Regardless, Paul's Boutique is a great record. The backing tracks are completely brilliant and would probably be great all on their own. The Boys' lyrics are typically silly (but amazingly clever) and their hyper-energetic tag-team delivery on top of those dense tracks just makes my head spin. While you're trying to figure out that lyrical reference or nail down that one sample, five more good ones have come and gone. There's so much good stuff going on.

The music often sounds like a ramshackle psychedelic marching band, careening and wheezing, spinning, thundering behind Jeff Mangum's howling vocals. Other times it's Mangum singing with just an acoustic guitar (this is where the Barrett influence is most pronounced). Either way, Mangum's lyrics are the focus. While I don't think NMH has ever claimed that this is a "rock-opera", the songs do seem to form a narrative of sorts. Or, at the very least, there's enough shared imagery and common themes (in the words and the music) that one can't help but assume there's a story behind all of it. His words are vague and opaque, but as I hear it, this record is a story about children in Europe during WWII (Anne Frank, in particular), the death of family, the afterlife. So, alternately sad and uplifting.

It's best to hear this one all at once, too. The story I've constructed for it, though vague, and dark, is beautiful. And everything on the record seems crafted towards telling it. So, I want to hear it all.

Or maybe it's all in my head. (Well, of course it is. This is music appreciation: it's going to be all in my head either way.)

After the more experimental and often difficult "Wowee Zowee", this one sounds like an attempt to make a commercially-viable record. The sound is polished and the songs are tight (by Pavement standards). Melodies are up-front, and the distracting noises are kept to a minimum. The only problem is that sometimes the songs sound a bit uninspired, compared to earlier records. The better songs are very good, but don't rise to the awesomeness of their best. It's the sound of a band running out of steam. But, since it's Pavement, their B-level material is still special.

CBJE was a band like no other. While their later records went towards more of a country/western sound, their early sound was a truly unique blend of blues, jazz, rock and country, expertly played, with absurdly clever lyrics delivered in a gentle deadpan. Horns, vibes, guitars, drums, etc.. Many of CBJE's songs are based on a structure where the full band plays a melody in unison for a couple of bars, then the band sits back and there are a couple bars of vocals, then back to the melody and repeat. That, with the drummer's two-beat style, gives them a distinctive mechanical feel. But not mechanical like Pinback, mechanical like a demented player piano. Very fun. The precision music + absurd lyrics makes for a sort of Zappa or Beefheart sensibility - intelligent and ironic, silly on top of serious. Though really, CBJE sounded nothing like either of them.

It appears this is the first record, thus far, to have more wins than losses.

Nirvana gets all the credit for popularizing the Pixies' loud/soft/loud dynamics, but this album is all about the quiet verse / loud chorus, came out before Nevermind, and it doesn't sound anything like the Pixies. Hell, Jane's was doing it before the Pixies put out their first record. [Stomps foot. Punches Firefox.]