The indie rock juggernaut Pavement’s most challenging album may be their best. The second to last recording made in their original 3-man format (Stephen Malkmus on guitars and vocals, Scott Kannberg aka Spiral Stairs on guitar, bass and vocals, and Gary Young on drums), as well as with characteristic lo-fi recording and unforgiving distortion (preceded by 3 EPs and followed by a single EP in this format), it is a pillar of the Stockton, CA band’s beginnings as a garage rock outfit who worshipped The Replacements and The Fall equally. I love this band so much I named my blog after one of their EPs.
Part 1: Slanted & Enchanted (1992): The Album As It Was Released
The LP screams originality (although Mark E. Smith would have you believe otherwise), expanding the bands ambitiously unambitious sonic landscapes, finding them a home on Stephen Malkmus’s (Lead guitar, vocals) best songs. This is evident from the very first song, Summer Babe (Winter Version), an oddball pop rock tune played through unforgivingly distorted guitars, perforated by slacker solos which would be happy on a Neil Young album. Although early EPs showed signs of this type of song (Home on Slay Tracks (1933-1969) and Box Elder on Perfect Sound Forever), Summer Babe is a fully fleshed out song, with surreal imagery of their hometown Stockton telling an incomprehensible story, and building up through its instrumental breaks and verses to an explosive final verse. More than anything it’s a fun song to listen to, something which all of Pavement’s LPs have to offer in droves – listening to Pavement is always enjoyable.
Second track Trigger Cut (Wounded Kite at :17) is, I believe, an example of a perfect rock song. The verse/chorus structure begins with a strange chord transition where Malkmus jumps up a half-step, but falls into this beautiful several-second tuneful segment where a minor chord is used and the Malkmus’s voice suddenly sounds tuneful and expressive rather than the near spoken-word territory it treads in the song’s opening. The chorus is perfectly loud and sing – along – able, featuring the phrase “I’ll be coming / back / one day” over a percussive 3 chord walkdown reminiscent the progression you’d find on Stairway to Heaven of all songs. As Malkmus sings this main line, Spiral comes in with an oddball countermelody which somehow works. Pavement were huge fans of R.E.M. (they even wrote a tribute song to the Athens, GA rock band for the No Alternative compilation in 1993), and seem to have borrowed this vocal quality from R.E.M.’s great choruses of the 80s (think It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)). Lyrically, it is…Malkmus-ian. As someone who’s easily listened to the song 30 times or more, I have no idea what it’s about. And I think that’s what Stephen wants. Come on, not all music has to say something lyrically. Not everyone has to be Leonard Cohen. This is just a great goddamn rock song. Leave it alone, fictional critic I’m arguing with in my head!
No Life Singed Her. I used to skip this song, to be honest. But as a more *cultured* (please kill me) music listener who’s learned how to appreciate the angularity and aggression of songs like this, it has its merits. I certainly think the songs surrounding it are better and more representational of the indie rock sound Pavement would go on to create and perfect, but it’s not a bad song. Again, lyrically, I have no idea what’s going on. If you want to talk about lyrics, talk to me when we get to Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain. This song represents Pavement’s early sound – it is unforgiving, weird, loud, challenging – something we would expect a younger Stephen to write, as a shameless hipster working at the Whitney museum and listening to CAN’s Ege Bamyasi every night.
Track 4 is a heavy rocker with as abstract lyrics as its title, In The Mouth A Desert. Cultural context is important here – coming into the US music scene in 1992, when grunge and heavy rock were in full swing, this song feels like it could have been a hit, but Pavement’s musical tropes make it too challenging to achieve radio play – lyrics too abstract, purposefully lo-fi production persisting, etc etc. The song resolves with one of the best guitar solos of all time, in my opinion – perfectly emotive and lyrical, a solo you can sing along to (as, in fact, someone does in certain phrases of the solo). A great rock song.
I feel like mentioning the flow of the album at this point. The next song, Conduit For Sale, is more in the vein of No Life than Summer Babe or In The Mouth, and this pattern of alternating angular, challenging tracks in the vein of esoteric influences like The Fall and Swell Maps sandwiched in between more tuneful compositions with pop tendencies makes the album flow quite well, creating a balance at every point (except for maybe the end of side 2). Continuing with this pattern, the beautifully out-of-tune ballad Zurich Is Stained is born and dies in less than 2 minutes. Acoustic and slide guitars (alt-country instrumentation like this would reappear on 1995’s Wowee Zowee) accompany Stephen’s quiet croon on this song, which feels introspective and less abstract than the rest of the album, reflecting on the speaker’s involvement in an unknown event gone wrong.
I could spend time going into each track on the album, but I feel that side 1 is the strongest and has the most important tracks, and you can only say so much about minute-long freakouts like Chelsey’s Little Wrists before you go insane. Next track Loretta’s scars is a solid angular rock song with fuzzy guitar lines which feel like they’re about to break the tape itself. Here is possibly my favorite song of all time. Its lyrics are perhaps the best example of Stephen’s mysteriously introspective songwriting. Such perfect lines which seem tossed-off on the surface, but hold so much personal meaning to Pavement fans such as myself. “And I’m the only one who laughs / at your jokes when they are so bad”. “And all the Spanish candles / Unsold have gone away to this”. The fade-out before the final line ends. Perfection. The perfect song to cry to. Side note, watch this live version of the song if you’re so intrigued – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnHfmnMzPvQ. It was the final song the band played live in 1999, before they broke up. The last song they played in the 90s. Slowed down, out of tune, every band member looking so tired, not making eye contact. Not many things make me feel that sort of melancholia but this video has that power. End of the Slow Century.
Ah, the Spiral song. Spiral’s songs on Pavement records always seem to be the most energetic, even the fuzz pop tune Date With Ikea a break from the jangly lull of 1997’s Brighten the Corners. This specific song is playful in its exploration of the idea of a desire for two states, which could apply to a number of political references. First time I heard it I thought of Israel/Palestine and the “two-state solution”, but it also could apply to Californian politics considering the band’s exploration of this theme on their next album, 1994’s Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain.
Fame Throwa and Jackals, False Grails: The Lonesome Era are fall-esque angular post-punk songs which aren’t too exciting for me. Not to say they’re bad, their experimental guitar techniques are fun to listen to sometimes, they just don’t measure up to the rest of the album for me. Last track Our Singer is a sparse ballad with an addictive drum beat and nonsensical lyrics, but the melancholy melody makes it feel like it means something. A decent closer, although I maintain Here would be better.
Part 2: Slanted & Enchanted – Circa 1992: What Could Have Been
Slanted & Enchanted: Luxe & Reduxe was a 2 disk reissue released in 2002, and is essential for Pavement fans. It includes the album, peel sessions, the watery, domestic EP from laster in 1992, unreleased songs, and a live recording from 1992. Ever since first listening to this reissue I couldn’t help but imagine an alternate version of Slanted & Enchanted, without the weird noisy songs and freakouts, replaced with the fuzzy melodic beauty of certain unreleased songs and EP tracks. I want to say again that I don’t think the noisy songs are bad. I like them. I just feel they represent where the band was coming from, what they did on their first EPs, and not what they would go on to create.
The songs I choose to include to fill out the album were as follows:
Circa 1762 (The namesake of the reconstruction: Slanted & Enchanted – Circa 1992)
Greenlander
Secret Knowledge Of The Backroads
Texas Never Whispers
Frontwards
Lions (Linden)
Shoot The Singer (1 Sick Verse)
I feel these songs represent this era in the band’s history best. Halfway between the challenging angularity of Demolition Plot J-7 and the indie rock gold soundz of Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain. Watery, domestic is an excellent EP with 4 near-perfect songs in this lo-fi fuzzy rock style which often get overlooked since they aren’t on an LP, which is why I included the tracklist on this reconstruction.
Slanted & Enchanted – Circa 1992: Fan Reconstruction
This file contains all tracks as mp3s with artist, album name and tracklist position information, as well as a front and back cover. All music is from the Slanted & Enchanted: Luxe & Reduxe reissue. Cover art is courtesy of
http://thelastjohnyontheleft.blogspot.com/2011/06/album-art-from-memory-slanted-and.html and my own shitty editing.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/16njeKypjmYymXU4N6C9rMMFs6ZOfMfS2/view?usp=sharing
As always, thanks for reading and leave comments if you want. Peace.
perfect sound forever 