Wowee Zowee (CD)

• Category:  Music  »  Rock & Pop  »  Alternative
• Format: CD   Learn more about the CD format using Tower WIKI.
• Release Date: October 29, 1996
• Label: Matador
• UPC: 744861013020
• WAPI (Tower ID): 105820535
• Average Customer Review: There are no customer reviews yet. Be the first to write a review!
• Tower.com Sales Rank: #20067 in Music (See Top 100 Music Bestsellers)
• #7246 in Rock & Pop (See Top 100 Rock & Pop Bestsellers)
• #679 in Alternative (See Top 100 Alternative Bestsellers)

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Rolling Stone (4/11/02, p.106) - Ranked #12 in Rolling Stone's "50 Coolest Records" - "...Warm, spaced-out guitar doodles; Malkmus murmurs like a surfer-dude Buddy Holly..."
Spin (5/95, p.93) - 7 (out of 10) - "...Pavement crafts the everything aesthetic into real songs....[Stephen] Malkmus, the eternal sophisticate...[is] the sexiest word-mangler in the business....Occasionally--the lyric-drunk `Rattled By The Rush,' the stuttered chorus of `AT&T'...--the results rank with Pavement's hallowed best..."
Q (5/95, p.110) - 3 Stars (out of 5) - "...Over-packed, sometimes too oblique for its own good and occasionally not that great, but it's pure Pavement."
Uncut (3/03, p.117) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Songs derail into unexpected territories....Adventurous..."
Option (7-8/95, p.127) - "...With WOWEE ZOWEE, Pavement has proven unequivocally that they will never be superstars. Not because this record isn't worthwhile, but because they are uncompromising..."
Melody Maker (12/23-30/95, pp.66-67) - Ranked #39 on Melody Maker's list of 1995's `Albums Of The Year' - "...inspired near nonsense, berserk tempo changes, wilfully obtuse hipster references and poignant, hooky, pure pop..."
Musician (7/95, p.105) - "...Pavement spent 1994 touring, and WOWEE ZOWEE benefits as a result. The rhythm section...has cohered, and plays on the album like bandmembers rather than hired hands. The group has also continued expanding their sonic repetoire....delivers on all counts..."
Village Voice (2/20/96) - Ranked #17 in the Village Voice's 1995 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll.
Mojo (Publisher) (7/95, p.114) - "...Stephen Malkmus' decision to spurn the enticing, flippant pop classic path...in favour of a nettly rummage through the sonic undergrowth, bespeaks the depth of his loyalty to the voices in his head....Heartfelt..."
NME (Magazine) (12/23-30/95, pp.22-23) - Ranked #16 in NME's `Top 50 Albums Of The Year' for 1995 - "...the wilful, askew guitar dissidence of Pavement's distant past meets their surprising melodic eloquence of CROOKED RAIN and carves out their most rewarding album yet."

Pavement: Stephen Malkmus, Robert Nastanovich, Spiral Stairs, Steve West, Mark Ibold.

Additional personnel: Doug Easley (pedal steel); Sibel Firat (cello); A. Firat.

Engineers: Doug Easley, Davis McCain, Mark Venezia.

Recorded at Easley Studios, Memphis, Tennessee in November 1994 and in Random Falls, New York in February 1995.

Pavement: SM, Mark Ibold, Spiral Stairs, Steve West, Bob Nastanovich.

Additional personnel: Doug Easley.

Recording information: Easley Recording, Memphis, Tennessee (1994 - 1995).

WOWEE ZOWEE is a knowing, minor-key discombobulation of heavy post-punk and rock experimentalism amidst a slew of expansive country-rock songs. Production-wise, it's a clean record, a step closer to the mainstream. Structure-wise, it's a step away. You can easily read this sound as a reaction to Pavement suddenly having turned into a hot commercial commodity after 1994's critically praised CROOKED RAIN, CROOKED RAIN. Pavement is now a next-big-thing that doesn't want to be one. Both in structure and lyrics, songs like "Rattled By The Rush," "Brinx Job" and "Serpentine Pad" sneer at thoughtless alt-rock careerism, even as they try to figure out a way to survive it with the soul intact.

But while it works to offend and confound listeners, Pavement can't hide a certain sheer-pop glee that has always been present in its music. "Grounded" and "Kennel District" are what you might call Pavement rock--guitarrorist pop songs that aim to challenge you sonically while injecting you with a direct pop thrill. Those songs and the acoustic "We Dance" are also perfect examples of the emotional accuracy that singer-guitarists Stephen Malkmus (who has now taken to calling himself S.M. Jenkins) and Spiral Stairs can portray. When they combine such insight with guitar sounds of the future, this best of all post-Nirvana, American rock bands flies in directions others haven't even pondered.

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