When Nigel Godrich was working on what turned out to be Pavement's final studio album, he claimed he wanted to create something that would "reach people who were turned off by the beautiful sloppiness of other Pavement records". It was a curious ambition for a self-declared fan of the band to want to airbrush out precisely what made them so distinctive, and the resulting record, Terror Twilight, is much maligned. It's like Malkmus and crew have been tamed, scrubbed up and squeezed into a suit and tie that's a couple of sizes too small, shod in brogues that pinch at the toes and heel, and sent off to pitch themselves to a board of executives.
I got the same feeling listening to Hecklers Choice, their new best of compilation - which, though featuring only two tracks from Terror Twilight, is uncharacteristically lean, clean-cut and business-like in its selection.
By contrast, the soundtrack to Alex Ross Perry's film Pavements, released on the same day, is much less all killer, no filler - and much of the filler in this instance is largely incomprehensible if you haven't seen the film.
Buzz reviews of both albums here.
It's fair to say that any disappointment with either/both has been offset by the fact that they've sent me back to the albums. For years, I've been happily declaring Brighten The Corners my favourite, but it's been Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain that's been on particularly high rotation of late.
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