#265 Pavement, 'Wowee Zowee' (1995)

New Entry

The follow up record to 1994’s ‘Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain’ (#434) is much more experimental and spontaneous than its predecessor. Rolling Stone speculated that the band was afraid of success and that was the reason, but lead vocalist, Stephen Malkmus countered that by saying that through the haze of his excessive pot usage, the songs sounded like hits to him. Four of the tracks, ‘Grounded,’ ‘Flux = Rad,’ ‘Pueblo’ & ‘Kennel District’ were actually taken from the same sessions as ‘CRCR.’

Although not well received at the time, the album has been hailed as a masterpiece in later years. I still prefer ‘CRCR’ and found the tracks on this album to be half-baked and sloppy. The most cohesive track on the record is ‘Rattled By The Rush,’ which also happened to be its first single.

#rs500albums