Pavement Album: “Brighten the Corners”

I don't know why other reviewers think this sounds good, there is clipping, distortion, and hyper compression. In short, there are all the tell tale signs of loud mastering (see "loudness war" at wikipedia). For those that don't know, most pop rock offerings today try to be as loud as possible so that they will not be out volumed during ipod shuffle play. They do this by making the average volume approach peak volume. This means whispers become as loud as shouts. The end result is degraded sound quality and if you listen to the 1997 version alongside this one on a decent stereo or decent set of headphones, matching the volume levels, you will notice the difference. The new one lacks punch, has poor sounding cymbal crashes, no dynamics, and intermittent distortion. Overall, a poor job of mastering, but it's a good 40% louder than the 1997 version. So if you're thinking of buying this because you want the best sounding version of BTC, don't.

However, there are quite a few extras that are worth listening too, especially if you were lucky enough to score the edition that came with the live LP. I received two discs and one LP for 19.99, great deal. And if you are a long term fan this set is really something you should pick up. The booklet is 60+ pages and contains a few written pieces and lots of great pictures. The quality of the printing and paper isn't up to the previous standards of the last three sets, but compared to what one usually gets with remasters, it's great. The bonus material includes alternate mixes and versions, bbc live in studio material, b-sides, compilation tracks, and outtakes. The extra material is not as strong as say the Slanted & Enchanted luxe & redux stuff, but it is still worth while.

So five stars for the set and 1.5 stars for the mastering = 3.25 overall.

I admit, when Brighten The Corners first came out, I didn't really dig it that much. Wowie Zowie had embedded itsself into my brain (I still consider it their masterpiece- although a very psychotic masterpiece) and I guess I wanted more of that Pavement. Instead it consisted of more fully realized songs, shinier production and most of it pretty mellow. Sure, I liked certain cuts, but I put it away for a long time. Of course I eventually realized its greatness. What's wrong with mellow?

If you're checking out this reissue, you probably know the album, so I'll get to the extras (32 of 'em!). First off, the original album has only twelve songs but they recorded about twice as many. Some were released as b-sides, including "Harness Your Hopes" and "No Tan Lines" which are a few of Pavements best songs, though they never made it to an album (along with "Unseen Power Of The Picket Fence" which can be found on the Crooked Rain reissue). "Wanna Mess You Around" is a stab of garage punk which would sit nicely next to "Serpentine Pad".

Some of the stuff that didn't make the cut has never been released, like an early creeping version of "The Hexx" and psychedelic instrumental "Beautiful As A Butterfly", had all of these been included on Brighten The Corners, it would have been a completely different beast, more akin to their earlier more chaotic sound.

Disc two features the best radio sessions I've heard from Pavement (they get quite zany), including their excellent cover of "The Killing Moon", a cover of Faust's "It's A Rainy Day Sunshine Girl" and a crazy version of "Grave Architecture" with some hilarious backing vocals by (I'm guessing) Bob Nastanovich. "Chevy" is a trippier version of "Old To Begin" that sounds like Malkmus either hadn't written the lyrics yet, or forgot every one of 'em and made up new ones on the spot.

A few other oddities included are their tribute to The Clean ("Oddity"), an extended live version of "Type Slowly" (with a kind of The Doors' "The End" guitar thing going on) that makes me really appreciate a song I never cared much for, and their performances from Space Ghost Coast To Coast from 1997 (throughout the episode Space Ghost only refers to them as The Beatles).

I'd say of all the Pavement deluxe editions so far, this one has the best extras. Even the most diehard Pavement freak probably hasn't heard all of these tracks. The original album I'd probably give three & a half stars, the extras push it to five.

"Brighten the Corners" remains Pavement's most settled, accessable rock record, but the band doesn't eschew their musical sound or their indie roots. Rather, they just polish up the howly vocals and multilayered musical arrangements, and the result is pretty mellow and pleasant.

It starts off with the intermittently bombastic "Stereo," before shifting to the mellower "Shady Lane" and uplifted sound of "Transport is Arranged." A more raw sound enters with the fun rockers "Date with IKEA" and lighthearted "Embassy Road," while a plaintive confusion arrives with "Old to Begin." The remaining songs harken back to their indie roots, with the monotone jazziness of "Blue Hawaiian" and the weirdness of "We Are Underused" and "Passat Dream." It ends on a pretty strong note with the vaguely ominous "Fin," in which Malkmus requests, "I trust you will tell me/if I am making a fool of myself..."

"Brighten the Corners" serves to connect the lo-fi scratchiness of their early work to a more polished sound. Sure, there are some cries of "sell-out." But Pavement's sound transfers to the smooth studio sound without losing its complexity or raw magic.

The guitar riffs are as good as ever, starting and stopping one moment, and whirling around Malkmus's vocals the next; the percussion is a solid backdrop. There are also some coy beepy-bleepy snatches of mellotron, as well as what sounds like a wavery flute, giving a feeling of vague vulnerability to the lost-soul-type songs.

Malkmus will never sing in the opera, but his soulful monotone is wonderfully well-suited to the music. The songs themselves have a certain feeling of confusion, as if the world is bewildering and chaotic. "I heard what you said/the leaders are dead/now they're robbing the skies/you can hear the followers cry..."

Pavement was still in solid form in "Brighten the Corners." While it may not be the best, the mix of complex rock and thoughtful singing is enough to make it another budding classic by Pavement.

These Pavement double-disc deluxe editions that are being released by Matador every 2 years are among the best reissues that I know. The gorgeous packaging, the brilliant design work, the massive booklets stuffed with interesting liner notes and photos, and the tons of extra-tracks set a new standard to the so-called deluxe editions. Brighten The Corners: Nicene Creedence Edition (love the weird sub-titles!) maintains the level.

This is my favourite Pavement album and ever since these deluxe-editions started coming out I had been waiting for its turn.

Brighten The Corners is Pavement's strongest and most consistent album. All these are good "proper" songs. There is no fooling around with thrown away ideas or silly jams. I understand that those are natural ingredients of the Pavement sound, but Wowee Zowee surely needed a bit more editing and quality control. And don't get it wrong, this is far from shinny and polished, this is still 100% low-fi indie rock as according to Pavement. The band still indulges here and there but overall things are much more in control.

Highlights include the college rock hit 'Stereo' with its bumpy bass line and explosive chorus, the catchy 'Shady Lane' and - a personal favourite and my favourite Scott Kannberg song - the chiming urgent 'Date with IKEA' with its byrdsian guitar all over. The album has a double grand finale with two slow-moving ballads 'Starlings Of The Slipstream' and 'Fin' that feature extended epic guitar abuse by Malkmus with loads of feedback and over-bent strings.

Of the 30-plus bonus tracks you can expect the usual treat. Excellent, interesting, funny, pointless, we get a bit of everything. But there are some standout tracks. The embryonic 'The Hexx', then called 'And Then', is as much powerful as it is underdeveloped. The instrumental 'Beautiful As A Batterfly', 'Westie Can Drum', 'Harness Your Hopes', 'Destroy Mater Dei', 'The Classical'.... are all great additions to this album.

The 50-page booklet features a long essay that deals more with the importance of nonsense lyrics in rock songs and, particularly, in Pavement. It's a very interesting text that runs for several pages until it arrives at Brighten The Corners just at closing time. But I miss a bit of historic context in the liner notes - the recording process, what the band was going through.

For the first time in these re-issues, there are no words by Stephen Malkmus or any of the band members or people involved on the making of the record. This brings back the idea that this album is so under-appreciated, probably even by the band - something that really puzzles me.

On first listen, the songs on Brighten the Corners seem to blend together into an extended mid-tempo ballad. Certainly, it lacks some of the dynamism and punch of Slanted and Enchanted or Crooked Rain. Give it a few listens, though, and the album creeps up on you with its own quirky combination of serene ballads (Type Slowly, Shady Lanes, Old To Begin) and spaced-out anthems (Stereo, Embassy Row). Brighten The Corners' mellow production was a bit of a shock to longtime fans (as you can tell from other reviews), but beneath the R.E.M. like production is Pavement at their ironic, lovely best.