Pavement - Wowee Zowee : Sordid Sentinels edition

  by Mark Rowland

published: 27 / 11 / 2006

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Extended editions of classic albums can be very annoying for those who already own them. It is a difficult decision for record buyers to decide whether to get a second copy of their favourite albums, especially as half the time the extras aren’t really worth the extra cash. I am, therefore, going to write two reviews of this album; one for those who don’t own it, and one for those that do. For those who don’t own ‘Wowee Zowee’, here’s your review; this is a great album, diverse, distinctive and often overlooked. You should go out and but it. For the rest of you, I’ll focus on the bonus material. The Floyd-esque ‘Brink of the Clouds’ isn’t a particularly great song to kick of the extra material, but the Fall-inspired ‘False Scorpion’ and the quirkily laidback ‘Easily Fooled’ pick things up nicely. ‘Kris Kraft’ is sunny and funky in an odd kind of way, and ‘Mussle Rock (is a horse in transition)’ is a typical Scott Kannenberg moment - a sweetly tuneful, fuzz heavy slice of college rock. ‘Give it A Day’ is particularly catchy, like a skewed version of the Beatles, while ‘Gangsters and Pranksters’ has a great guitar riff. ‘Saganaw’ is typical of a ‘Wowee Zowee’ track; melodic but unconventionally so, switching between melodic lines and dissonance. ‘I Love Perth’ is short, but is another great little tune, about as straight-forward as Pavement songs get. That’s the first disc’s bonus material, but there’s also a whole extra CD of other bonus tracks, which kicks off with ‘Sensitive Euro Man’, which treads similar waters to ‘Wowee…’ songs like ‘Rattled By the Rush’. In contrast, ‘Stray Fire’ fits in with the album’s more experimental moments, although that’s not to say it has no discernible tune. The rest of the second disc is made up of session and live tracks, which are not without their own merits, the revamped versions of ‘Fight This Generation’ and ‘Easily Fooled’ being prime examples. In conclusion then, music fans, this is actually one extended album that’s worth going out and buying, whether it’s for the second or first time.

Track Listing:-

1 We Dance
2 Rattled By The Rush
3 Black Out
4 Brinx Job
5 Grounded
6 Serpentine Pad
7 Motion Suggests Itself
8 Father To A Sister Of Thought
9 Extradition
10 Best Friend's Arm
11 Grave Architecture
12 AT&T
13 Flux = Rad
14 Fight This Generation
15 Kennel District
16 Pueblo
17 Half A Canyon
18 Western Homes
19 Sordid (Wowee Zowee Session Outtake)
20 Brink Of The Clouds (B-Side)
21 False Skorpion (B-Side)
22 Easily Fooled (B-Side)
23 Kris Kraft (B-Side)
24 Mussle Rock (Is A Horse In Transition B-Side)
25 Give It A Day
26 Gangsters & Pranksters
27 Saganaw
28 I Love Perth
29 Sentinel (Wowee Zowee Session Outtake)
30 Sensitive Euro Man (From 'I Shot Andy Warhol')
31 Stray Fire (Wowee Zowee Session Outtake)
32 Fight This Generation (Recorded March 3, 1994 at Hilversum, Holland)
33 Easily Fooled (Recorded March 3, 1994 at Hilversum, Holland)
34 Soul Food (Wowee Zowee Jam Session With Doug Easley On Piano)
35 It's A Hectic World (From Homage to Descendents Tribute)
36 Kris Kraft (BBC In-Studio, Steve Lamacq Evening Session, March 15, 1995)
37 Golden Boys/Serpentine Pad (BBC In-Studio, Steve Lamacq Evening Session, March 15, 1995)
38 Painted Soldiers (BBC In-Studio, Steve Lamacq Evening Session, March 15, 1995)
39 I Love Perth (BBC In-Studio, Steve Lamacq Evening Session, March 15, 1995)
40 Dancing With The Elders (From Medusa Cyclone/Pavement Split 7")
41 Half A Canyon (Live, Wireless JJJ Radio, Australia, July 7, 1994)
42 Best Friend's Arm (Live, Wireless JJJ Radio, Australia, July 7, 1994)
43 Brink Of The Clouds/Candylad (Live, Wireless JJJ Radio, Australia, July 7, 1994)
44 Unfair (Live, Wireless JJJ Radio, Australia, July 7, 1994)
45 Easily Fooled (Live, Wireless JJJ Radio, Australia, July 7, 1994)
46 Heaven Is A Truck (Live, Wireless JJJ Radio, Australia, July 7, 1994)
47 Box Elder (Live, Wireless JJJ Radio, Australia, July 7, 1994)
48 No More Kings (From Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks)
49 Painted Soldiers (From 'Brain Candy')
50 We Dance (Alternate Mix Wowee Zowee Session Outtake)

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/pavementtherockband
https://twitter.com/pavementgroup

Label Links:-

http://www.dominorecordco.com/
https://www.facebook.com/DominoRecordCo
https://twitter.com/DominoRecordCo
https://www.youtube.com/user/DominoRecords
https://plus.google.com/+DominoRecords

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