The ‘slacker-rock’ label attributed to nineties alt-icon act Pavement has always been something of a poor fit: a combination of music journalists as lazy as they claimed Pavement to be, the title to the Richard Linklater film that helped start the decade’s independent film movement, and an off-hand comment by Beavis & Butthead. But there was something to the term, a combination of indie-rock and lazy, hazy jam sessions that the band was known to dip into, especially live (and wasted). And with Matador’s deluxe edition, two-disc re-release of the sometimes forgotten about Brighten the Corners, one can kind of see what ‘slacker-rock’ meant.
Brighten the Corners was, in many ways, Pavement’s most successful full-length: released after not only the breakthrough duo of Slanted & Enchanted and Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, but also after the somewhat disappointingly received Wowee Zowee, Brighten was a more straightforward record. In fact, it included the band’s two most successful singles, “Stereo” and “Shady Lane”, right at the start, and the pair still successfully show off the twin sides of Pavement: the indie-meander of “Stereo” is peppered with classic lyrics (“What about the voice of Geddy Lee? / How did it get so high? / Does he speak like an ordinary guy?” / “I know him, and he does.” / “And you’re my fact-checkin’ cous’…”), while “Shady Lane” brings a touching beauty to their laid-back atmosphere (on the re-release, the track is combined with following instrumental, “J Vs. S”).
While no other song on Brighten quite matches those first two, they’re all strong, right up to finisher “Fin”. They also often display a meandering jam that was at the heart of whatever ‘slacker-rock’ was. Sometimes that’s at the forefront, like with the relaxed but interesting “Transport Is Arranged” or “We Are Underused”. Other times its laid within an air of autumnal sadness, such as “Old to Begin”, “Type Slowly”, or enders “Starlings of the Slipstream” and “Fin”. “Blue Hawaiian” is more restrained, even ‘cool’, while the preceding “Embassy Row” brings out a more rockin’ side as it smacks & crashes with a kick-ass guitar solo.
Their second-to-last full-length, Brighten the Corners is also the last LP to feature any songs written by guitarist Scott Kannberg (a.k.a. ‘Spiral Stairs’). While he and singer/guitarist Stephen Malkmus (a.k.a. ‘S.M.’) started the band together in Stockton, California, Malkmus quickly took the lead in writing and singing (as well as kicking out their first – and notoriously unreliable – drummer, Gary Young). Much ink has been spilled over Malkmus’ supposed increasingly autocratic and centralizing tendencies during Pavement’s lifetime, sometimes of dubious veracity, but it is definitely the case that Malkmus basically refused to include any Kannberg-written material on the band’s following and final full-length, Terror Twilight. And with Kannberg’s strong “Date w/ IKEA” and “Passat Dream” on Brighten, one feels that was a disservice. The two tracks are ‘brighter’ than the rest of the Corners, but hold up well, especially the catchy “Passat”, and help prove that Kannberg was an underappreciated member of the band.
Brighten the Corners: Nicene Creedence Edition is Matador’s fourth expanded Pavement re-release, following 2006’s Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels Edition (QRO review), 2004’s Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain: LA’s Desert Origins, and 2002’s Slanted & Enchanted: Luxe & Reduxe (so expect Terror Twilight: Farewell Horizontal Edition – it’s original title – or the like in 2010…). Like previous deluxe editions, Brighten includes over thirty tracks of bonus material, this time split amongst outtakes, b-sides, and radio sessions. While stronger than the extras on Wowee, the grab-bag of stuff still doesn’t match up to the interesting early material found on the first two deluxe re-issues.
Of the bonus tracks, clearly the strongest is the b-sides, especially the two to “Spit On a Stranger” (which actually was a later single, but included on Nicene Creedence as they were recorded and mixed during the Brighten sessions): “Harness Your Hopes” and “Roll with the Wind”. “Harness” is a relaxed Pavement classic every bit as strong as “Stereo”, including classic Malkmus lyrics (“Show me / a word that rhymes with Pavement / and I won’t kill your parents / and roast them on a spit”), while “Roll” is catchy, jumpy, and single-worthy in its own right. Of the b-sides to “Stereo” and “Shady Lane”, best are the slacker-grand expanse of “Winner of the” (from “Stereo”), and the speedy, excitable jam-jangle of “Wanna Mess You Around” (from “Shady Lane”).
But most of the b-sides, and pretty much all of the outtakes, are proto-jams that might have been fun to record, but certainly didn’t belong on Brighten proper. And much the same can be said of the BBC Radio sessions (including with the late, legendary John Peel), though there are a few exceptions. Most notable are two covers that would later find their way onto the Major Leagues EP: Echo & The Bunnymen’s “Killing Moon”, a classic in its own right (QRO’s Music of the Spheres) and often covered, is wonderfully moving, while The Fall’s “The Classical” is winning, if sloppy. A few live renditions, like “Type Slowly” from Tibetan Freedom Concert compilation, stand up strong, but most get a little too jammy. So do most of the pseudo-originals, though “Neil Hagerty Meets Jon Spencer in a Non-Alcoholic Bar” is a true blues explosion, and concluding pair “Space Ghost Theme I & II” are as non-linear as that Adult Swim classic (though do lack the cartoon talk show host’s introduction from the Space Ghost DVD, from where they originated, “Ladies and gentlemen… The Beatles!”).
When Pavement fans look back, Brighten the Corners often gets forgotten in their rockography: Slanted was the breakthrough, Crooked Rain the non-slumping sophomore release, Wowee the inscrutable, underappreciated-in-its-day album, and Terror the sad finish. If anything, Brighten gets lumped as an in-between output, or even the band’s ‘commercial’ one. It is true that the record isn’t as focused as other releases, and probably helped cement the ‘slacker-rock’ (mis)label (and presaged the jam-band direction Stephen Malkmus would later go, solo and with The Jicks – QRO live review) – but the record is strong nonetheless.
