sound. While those three are excellent albums, the first two stand as the defining statements of their career.

In reference to Loveless, I can see why a lot of people don't really get it. It's not an album for every mood. The songs run together and carry a similar texture throughout, making it feel like one long track. The individual tracks don't feel like complete songs. They generally have a verse part and a chorus part that repeat over and over again before segueing into the next track. The vocals are so buried, that lyrics are hard to identify. However, it is a great work of art. It's a study in textures that uses guitar fury to create something that is soothing. It's a great album to put on at a low volume and fall asleep to, the way the sounds fade in and out (especially "To Here Knows When"). It's been highly influential and we still talk about it (and/or listen to it) quite frequently 15 years later. That makes for a pretty strong case to be deemed a "classic."

Sonic Youth - Sister
Galaxie 500 - On Fire
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Modest Mouse - This is a long Drive...
Modest mouse - Lonesome crowded West
Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen...
The Microphones - The Glow Part 2
Slint - Spiderland
Flaming Lips - Clouds taste Metallic
XTC - Drums and Wires
XTC - Skylarking
Talk Talk - Laughing Stock
the Sea and cake - Nassau
The smiths - the queen is dead
the smiths - the smiths
Sunny Day Real Estate - Diary
Built to spill - theres nothing wrong with love
The Replacements - Let it Be
Oliva Tremor Control - both albums
Neutral Milk Hotel - Both albums (though id give the edge to on Avery island)

probably a pretyty basic obvous list, but those are my favorites.