FRESH PAVEMENT
A Roundtable Discussion

by the DAA Staff

Editor's Note: This issue, we're trying something different: a "roundtable" discussion of an album. In light of the fact the DAA staff is scattered throughout the country, the roundtable was conducted via e-mail, and the dialogue took place over several weeks.

PETER GORMAN: I've listened to Terror Twilight four times now, and I'm surprised that I can't recall any of the melodies. It's probably as melodic as any Pavement record, but nothing's sticking. Perhaps it's the absence of riffs? It resembles Brighten the Corners quite a bit, though it's even more subdued. I listened to a bit of Brighten the Corners just now, and my early take is that this is a good record but not as good as their last, but it's still early in the game (3rd inning or so). It seems like a record that holds together well, and one that I will keep wanting to hear.

I've read a few dismissive comments that this is a Malkmus solo album, but I hear a band that swings like solo acts never could. Malkmus apparently wrote all the songs and definitely sings them all, but hey that's what he does best. I don't miss the absence of any Spiral Stairs contributions (Some of his past ones being "Hit the Plane Down," "Western Homes," "Date with Ikea"), mainly because I don't think much of his vocals, whereas I think Malkmus has a great rock and roll voice. Hearing the same voice on every song helps contribute to the easy flow of the record. Whether he gives himself anything to sing about is another matter.

Overall I enjoy Terror Twilight, though I'm a little disturbed by the fact that part of the first song, "Spit on a Stranger", reminds me of "Mr. Bojangles." Perhaps you are familiar with that old chestnut? I think it's by Harry Chapin [ed. note: research later revealed the author as Jerry Jeff Walker]. I wonder if Malkmus intended it that way. On the last album he nicked the riff from Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Tuesday's Gone" for "We Are Underused", and borrowed the mellotron sound from "Strawberry Fields Forever" for "Transport is Arranged," and who knows what else. He also name dropped Geddy Lee (actually dropped kicked), so it's not a stretch that he's deliberately citing schlock rock from the 70s on the new record. The odd thing is that I haven't been humming anything from Terror Twilight over the last two days, but I have been humming "Mr. Bojangles." I'm not at all happy about this.

ROB BROOKMAN: Based on early reviews and sound snippets I'd heard online, I expected a fairly mid-tempo album with a heavy debt to Brighten the Corners. Mid-tempo it is, but I also hear a suprising amount of Wowee Zowee. Not to say Terror Twilight is anywhere near as brilliantly messy as Wowee, but the song structures aren't as consistently four-square as Brighten, either.

Which for my money is a good thing. I'd still rank Brighten the Corners at the bottom of their amazingly consistent output, if for no other reason than the songs ingratiated themselves so fast. Over time, I've come to favor albums like Slanted and Enchanted and Wowee Zowee, each of which took awhile to reveal their hooks.

So while you seem to rate Terror Twilight's low hummability quotient as a concern, I'll call it a cause for optimism. I do, however agree with you about the band. They just sound great, better than ever, in fact. Low-fi has its place, to be sure, but when a band turns out to play this well together, go for the gusto, I say.

TIM FROMMER: I was nodding my head in agreement with Pete's opening comment, until I realized, I can't hum any Pavement songs. But the gist for me is that after a few spins, Terror Twilight is pretty unmemorable and unremarkable.

And whither Spiral Stairs? I thought he was the Lee Ranaldo of the band, contributing one or two nuggets per release. His near vocal absence and moderated guitar noodling are missed.

A brief disclaimer may be in order: I'm far from a Pavement-o-phile. I only have two of their other releases and absolutely loved Brighten the Corners. This band sounds best when they R-O-C-K and the slow-to-mid-tempo S.M. solo record this seems to be goes against that grain. "Cream of Gold" is certainly the cream of the crop. The rest glitters like pyrite for me at the moment.

BURT GLASS: As a well-recognized proponent of hummability, I must say that I found much of Terror Twilight eminently hummable - more certainly than Brighten the Corner or Wowee Zowee. "Carrot Rope" is a gift, and would be No. 1 right now if Cher were on guest lead vocal. "Spit on a Stranger" is almost its equal in the catchy department, two bookends to an album from a band fully in command of its art and identity.

Okay, Terror Twilight sagged a bit in places. "The Hexx," just droned on, and the chorus for "Billie" is miserable. But on the whole, the songwriting is as complete as this band has ever mustered for an entire CD.

No discussion about Pavement is complete with a word about the production: I'm in the camp that low-fi slop can hold back a band's creativity as well as release it. As with Brighten the Corners, Terror Twilight proves that Pavement has been liberated.

PETER: No question that lo-fi production limits the sound of a band like Pavement, because these boys can play. By the way I haven't played Terror Twilight in weeks. Should I take this as a sign? I say this as a fan of their more streamlined (conventional) records, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain and Brighten the Corners. I like the record, but I'm surprised that I don't like it more. Maybe it's the approaching Apocalypse that's getting me down.

ROB: If there's consensus in this discussion, I think it's this: Terror Twilight lacks peaks. Like all other Pavement LPs, it has disarmingly oddball moments, can't-get-them-out-of-your-head hooks, and some truly lovely melodies. But there's nothing nearly as thrilling as, say, Malkmus bellowing, "Hey, listen to me, I'm on the stereo!"

Unlike Pete, I'm still playing the album quite a bit, despite the flurry of new CDs that followed it into the stores. And every time, I'm taken by the little things: surprising tempo shifts, a great but understated guitar line and Malkmus' masterful vocals on "Major Leagues." The little things make a difference, certainly. But in the end, I miss those unexpected moments of catharsis, and I think their absence here - despite the overall strength of the songs - is why so many people feel vaguely dissatisfied with the record.

TIM: Rob, you've nailed it. But for me, the sum of small pleasures doesn't overcome the general blandness of it all. There isn't a cathartic "woo-hoo" anywhere, nor a couplet as laughingly poetic as the "fact-checkin' cuz" moment from "Stereo." I haven't had it in the CD player since the roundtable last hit my place setting. Blame that on equal parts lack of need and a slew of new goodies I've acquired. While it's still physically in the vicinity of my stereo, once it gets relegated to the CD shelf, I fear I may forget about it.

BURT: The wonderful expectation with the arrival of a new Pavement album is its revealing nature over time. Not that these guys are weaving art-rawk, with some deeper meaning or anything. (We'll leave that to Radiohead.) Rather, Pavement rewards a little work and patience on the part of the listener, and that's a good thing. And this from the chief advocate for hooks! Whatever. Terror Twilight served up enough songwriting craft on the initial listen to keep me coming back.

PETER: Perhaps it's the similarity between Terror Twilight and Pavement's last album that renders it a mild disappointment for some of us. Each previous record was distinctly different from its predecessor, but Terror Twilight definitely resembles the softer textures of Brighten the Corners, only without that album's occasional rocking eruptions that we all seem to miss.

But disappointment is a matter of expectations, and a chorus of disappointed fans has greeted every new Pavement album since Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, though most of these fans later came back to celebrate those same records that, as Burt noted, revealed themselves over time. I'm willing to wait. Our expectations are high for each Pavement record because they've rewarded us so well in the past, even if at first we barely noticed.

Is Pavement the best band of the 90s? The very fact that this question gets asked is what makes some rock fans scoff at the quality of the decade's music. If Pavement is the best out there, they say, then there's not much out there. It's much easier to understand and accept Nirvana's title as the decade's finest, with their dramatic sound and Cobain's slightly-off-center melodic sense; even if you never cared for Nirvana, you could understand their appeal. But Pavement? If you don't like Pavement, you wonder what all the fuss is about. Yet in a way Pavement is the flip side of Nirvana, the somewhat obtuse and subtler (if not always softer) side of 90s rock. I won't be the one to make the case that Malkmus is or will ever be the equal of Cobain, but Pavement has made some of the decade's best music, and in any decade that's a major league compliment.