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Rating:
THE REVIEW
First solo album by the main man of Pavement, the creators of one of the most beautiful debut albums I can remember, that "Slanted and Enchanted" from 1991, if I recall correctly, between hysteria à la Pixies, spoken/sung à la Lou Reed, and twisted and impenetrable lyrics recited, casually thrown there.
This album is mediocre, the first two songs "Black Book" and "Phantasies" say nothing, "JoJo's Jacket" has a spoken introduction about how one feels better after a haircut "and in a funny way the shaving of my head has been a liberation from a lot of stupid vanity, really", then the song follows without adding or taking anything away from the Pavement standard. Luckily, the gem of "Church of White" is a sister to "Grounded" from "Wowee Zowee", magical in their slow and majestic progression. It saves the album. "Discretion Grove" could be mistaken for Lou Reed, Malkmus sings the same. "Trojan Curfew" seems instead to come out from "Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain", pleasant, but it's one of the "fillers". There are no other noteworthy episodes.
Already in "Brighten the Corners", the most successful episodes were those composed by Spiral Stairs ("Date w/Ikea" and "Passat Dream"), while Malkmus's songs already lingered too complacently in his crooked singer-songwriter style, which here reaches its peak of self-indulgence.
The Pavement were more than the sum of their parts, and here there's only one part, albeit the main author.
To be clear, an album better than many others that come out, but not better than Pavement.
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Summary by Bot
Stephen Malkmus's first solo album is considered mediocre compared to his work with Pavement. While some songs are unremarkable fillers, "Church of White" stands out as a highlight. The album leans heavily on Malkmus's characteristic style but lacks the collective spark of Pavement. Overall, it's better than many contemporary albums but falls short of his band's legacy.Tracklist Lyrics Videos
