Wowee Zowee (Sordid Sentinels Edition)

Mojo - "...Stephen Malkmus' decision to spurn the enticing, flippant pop classic path...in favour of a nettly rummage through the sonic undergrowth, bespeaks the depth of his loyalty to the voices in his head....Heartfelt..." Musician - "...Pavement spent 1994 touring, and WOWEE ZOWEE benefits as a result. The rhythm section...has cohered, and plays on the album like bandmembers rather than hired hands. The group has also continued expanding their sonic repetoire....delivers on all counts..." Uncut - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Songs derail into unexpected territories....Adventurous..." Q - 3 Stars (out of 5) - "...Over-packed, sometimes too oblique for its own good and occasionally not that great, but it's pure Pavement." NME - Ranked #16 in NME's `Top 50 Albums Of The Year' for 1995 - "...the wilful, askew guitar dissidence of Pavement's distant past meets their surprising melodic eloquence of CROOKED RAIN and carves out their most rewarding album yet." Option - "...With WOWEE ZOWEE, Pavement has proven unequivocally that they will never be superstars. Not because this record isn't worthwhile, but because they are uncompromising..." Village Voice - Ranked #17 in the Village Voice's 1995 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll. Melody Maker - Ranked #39 on Melody Maker's list of 1995's `Albums Of The Year' - "...inspired near nonsense, berserk tempo changes, wilfully obtuse hipster references and poignant, hooky, pure pop..." Rolling Stone - Ranked #12 in Rolling Stone's "50 Coolest Records" - "...Warm, spaced-out guitar doodles; Malkmus murmurs like a surfer-dude Buddy Holly..." Spin - 7 (out of 10) - "...Pavement crafts the everything aesthetic into real songs....[Stephen] Malkmus, the eternal sophisticate...[is] the sexiest word-mangler in the business....Occasionally--the lyric-drunk `Rattled By The Rush,' the stuttered chorus of `AT&T'...--the results rank with Pavement's hallowed best..." Q - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Pavement's third album found them branching out stylistically....The one constant is Stephen Malkmus's pop nous, which underpins 'AT&T' to impressive effect." Spin - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Slanted and tortured slow-dissolve rockers about generational angst plus tunes that cuddle your brain." Rolling Stone - Ranked #3 in Rolling Stone's "The Top 10 Reissues Of 2006" -- "[T]here is a striking, psychedelic glow to the grind and wobble of 'Grounded' and 'Motion Suggests Itself'..." Spin - Ranked #1 in Spin's "The 10 Best Reissues of 2006" -- "The word games were never so hermetic, the guitar tangle never so dire."

With its vast array of musical styles, Wowee Zowee isn't as accessible as Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain or as immediate as the bracing, noisy pop of Slanted & Enchanted. Pavement never abandon their warped pop aesthetic, they simply expand it, incorporating elements of folk-rock, English music hall, soul, jazz, country, as well as adding asides to such contemporaries as Suede ("We Dance"), Ween ("Brinx Job"), and Stereolab ("Half a Canyon"). Alternating between majestic epics like "Grounded" and ragged narratives like "Rattled by the Rush" and "Father to a Sister of Thought," to song fragments like "Brinx Job" and the punkish "Serpentine Pad," the record might seem disjointed at first. After repeated listens, the songs play off each other, creating a dense collage of '90s rock & roll that recasts the past and present into one rich, kaleidoscopic, and blissfully cryptic world view. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine|