Pavement
Wowee Zowee

“Wowee Zowee” sees the light in 1995, just a year after the “Crooked Rain” that was so well-received by critics and the public and was still ringing in both their ears thanks to chart-topping hits like “Cut Your Hair” or more intimate moments like the splendid “Gold Soundz,” and more generally due to a fresh sound and an attitude that’s anything but serious. With such premises, it was thought that the time was ripe for the Indie Rock masterpiece to be brought to life by the Californian quintet. But could the most unreliable goofballs on this earth ever pull themselves together? Would they ever manage to become serious professionals and for once do their vacation homework? The answer is obvious: absolutely not.

And so, instead of the expected chart-topping pop hits, here are the 18 tracks as inconsistent as they are intense from “Wowee Zowee,” including: the vibrant opening of “We Dance” - an acoustic ballad that loses its way and can't even reach the end (“You can't enjoy yourself, I can't enjoy myself…”), “Father to a sister of thoughts” – dry Folk-Rock that highlights Malkmus's “vocal talents,” here more virtuosic than ever, supported by a steel guitar that makes the atmosphere filled with dust, rock, and dirty boots (“Angel of corpus christi, you're so mystic tell me what I want to hear... ”), “Fight this generation” – a two-time rambunctious ballad that moves from impotent acceptance of one's nature to the denial of what does not belong to you (“Nobody's crying cause there's no one to score for… ”) and finally “Half A Canyon” – an electric and sprawling proto-blues where there is space for all the clichés of Pavement's composition, starting with incomprehensible verses and howls scattered throughout the singing, ending with the typical multi-time messing around with included arpeggiated solos… even going so far as a psychedelic organ (“Ooooooooh, shit baby!”).

No, “Wowee…” does not contain chart-topping hits although it begins to reveal a pop nature and is soon dismissed by the critics more for falling short of the above expectations than for the real lack of substance put on fire by our guys, who, despite everything, manage to craft a dignified record. If it were a dish? Macaroni gratin with taleggio and curry, to be served with a still red, perhaps from Calabria…