This is the best Pavement album.
Why? Spontaneity my friend. The album zigs and zags jarringly and seemingly at random - not just between tracks but within the individual songs as well - see the way “Extradition” falls apart half way through or the way “Fight This Generation” suddenly switches gears from weepy ballad to terse, menacing jam. The many twists and turns that
Wowee Zowee takes may on first listen seem a little confusing or even alienating, but on multiple listens the GENIUS of the whole thing clicks into place. The songs here never take the easy way out, always resolving and developing in ways that are inspired and surprising, and the album itself never stays on one sound or vibe for too long before making a left turn.
Some of
Wowee Zowee’s critics view this lack of cohesion as a bad thing, and I suppose I can see their argument; the record jumps all over the place and it doesn’t really hold together as any sort of a focused statement (Stephen Malkmus has even suggested that the album should be listened to on shuffle). However, if an album is full of great songs does it really matter if it flows? No, of course not - we all love The White Album after all - and grab bag albums like The Beatles’ classic are often a lot of fun to listen to as a result of their scattershot nature, whilst also giving the artist an opportunity to try lots of different ideas.
Wowee Zowee can also be described in these terms; it is by far Pavement’s most eclectic album, and so stays fresh and interesting all the way through despite its relatively long running time. Besides, while some people may be put off by the jarring stylistic jumps between songs, I personally feel that they give the album a manic, surreal quality that I really enjoy. Either way with a batch of songs as strong as these you could put them in any order and they would sound good. I mean I’m all for a cohesive album and I’m as impressed by “you’ve got to listen to it as whole” type statements like
Dark Side of the Moon or
Kid A as anyone, but I’ll take records like this any time of day too. It’s ultimately more important that an album has lots of great songs than that it flows well. Cohesiveness is overrated people!
The other common criticism of this album seems to be a lack of consistency (a criticism that is also often leveled at The White Album and other albums that share its style-hopping approach), but for all the talk of filler I really like pretty much all of the songs here (with the possible exception of "Western Homes", which is very short and acts as a light-hearted way of closing the album). Sure the shorter “goof” songs may lack the substance of some of the longer ones, but they are nonetheless fun and enjoyable. The brief punk numbers like “Serpentine Pad” and “Flux=Rad” are awesome in my opinion, and while their placement amongst the other songs may be slightly jarring, they still function perfectly as little injections of energy (see the way “Serpentine Pad” grabs your attention by by bursting in seemingly out of nowhere following the beautiful “Grounded”).
Slanted and Enchanted, supposedly the GOAT Pavement album, has short goof songs as well, and to me they really do feel like inconsequential ***ing around, whereas the short songs here are well-crafted in their own right.
Furthermore, the more fleshed-out songs on
Wowee Zowee are amongst the best in the band’s entire discography. Its reputation as their mellowest album is somewhat apt as it contains some of their most beautiful moments; I briefly mentioned “Grounded” earlier but I can’t write a review of this album without taking a second to talk about how stunning that song is. The interplay between the guitars in the intro and outro is absolutely gorgeous, as is the way the song crescendos at the end, rising higher and higher until it collapses under its own weight and stops. I also love the way the guitars in the chorus paint with sound; soft sweeps and hard clangs lend imagery and emotion to Malkmus’s impressionistic words, before soaring into the sky with that big riff that follows his plead of “boys are dying on these streets”. “Black Out” is equally gorgeous, albeit in a more restrained and less dramatic way, with its melody and twinkling guitars bringing to mind the feeling of wandering through a city at night (good choice of title for that song). I am particularly fond of the moment when ol’ Stevey sings about lights bleeding lights “until you actually see the rays” as a second guitar joins in to harmonise with the chiming arpeggios of the first. It’s hard to describe what makes this moment so evocative, but it feels like you actually do see the rays! These two are my favourites out of
Wowee Zowee’s ballads but the others are wonderful as well. Stephen Malkmus had really matured as a songwriter at this point and had developed a real knack for writing beautiful melodies. The slow songs are not without their unexpected twists and turns either; see for example the bluesy chug that closes out “Father to a Sister of Thought” or the way “Pueblo” explodes into life with its loud, almost feverish chorus after starting off as a rather quiet and pastoral song.
However, while the album is highlighted by its ballads,
Wowee Zowee is also the best showcase of Pavement as a full on ROCK band in their catalogue. They rock here with more energy and intensity than at any other point in their career, songs like “Half A Canyon” and “Best Friend’s Arms” *sound wild and unhinged and EXCITING in just the best way possible. The rocking out is aided by the best guitar playing of Malkmus’s career; he sounds more confident here than on previous records, stretching out and basically just doing whatever he wants. Listen to how he solos his way through “Rattled By The Rush” (one of the very best songs on the album), moving from noisy to swaggering to melancholy with such effortlessness that you can practically see him throw his guitar to the ground when the song ends. All without seeming even slightly self indulgent, I mean that song is so catchy damn! The man's guitar playing throughout this record is inspired, honestly the flair is just tumbling off his fingers. There are far too may cool moments to mention all of them, but I would be remiss not to mention the thick knots of guitar interplay in “Grave Architecture” or the ***ing RIDICULOUS jam in “Half A Canyon” (can you tell how much I enjoy this record? It’s a lot).
Really credit all round has to be given to Malkmus for
Wowee Zowee - this is his album, the album it feels like he was always supposed to make. To me this feels like the culmination of Pavement's career, the album where they really figured out what they were all about. Some people may prefer the more focused and accessible nature of
Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain but I’ll take the energy and creativity of this over it any day. Even what's-his-name (Spiral Stairs?) gets a good song in, and honestly can you say that for any of their other albums? "Hit the Plane Down"? Nah mate, get out of here.
9.5
