Wowee Zowee

Wowee Zowee
Studio album by Pavement
Released April 11, 1995
Recorded November 14–24, 1994, Easley Recording Studios, Memphis, Tennessee
February 10–14, 1995, Random Falls Studio, New York
December 2–5, 1994 and January 2–5, 1995, Speed Mix Studio[1]
Genre Indie rock
Length 55:51
Label Matador
Producer Pavement
Pavement chronology
Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
(1994)Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain1994		 Wowee Zowee
(1995)		 Brighten the Corners
(1997)Brighten the Corners1997
Singles from Wowee Zowee
  1. "Rattled by the Rush"
    Released: March 1995
  2. "Father to a Sister of Thought"
    Released: June 20, 1995

Wowee Zowee is the third studio album by American indie rock band Pavement. The album showcased a more experimental and spontaneous side of the group, returning them to the clatter and unpredictability of their early recordings after the more traditional rock sound of 1994's Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain.

Rolling Stone speculated that the relative success of their previous album (having sold 169,000 copies by this time) was a reason for this album's eclectic nature; the magazine's review claimed Pavement were afraid of success. Stephen Malkmus refuted this, saying that, while his judgment may have been clouded by excessive marijuana usage, the songs "sounded like hits" to him. Rolling Stone later voted Wowee Zowee the 12th Coolest Album of all time.

Matador Records released an expanded 2 disc edition of this album under the title Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels Edition on November 6, 2006, which featured extensive liner notes, outtakes and b-sides.[2]

Recording

The songs "Grounded," "Flux = Rad," "Pueblo," and "Kennel District" were originally written at the same time as the songs that became Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, and rough versions appear on Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain: LA's Desert Origins disc 2.

The album was recorded at Easley Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, with the exception of some tracks recorded at Random Falls, a recording studio in New York.

Title and cover art

Title

The album's title is an homage to former drummer Gary Young, who would frequently yell "Wowee zowee!" when excited.[3] The phrase also notably dates to Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention's 1966 album Freak Out!, which also displayed the album title in a cartoon speech balloon and featured a track titled "Wowie Zowie".

Dick-Sucking Fool at Pussy-Licking School (conceived by Bob Nastanovich) was briefly considered as a potential album title, but discarded after being considered too risque by the rest of the band.[4] Nevertheless, the phrase is included in the album's booklet art. The would-be title was a nod to the Rolling Stones' Cocksucker Blues.[4]

Artwork

The cover art was painted by New York-based artist Steve Keene. The painting is a copy of a photograph originally found in Life Magazine's 1972 World Library title The Arab World, which depicted two sitting women, dressed in dark robes.[5] To their right stands a dark colored goat with curled horns. Omitted from Keene's copy of the photograph is a girl in a tan dress holding a baby, stationed between the two sitting women.[5] The caption below the original photo reads, "A midday rest is enjoyed by three Arab women and a goat on an arbor-shaded porch. Fellahin women often wear black robes over their other clothing."[5]

Malkmus picked the artwork from a stack of 50 or more works that Keene produced during a live painting session at one of his exhibitions.[5] Malkmus chose the piece due to its resemblance to Guru Guru's 1972 album, Känguru an album cover that he had always admired.[6]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[7]
Chicago Tribune[8]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[9]
Los Angeles Times[10]
Q[11]
Rolling Stone[12]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[13]
Select4/5[14]
Spin7/10[15]
The Village VoiceA[16]

From contemporary reviews, Select gave the album a rating of four out of five, stating that there's "plenty of Pavement's lazy elegance" particularly when the elegiac sweeps of 'We Dance' recall 'Hunky Dory'".[14] The Guardian gave a negative review, stating that it "probably helps to be a 15-year-old boy to appreciate Pavement" and that the group does not "release albums so much as in-jokes and their fourth continues the tradition."[17] The review concluded that Malkmus' "monotone occasionally gives way to a pained little yips" and Spiral Stairs "sometimes hits on a lifting melody, but mostly he sounds as confused as his colleagues."[17]

As of 2010, the original version of Wowee Zowee had sold 129,000 copies, and the reissue had sold 32,000 copies. These numbers are a notable drop-off from their previous release, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, which sold 246,000 of the original and 75,000 of the reissue.[18]

Legacy

In 2010, author Bryan Charles wrote a book about the album as part of the 33⅓ book series, in which he interviews all members of Pavement, as well as Matador Records founders Gerard Cosloy and Chris Lombardi.

The indie rock band Boat parodied the album's cover art, among several others, on its 2011 release Dress Like Your Idols.

Jason Lytle included Pavement's "Motion Suggests" when he compiled Artist's Choice—Below the Radio, a various artists collection. That song's actual title, "Motion Suggests Itself", was incorrectly listed on Wowee Zowee due to a transcription error and was not corrected until the expanded reissue eleven years later.

Track listing

All tracks written by Stephen Malkmus, except where noted.

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."We Dance" 3:01
2."Rattled by the Rush" 4:16
3."Black Out" 2:10
4."Brinx Job" 1:31
5."Grounded" 4:14
6."Serpentine Pad" 1:16
7."Motion Suggests Itself" 3:15
8."Father to a Sister of Thought" 3:30
9."Extradition" 2:12
10."Best Friend's Arm" 2:19
11."Grave Architecture" 4:16
12."AT&T" 3:32
13."Flux = Rad" 1:45
14."Fight This Generation" 4:22
15."Kennel District"Scott Kannberg2:59
16."Pueblo" 3:25
17."Half a Canyon" 6:10
18."Western Homes"Kannberg1:49
Total length:55:51

Personnel

Adapted from the album liner notes.[1]

  • Stephen Malkmus – vocals, guitar, mixing
  • Bob Nastanovich – percussion, vocals
  • Scott Kannberg – vocals, guitar
  • Steve West – drums, percussion
  • Mark Ibold – bass
  • Doug Easley – pedal steel guitar ("Father to a Sister of Thought"); engineer
  • Sibel Firat – cello ("Fight This Generation")
  • Davis McCain – engineer
  • Mark Venezia – engineer
  • Bryce Goggin – mixing
  • Jan BL – mixing
  • Rich Costey – mixing
  • Gregory Hull – mastering

Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels Edition

Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels Edition
Compilation album by Pavement
Released November 7, 2006
Recorded March 3, 1994–March 15, 1995
Genre Indie rock
Length 156:15
Label Matador Records
Pavement chronology
Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain: LA's Desert Origins
(2004)Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain: LA's Desert Origins2004		 Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels Edition
(2006)		 Brighten the Corners: Nicene Creedence Edition
(2008)Brighten the Corners: Nicene Creedence Edition2008
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[19]
Blender[20]
Pitchfork9.3/10[21]
Slant Magazine[22]
Stylus MagazineA+[23]

Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels Edition is a two-CD compilation album by Pavement released on November 7, 2006. It contains Wowee Zowee in its entirety, as well as 32 of the band's other songs from that era, 18 of which were previously unreleased.

Matador Records offered extra items to people who pre-ordered the reissue. Those who chose to pre-order the album received a code redeemable on the Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels Edition website for a rare recording of a live Pavement show at the Palace in Los Angeles on April 21, 1994. Also included in the pre-order deal was a free 7" record which included previously unreleased studio versions of the songs "Black Out" and "Extradition" and a poster based on a painting that artist Steve Keene originally contributed for the original release of Wowee Zowee in 1995.

The track "Motion Suggests Itself" was mistitled on the original release by the omission of its title's final word due to a transcription error. The Sordid Sentinels Edition finally rectified this mistake.

A different version of "Easily Fooled" appeared on Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain: LA's Desert Origins as "The Sutcliffe Catering Song". Also, an early version of "Brink of the Clouds" with an intro and outro appeared on the same album.

Disc one

Wowee Zowee

  1. "We Dance"
  2. "Rattled by the Rush"
  3. "Black Out"
  4. "Brinx Job"
  5. "Grounded"
  6. "Serpentine Pad"
  7. "Motion Suggests Itself"
  8. "Father to a Sister of Thought"
  9. "Extradition"
  10. "Best Friend's Arm"
  11. "Grave Architecture"
  12. "AT&T"
  13. "Flux = Rad"
  14. "Fight This Generation"
  15. "Kennel District"
  16. "Pueblo"
  17. "Half a Canyon"
  18. "Western Homes"

Wowee Zowee session outtake

  1. "Sordid"

Rattled by la Rush EP

  1. "Brink of the Clouds"
  2. "False Skorpion"
  3. "Easily Fooled"

"Father to a Sister of Thought" single

  1. "Kris Kraft"
  2. "Mussle Rock (Is a Horse in Transition)"

Pacific Trim EP

  1. "Give It a Day"
  2. "Gangsters & Pranksters"
  3. "Saganaw"
  4. "I Love Perth"

Wowee Zowee session outtake

  1. "Sentinel"

Disc two

I Shot Andy Warhol soundtrack

1. "Sensitive Euro Man"

Wowee Zowee session outtake

2. "Stray Fire"

Recorded March 3, 1994 at Hilversum, Netherlands

3. "Fight This Generation"
4. "Easily Fooled"

Wowee Zowee session with Doug Easley on piano

5. "Soul Food"

Homage to Descendents tribute album

6. "It's a Hectic World"

Steve Lamacq Evening Session (March 15, 1995)

7. "Kris Kraft"
8. "Golden Boys/Serpentine Pad"
9. "Painted Soldiers"
10. "I Love Perth"

Medusa Cyclone/Pavement split 7"

11. "Dancing with the Elders"

Recorded live at Wireless JJJ Radio in Australia (July 7, 1994)

12. "Half a Canyon"
13. "Best Friend's Arm"
14. "Brink of the Clouds/Candylad"
15. "Unfair"
16. "Easily Fooled"
17. "Heaven Is a Truck"
18. "Box Elder"

Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks compilation

19. "No More Kings"

Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy soundtrack

20. "Painted Soldiers"

Wowee Zowee session outtake

21. "We Dance" (alternate mix)

References

  1. 1 2 "Pavement – Wowee Zowee". discogs.com. Archived from the original on 2011-10-10. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
  2. ↑ "Matador Records". matadorrecords.com. Archived from the original on 2006-06-15.
  3. ↑ KEXP article: "33 1/3 Odyssey: Wowee Zowee by Bryan Charles Archived 2014-01-16 at the Wayback Machine.."
  4. 1 2 33 1/3 Series: Wowee Zowee by Bryan Charles, 2010. P. 128.
  5. 1 2 3 4 33 1/3 Series: Wowee Zowee by Bryan Charles, 2010. P. 123–124.
  6. ↑ 33 1/3 Series: Wowee Zowee by Bryan Charles, 2010. P. 127–128.
  7. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Wowee Zowee – Pavement". AllMusic. Archived from the original on June 7, 2012. Retrieved September 3, 2011.
  8. ↑ McKeough, Kevin (May 18, 1995). "Pavement: Wowee Zowee (Pavement)". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on August 17, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
  9. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-85712-595-8.
  10. ↑ Ali, Lorraine (April 9, 1995). "Pavement Develops Some Cracks". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 12, 2016. Retrieved October 11, 2016. (Subscription required (help)).
  11. ↑ "Pavement: Wowee Zowee". Q (104): 110. May 1995.
  12. ↑ Kemp, Mark (February 2, 1998). "Wowee Zowee". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on February 25, 2011. Retrieved September 3, 2011.
  13. ↑ Sheffield, Rob (2004). "Pavement". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian. The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon & Schuster. pp. 624–25. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  14. 1 2 Wilkinson, Roy (May 1995). "Pavement: Wowee Zowee". Select (59): 95.
  15. ↑ Weisbard, Eric (May 1995). "Pavement: Wowee Zowee". Spin. 11 (2): 93. Archived from the original on November 4, 2017. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
  16. ↑ Christgau, Robert (June 6, 1995). "Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Archived from the original on November 6, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
  17. 1 2 Sullivan, Caroline (April 14, 1995). "Your Essential Guide to The New CDs: Pop". The Guardian. pp. A12–A13. ISSN 0261-3077.
  18. ↑ 33 1/3 Series: Wowee Zowee by Bryan Charles, 2010. P. 141.
  19. ↑ AllMusic Review
  20. ↑
  21. ↑ "link". pitchforkmedia.com. Archived from the original on 2008-06-11.
  22. ↑ "Slant Magazine". www.slantmagazine.com. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30.
  23. ↑ "link". stylusmagazine.com. Archived from the original on 2012-05-09.
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