To Dolan's list of rock n' roll bands that got better over time, counter to the prevailing Romantic idea equating quality with origin-ality, I was going to add Pavement. I remember selling Westing (by musket and sextant) back to that snooty CD shop in Iowa City because it just seemed like the noisy flailings of a bunch of smart-ass kids who had recently encountered some musical instruments. They exhibited that sense that they knew they had genius in them because they could feel it oozing out of their pores.
Almost a decade on, after everyone else was done with them, I caught up with the later Brighten the Corners, and thought it was fantastic.
So when the deluxe 2 CD edition of Slanted & Enchanted came out in 2002, I eagerly put down my $18.99 for an actual hard copy, but when I put it on I could not get past track 5. Back on the rack it went, for years. Once in a while I would get it out just to admire the deluxe should-have-been-there booklet, tucked along with the CD into a slipcase which ran an emboss over the original artwork's brushstroked title.
But just the other day I finally ripped both CDs to iTunes and put it on the iPod, and listened to both disks straight through several times in a row. It's a beautiful mess.
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I agree completely that "Westing" sucks. I am currently working through the deluxe editions of Wowee Zowee and Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain. It just occurred to me that there will probably be a deluxe version of Brighten the Corners, that's cool, but that will probably be the last one, since by Terror Twilight they pretty much returned to their roots (sucking.)
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