terror twilight

jesus, atp is starting to sell out already and they have announced no other acts

listening

such a great record

interesting full-circle level to it: godrich's production is basically adding a level of highbrow worked-over grot insted of the actual accidental grot of the early stuff

rocks in the old man sense of 'rocks': is propulsive and rhythmic, good chemistry; not rocks in the sense of 'it is loud and fast'. i mean it rocks like jefferson airplane or whatever

"your kiss like a rock but you know i need it anyway" etc etc i could quote a lot of malkmus but you all know how it works. anyway is the focus on this sort of thing* why ppl think it sounds like a first malkmus solo album?

*by which i mean 'admitted emotional referents'

nb. malkmus hasn't actually released any solo albums, so i'm kind of confused whenever people try that one

"Carrot Rope"'s arrangement was beyond Malk until 2003, so the argument that TT is an unofficial solo album mystifies me.

I'm hearing this as a really nice Abbey Road kinda sendoff.. lots of good stuff on here.

So I read that Perfect Sound Forever book over the weekend, and they had Noel Goodrich's song sequence. Apparently, he was surprised that the album producer didn't get to pick the track order.

1.) Ground Beef/Platform Blues
2.) The Hex
3.) You Are the Light
4.) Jesus in Harlem/Cream of Gold
5.) Ann
6.) Folk Jam
7.) Major Leagues
8.) Terror Twilight/Speak, See, Remember
9.) Carrot Rope
10.) Shaghag (dropped noise thing)
11.) Billie
12.) Spit on a Stranger

I'm kinda down with it starting out with Platform Blues, but I think in the end, Spiral knew what he was doing.

Might have been a more interesting-sounding record. Think that sequencing might actually work.

Still wanna know what SS's sequence was for a 12-track Wowee Zowee.

isn't that in that book too? or am i imagining it.

It mentioned it, but didn't list it.

still no word on what's going to be on the terror twilight reissue? would be cool if there were godrich-free early versions of these songs.

Godrich ruined this record

i don't mind godrich too much, but he seems wholly unnecessary here.

if there were a poll of producer/performer mismatches I would put this somewhere near the top

speaking of that perfect sound forever book, there's a funny bit about the TT sessions where it says that Godrich never learned Bob Nastanovich's name...

wonder if there would've been a good producer fit for pavement? Obv they got Mitch Easter, but he didn't really do all that much to the sound, I don't think.

David Briggs

i think david briggs would've scared pavement.

you say that like it's a bad thing

yeah maybe not they probably were not scared by nigel godrich. i guess briggs did that royal trux record, so it could have happened had briggs live long enough!

this is a band whose virtues were fuzzy edges and elliptical gestures, hiring a cold-blooded British robot that likes things sleek and shiny was a total head-slapping moment. Godrich's favorite record production job is Hunky Dory for chrissakes

Man, the live versions, and even the 7" version of The Hexx sound so much heavier than the album version.

godrich's second best production work imo

(#1 is the silver sun debut)

Cream Of Gold is underrated I reckon

whn's the redux out?

did the band know they were about to break up when they made this record? i remember every review of it at the time mentioned malkmus going solo. whatebs i still enjoy it quite a bit. "folk jam" "spit on a stranger" "major leagues" and "my dreams are beige" are all great.

"spit on a stranger" from the original tracklisting woulda been a great swansong. shame they had to change it.

What's My Dreams Are Beige?

Cream of Gold, I suppose.

Finding myself enjoying this record more than I did initially. Ann Don't Cry/Billie/Speak, See, Remember are closer to b-sides than anything, and no great producer could have saved that uninspired sequence, in my opinion. The rest is pretty good/excellent.

no great producer could have saved that uninspired sequence

agree w this. some terrible lyrics in these too

brighten the corners completely opened up to me after 7 listens or so.. this one not so much. second side is not good. "cream of gold" has a good riff. if i had to pick one, it'd be "you are a light".

"ann don't cry" was really really good when i saw them live on the TT tour, though, really pastoral kind of grateful dead vibe.

"Folk jam" all the way for me. I enjoy the buildups, jamming, and singing.

A personal go to.

"You are a light" for my least favorite song. All around good album imo, not sure why ppl hate on it so much.

because Nigel Godrich is horrible and half the songs suck

fuck it, I'm not going to defend this album. I'm not head over heels for it but I have enjoyed it from time to time over the years.

yes but do you believe in leprechauns

i remember being overly bummed out at the digital delay/pitch shifting on "the hexx", like 'ick gross, stick with the tube amps and such'

haha is the first verse of Billie a dig at Jeff Mangum or is that overreaching

I don't know whether I've listened to this since I did upthread but I am listening now and it is still effectively poignant and shit

musically the godrich noises at the end of the hexx do nothing for me but they work ~~conceptually~~ so

people overhate on this record, it's fine if uninspired

it feels like such an odd mismatch of band/producer i just wonder if it would've worked any better with a different producer

"Billie" is fine, knaves.

love the lyric 'sue the fortune-teller, rue the rising tide'

it's fine if uninspired

with friends like these

it feels like such an odd mismatch of band/producer i just wonder if it would've worked any better with a different producer

― some dude, Monday, July 7, 2014 4:46 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

or NO producer, as they had on every previous album

i remember being overly bummed out at the digital delay/pitch shifting on "the hexx", like 'ick gross, stick with the tube amps and such'

― brimstead, Monday, July 7, 2014 3:58 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yes! the version on the carrot rope 7" is so dope

i was trading tapes of Pavement shows back then and The Hexx seemed to be an absolute beast when they were playing it live ahead of the release of TT. it got neutered in the studio, tho.

just listened to this album for the first time in, i don't know, a dozen years? it might actually be worse than i remember. little bits of good here and there, but mostly pretty forgettable.