Pavement : ‘Quarantine The Past’
Released: Out Now!
Label: Domino Recordings
‘You’ve been humming in a daze forever/ Praying for Pavement to get back together’ sang Matt Berninger on his band’s ‘So Far Around The Bend’. Your wish, said Pavement, is our command. Over a decade since their farewell offering hit the shelves in 1999 they are truly back with ‘Quarantine The Past’, an epic 23-song compilation of their previous works released on Domino Recording.
First of all lets establish whether we should expect any bias in the coming paragraphs. I am a Pavement fan of sorts, rather flouting the suggestion that they’re a love/hate type with a sort of ‘I appreciate them but they don’t usually get a ride on my iPod’ type feel. In contrast, I vehemently dislike compilations that consist of one band. I mean, who are you kidding chaps, this is a Greatest Hits is it not? Strange product from a band seemingly at loggerheads with commercially targeted products like Greatest Hits albums, but I don’t want to enter into a politics debate so I’ll crack on and talk about this record for what it is.
We begin with ‘Gold Soundz’ in which frontman Stephen Malkmus pertinently drawls ‘you can never quarantine the past’. Indeed you cannot, and I must say when I listened to this I did think ‘it’s good to have you back’. But then, hold on, I already have this song. I’m so confused. Then it becomes clearer as ‘Frontwards’ is up next and is, like many, a song I’ve not actually heard before. In keeping with their reputation I suppose, Pavement have thrown the odd curve-ball here; this is not as I predicted earlier a Greatest Hits collection in the way we know it, it’s more a ‘look at what we could’ve released if we gave a fuck’. I like that, it’s a spirited attitude and for people like me who like but don’t love Pavement this is a nice way of hearing some of their back catalogue. There are some strong album tracks here too; ‘Unfair’, ‘Here’ and ‘Stereo’ are excellent efforts that are welcomed back with open arms, but the beauty of this for me at least is the inclusion of tracks like ‘Unseen Power Of The Picket Fence’, representing an opportunity to gaze inside the world of a Pavement fan. Heck, I might even buy a t-shirt.
The downside to this is that it’s an undeniably disjointed record; there’s no tempo to the album as a whole, no discernible transition through thought processes and we lose some of the impact of the lyrics in the swirling mystery that is the ordering of the 23-songs. But do Pavement mind? I doubt it. I’m not convinced this album will gain them a new army of fans – nor do I think it was designed to – but what it will do is garner further enthusiasm amongst their already heaving legions of fans ahead of their comeback tour. I think it’s fair to say appreciation of Pavement has snow-balled in the time they’ve spent off the pitch, so perhaps they more than most can justify returning with the same shoes on as when they departed.
In listening to this record over a few times my admiration for the band has increased; it has done the leg work for me and I feel ever-so-slightly enlightened. If you relax and don’t ask yourself the questions that surround the intention of this and just let yourself fall back into their music, you’ll come out the other side excited about their forthcoming tour. I started this by thinking Pavement are a seven-out-of-ten band so they’re going to get seven-out-of-ten for their Greatest Hits. You know what? I think Pavement might just be an eight and with that thought this album can be summed up quite succintly:
Mission accomplished.
8/10
Words: Benjamin Coley
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