Crooked Rain Crooked Rain: L.A.'s Desert Origins

"Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain" was Pavement's most acclaimed album and one of the very best records of the 1990s. Disc 1 of this reissue contains the original 12-song 1994 release, B-sides from the three singles and bonus 7", plus a few songs from compilations. Disc 2 features 25 previously unreleased songs including rough Crooked Rain tracks with their original drummer Gary Young and early versions of songs from the subsequent album "Wowee Zowee". The best part of Disc 2 is the 4-song Peel Session with "Brink of the Clouds" and "The Sutcliffe Catering Song". The bonus material is slightly weaker than that from the S&E reissue, but this is still highly recommended for all Pavement fans. Hoping for a "Wowee Zowee" reissue soon.

This is a great album from one of the best bands of the 90s!

Excellent!

All the critics adore this album. Is like a religion I do not understand. 5 stars is the norm (Rolling Stone, Spin, and who knows who else!) Myself, sometimes I like to believe that critics know more about good music than myself. That they perceive inuendos, trends, genius more than I am able to detect. Like going to the Museum and looking at a piece of art and you say to yoursel, "what is this crap?" only to be told a moment later, by a knowledgeable and reputable so called "art critic", that what you have or are witnessing is a masterpiece for whatever the fricking reason. Stephen Malkmus gets so many accolades I thought this guy was hot! So I bought the "Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain: L.A.'s Desert Origins. Yes, I bought it in 2006 figuring a classic will sound even better years after its release. Forgive If it seems I am committing a mortal sin when I say, this CD sucks, the hype is a lot better than the actual thing. And so many songs...These guys were recording any crap that came to mind, their egos bubbling through the process and yes, there are some tasty songs that stand up against any other but, 5 stars?! Who is kidding who? 4.5 stars? That is far too generous. And don't tell me I am missing the point, that is an "in" thing and either you are part of it or you are not, because I do not buy it. Disjointed, abrasive, lacking musical direction, at times downright depressive (probably one of its appeals), monotonous, what more can I say? The critics also say that James Brown "Live at the Apollo" is hot hot hot, and it sucks. I can probably bang a two chord tune and make a better song than Mr. Stephen Malkmus and his precious band. Too many songs for very little good ones is its main flaw. Yes, I did get emotional and for that I truly ask that you listen to this so called masterpiece and tell me, what is so hot about it? Is is a state of mind, a generational critical thing? Because musically is sure no great work. Sometimes an album has only one song that makes it worthwhile buyin and I can live with that. "Crooke Rain, Crooked R...." has more than one but to listen to the other crap diminishes the joy of owning this CD. Oh, but I am not an authority so please don't shoot me if I missed the secret point but somebody is going to have to tell me what is so magnifecent about this CD. The packaging is above average, if that counts. Pavement's "Crooked Rain, Cro....." 5 stars for the few jewels to be had, for the overwhelming rest 3 stars is more than kind.

From the standpoint of the present, we can say Pavement were simply the most important band of the '90s: if you say Nirvana or Radiohead or Beck or whatever radio-friendly unit shifters people grooved on for a couple of years, you're missing the point. Though they had a few cult precursors (people often mention The Fall, though Swell Maps are a closer match to the early incarnation of the band) Pavement so totally reinvented rock that others are still processing their stimulus today. There are three classic records, made before Stephen Malkmus and company started to try to turn a profit and quality dropped: *Slanted and Enchanted*, *Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain*, and *Wowee Zowee*; each of the three is a must-listen, but 1994's *Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain* is the most brilliant, genuine indie pop that amazed at first listen and warms today in an era of Tin Pan Alley monstrosities and "erudite" suck-ups. Pavement's music is to mainstream rock as bop is to jazz -- totally the same thing at heart, only reversed every which way to challenge the ear with revealed structure.You hear all kinds of things you secretly love mixed in, the double drums of the Dead and the California soul of the Byrds and singer-songwriters and so on. None of the lyrics make sense, but that's not an accident: demo versions of the songs available on this expanded edition typically have very different lyrics. *LA's Desert Origins* also includes nice versions of a couple of tunes later to appear on *Wowee Zowee* and some fun extras like "Unseen Power of the Picket Fence" (a wacky REM tribute that reinforces my suspicion the Pavementers may have had something of a Civil War fetish). Their only radio hit, "Cut Your Hair", captures a hopeful moment in the history of these United States that older-by-now people will be glad to be reminded of; other songs like "Gold Soundz", "Unfair" and "5-4 = Unity" remember the Stockton youth and, proleptically, the New York adulthood of Malkmus and "Spiral Stairs". They shoulda put it in a satellite --

Great CD for the price...lovely package.