Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Greatness, December 9, 2008
This review is from: Brighten the Corners: Nicene Creedence Edition (Audio CD)
If you are a big Pavement fan, you should definately pick up this one. The price is good, the extras plentiful and the remastered sound excellent. If you are new to Pavement and don't own it yet, then buy this expanded edition immediately! The original album has aged very well. From the opener Stereo to closer Fin, it may be their most consistent effort, though not necessarily their most brilliant. It is sort of like a refined version of Wowee Zowee with the most difficult and sloppy parts removed, which can be a good or bad thing depending on your perspective. Either way, I love it for the quality of the melodies, the guitar parts, and the hilarious non-sensical lyrics. The extra songs on this expanded version are hit and miss as is to be expected, but they put this album in its proper context and actually improve the overall impact of the album. I'm not a Pavement B-sides collector so I'd never heard the extra tunes before - taken as a whole the extra songs seem more light-hearted and upbeat than the somewhat deliberate and mellow songs on the original album. There are many good ones here, including Roll With the Wind, And then (the Hexx), Slowly Typed (coutryfied version), No Tan Lines, and the Killing Moon, among others. In short, Brighten the Corners: Nicene Creedence Edition is an example of how delux reissues should be done.
|
|
|
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good Value, Lousy Mastering, December 27, 2008
This review is from: Brighten the Corners: Nicene Creedence Edition (Audio CD)
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.
|
|
|
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
an old family favorite..., January 13, 2009
This review is from: Brighten the Corners: Nicene Creedence Edition (Audio CD)
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.
|
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best pavement CD
A great CD set, wished I would have bought it years ago. Lot's of extra tracks on this 2 CD set.
Published 5 months ago by John O. Fazenbaker IV
|
|
5.0 out of 5 stars
there's a 6th pavement album in here!
I like the original quite a bit, but it has a certain darkened mood to it, dominated by transport is arranged, type slowly, and fin, that could be offputting if you never wanted...
Published 5 months ago by Kevin J. Zahnle
|
|
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's Pavement, what do you expect?
First off, let it be known that I have been a fan of Pavement since their first album. I have seen them numerous times on tour during the nineties.
Published 14 months ago by Greg Kinne
|
|
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nice Edition To The Pavement Collection
i replaced my original cd and all the cd singles with this double cd. any Pavement fan will not be disappointed with this.
Published 17 months ago by Mutronium
|
|
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best reissue of 2008
Every two years since 2002 Matador Records has cashed in on what has become their flagship band, 90s indie-rock outfit Pavement, by reissuing a cleaned up and expanded version one...
Published 18 months ago by Gregory W. Locke
|
|
1.0 out of 5 stars
too bad
Pavement's genre might be described as punk or "angry white boy". The lyrics are rather intriguing when read but Stephen Malkmus' vocal range of two notes (both of which strain...
Published 20 months ago by Linda J. Hixon
|
|
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wah. I'm old.
I remember when I first listened to this CD. I thought that it was their best album. I continue to believe that it's their best album, and I have awaited this special edition's...
Published 21 months ago by Patrick Gowdy
|
|
5.0 out of 5 stars
What about the voice of Geddy Lee?
I have bought every Pavement reissue so far despite owning all of the original CD's. I think this speaks to the high quality of these re-releases...
Published 21 months ago by Daniel E. Fox
|
|
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pavement's best gets the treat.
These Pavement double-disc deluxe editions that are being released by Matador every 2 years are among the best reissues that I know.
Published 21 months ago by Joao Nunes
|
|
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brightened up
"Brighten the Corners" remains Pavement's most settled, accessable rock record, straddling the divide between their cleaner early sound, and the more out-there later work...
Published 21 months ago by E. A Solinas
|
|