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''Wowee Zowee'' is the third studio album by American
indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produ ...
band Pavement, released on April 11, 1995, by
Matador Records Matador Records is an independent record label, with a roster of mainly indie rock, but also punk rock, experimental rock, alternative rock, and electronic acts. History Matador was created in 1989 by Chris Lombardi in his New York City apar ...
. Most of it was recorded at Easley Recording in
Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...
, where some members of the band had previously worked on
Silver Jews Silver Jews were an American indie rock band from New York City, formed in 1989 by David Berman alongside Pavement members Stephen Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich. Berman was the only constant band member. During the last few albums, Cassie Berm ...
' 1994 album ''
Starlite Walker ''Starlite Walker'' is the first studio album by indie rock group Silver Jews. It was released in 1994 as an LP and CD on Drag City (DC55) in America and on Domino (WIG15) in Europe. Production ''Starlite Walker'' was recorded in 1994 at Easley ...
''. The album showcases a more
experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when a ...
side of the band, marking a return to the clatter and unpredictability of their early recordings after the more accessible sound of their 1994 studio album '' Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain''. Its eclectic nature ranges from mellow yet distorted melodies to
noise Noise is unwanted sound considered unpleasant, loud or disruptive to hearing. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrations through a medium, such as air or water. The difference aris ...
and punk rock, while the lyrics generally explore humorous and cryptic themes. At nearly one hour long, ''Wowee Zowee'' is Pavement's longest studio album, filling three sides of a
vinyl record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near ...
. Side four was left blank. Upon release, ''Wowee Zowee'' received mixed reviews from critics, being generally deemed as a sloppy effort in comparison to its acclaimed predecessor. However, some reviewers highlighted its adventurous style and
Stephen Malkmus Stephen Joseph Malkmus (born May 30, 1966) is an American musician best known as the primary songwriter, lead singer and guitarist of the indie rock band Pavement. He currently performs with Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks and as a solo artist ...
' lyricism. Two songs from the album, "Rattled by the Rush" and " Father to a Sister of Thought", were released as singles in 1995, but neither were successful. Despite being notable for ruining any opportunity Pavement had to capitalize on the success of ''Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain'', ''Wowee Zowee'' has retrospectively been reappraised in highly positive terms, with ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its cov ...
'' including it in the magazine's 2020 edition of
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is a recurring opinion survey and music ranking of the finest albums in history, compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and indust ...
. A compilation containing the album in its entirety as well as B-sides and other rarities, titled '' Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels Edition'', was released in 2006.


Background and recording

''Wowee Zowee'' is the follow-up to Pavement's acclaimed second studio album '' Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain'', which was released in February 1994 and ranked No. 2 in '' The Village Voice''s
Pazz & Jop Pazz & Jop was an annual poll of top musical releases, compiled by American newspaper ''The Village Voice'' and created by music critic Robert Christgau. It published lists of the year's top releases for 1971 and, after Christgau's two-year abse ...
critics' poll. Although the band was starting to get some attention from the mainstream press, they were not interested in signing to a major label. Eight months after the release of their second album, having toured non-stop for two years, Pavement decided to record their next album at Easley Recording in
Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...
. Singer and guitarist
Stephen Malkmus Stephen Joseph Malkmus (born May 30, 1966) is an American musician best known as the primary songwriter, lead singer and guitarist of the indie rock band Pavement. He currently performs with Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks and as a solo artist ...
, percussionist
Bob Nastanovich Robert Nastanovich (born August 27, 1967) is an American musician and member of the indie rock band Pavement, as well as a former member of Silver Jews, Ectoslavia, Pale Horse Riders, and Misshapen Lodge. Early life Bob Nastanovich was born i ...
, and drummer Steve West were familiar with the place because they had already worked on
Silver Jews Silver Jews were an American indie rock band from New York City, formed in 1989 by David Berman alongside Pavement members Stephen Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich. Berman was the only constant band member. During the last few albums, Cassie Berm ...
' 1994 album ''
Starlite Walker ''Starlite Walker'' is the first studio album by indie rock group Silver Jews. It was released in 1994 as an LP and CD on Drag City (DC55) in America and on Domino (WIG15) in Europe. Production ''Starlite Walker'' was recorded in 1994 at Easley ...
'' there. Unlike previous Pavement albums, ''Wowee Zowee'' was recorded with all five members in attendance. Although the recording sessions only lasted from November 14 to 24, 1994, Pavement recorded many songs. Some were
outtake An outtake is a portion of a work (usually a film or music recording) that is removed in the editing process and not included in the work's final, publicly released version. In the digital era, significant outtakes have been appended to CD and DV ...
s from ''Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain'' that were re-recorded with better equipment, while others had already been part of the band's setlist for a year. Singer and guitarist Scott Kannberg also wrote a few songs. Previously, he would occasionally write some pieces for Malkmus to sing, but Malkmus encouraged him to sing his own songs this time. The recording sessions, which typically started at noon and ended by 10pm, were very spontaneous. According to Malkmus, "it was just sprawl, just do whatever you want, and don't worry about it fitting together. The less it fits together, the better." Pavement really enjoyed Memphis' relaxed vibe, and would often go out in between sessions to eat at barbecues and drink beer. When the recording sessions concluded, the band mixed and overdubbed the tracks at Random Falls in
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
,
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
in February 10–14, 1995, the same studio where they had recorded ''Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain''. ''Wowee Zowee'' is the only Pavement album that was entirely sequenced by Malkmus. The band ended up with more than 20 songs to choose from and originally considered the possibility of putting them all on a record. Kannberg, who had sequenced their previous albums, preferred a cohesive set of roughly 10 songs that would flow together, but Malkmus was keen to include songs that were considered B-sides by the band. Ultimately, a total of 18 songs were included on the album, filling three sides of a
vinyl record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near ...
. Side four was left blank, with an empty thought bubble printed on the label. At nearly one hour long, ''Wowee Zowee'' is Pavement's longest studio album. Malkmus explained that, in his mind, everything made sense. He also described the opening track, "We Dance", as "a little
torch song A torch song is a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love, either where one party is oblivious to the existence of the other, where one party has moved on, or where a romantic affair has affecte ...
thing", and felt that the track would work as a good introduction to the album because it would show that the band was doing something different.


Music and lyrics

''Wowee Zowee'' showcases a more
experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when a ...
side of Pavement, returning them to the clatter and unpredictability of their early recordings after the more accessible sound of ''Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain''.
Distortion In signal processing, distortion is the alteration of the original shape (or other characteristic) of a signal. In communications and electronics it means the alteration of the waveform of an information-bearing signal, such as an audio sig ...
and
feedback Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause-and-effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to ''feed back'' into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handled c ...
are often combined with mellow melodies, resulting in many songs having unusual structures and disjointed musical styles.
Noise rock Noise rock (sometimes called noise punk) is a noise-oriented style of experimental rock that spun off from punk rock in the 1980s. Drawing on movements such as minimalism, industrial music, and New York hardcore, artists indulge in extreme ...
is prevalent on some tracks, like "Serpentine Pad" and "Best Friends Arm", while "Flux = Rad" is a punk song that was described as reminiscent of
Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...
's "Territorial Pissings". The opening track "We Dance" is a ballad that features
acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...
s and piano, while " Father to a Sister of Thought" is a quasi-
alternative country Alternative country, or alternative country rock (sometimes alt-country, insurgent country, Americana, or y'allternative), is a loosely defined subgenre of country music and/or country rock that includes acts that differ significantly in style ...
song that uses a
pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all steel guitars, it can ...
. Malkmus played a
Gibson SG The Gibson SG is a solid-body electric guitar model introduced by Gibson in 1961 as the Gibson Les Paul SG. It remains in production today in many variations of the initial design. The SG (where "SG" refers to Solid-Body Guitar) Standard is Gi ...
with
P-90 The P-90 (sometimes written P90) is a single coil electric guitar pickup produced by Gibson since 1946. Gibson is still producing P-90s, and there are outside companies that manufacture replacement versions. Compared to other single coil desi ...
pickups on "Rattled by the Rush", which also features occasional
harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...
at points. Due to higher production values, the album generally lacks the
lo-fi Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate choice. The ...
aesthetic of its predecessors. Most lyrics on ''Wowee Zowee'' explore humorous and cryptic themes. Although many songs give the impression that their lyrics are nonsensical, they can unpack a meaning on further inspection. For example, "Grounded", which suggests that something bad might happen after a doctor leaves for a routine holiday while his unsupervised teenage daughter parties, can be interpreted as an account of middle class decadence. The song "Half a Canyon" mostly focuses on an over-driven guitar sound that Malkmus had never heard before. The lyrics are meaningless and were simply added for decoration; Malkmus said that he screamed so hard towards the end of the song that he scared himself. He thought that he would have an
aneurysm An aneurysm is an outward bulging, likened to a bubble or balloon, caused by a localized, abnormal, weak spot on a blood vessel wall. Aneurysms may be a result of a hereditary condition or an acquired disease. Aneurysms can also be a nidus ( ...
and decided to never scream like that again. Kannberg's "Kennel District", which was described as a fuzzy
power pop Power pop (also typeset as powerpop) is a form of pop rock based on the early music of bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds. It typically incorporates melodic hooks, vocal harmonies, an energetic performance, and ch ...
song, is considered one of the album's most accessible songs because it features a traditional verse-chorus-verse structure.


Packaging and release

The cover art for ''Wowee Zowee'' is a painting by American artist
Steve Keene Steve Keene (born 1957) is an American painter known as a prolific creator of affordable art. Early life and education Originally from Charlottesville, Virginia, Keene earned a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University and a MFA from Yale Unive ...
, who caricatured it from a photograph originally found in ''
Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energy ...
'' magazines 1972 World Library title ''The Arab World''. It depicts two Arab women and a goat. Omitted from Keene's photograph is a girl in a tan dress holding a baby, stationed between the two sitting women. 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." Malkmus saw the artwork during a live painting session at one of Keene's exhibitions. He chose the piece due to its resemblance to the front cover of Guru Guru's 1972 album ''Känguru'', one that he had always admired. The album's title is a homage to the band's former drummer Gary Young, who would frequently yell "Wowee Zowee" when excited. The phrase "Dick-Sucking Fool at Pussy-Licking School" was originally suggested by Nastanovich as a potential title for ''Wowee Zowee'', but it was discarded after being considered too risky. Nevertheless, the phrase was included in the album's booklet art. The would-be title was a nod to
the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...
' documentary film '' Cocksucker Blues''. ''Wowee Zowee'' was released on April 11, 1995, by
Matador Records Matador Records is an independent record label, with a roster of mainly indie rock, but also punk rock, experimental rock, alternative rock, and electronic acts. History Matador was created in 1989 by Chris Lombardi in his New York City apar ...
.
Big Cat Records Big Cat Records is a British independent record label. It launched around 1990 and originally specialized in industrial and noise-rock releases. Big Cat operated a US office in New York City for a few years. Integrated with V2 Records in 1996, ...
and Domino Records issued the album in Europe, Fellaheen Records released it in Australia, and
King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the t ...
and
Pony Canyon , also known by the shorthand form , is a Japanese mass media publishing company founded on October 1, 1966. The company publishes mainly physical home media on compact discs, including music, films and TV shows and video games. It is affiliate ...
released ''Wowee Zowee'' in Japan. The album peaked at number 18 on the
UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...
and number 25 on the
New Zealand Albums Chart The Official New Zealand Music Chart ( mi, Te Papa Tātai Waiata Matua o Aotearoa) is the weekly New Zealand top 40 singles and albums charts, issued weekly by Recorded Music NZ (formerly Recording Industry Association of New Zealand). The Music ...
. Malkmus chose the songs "Rattled by the Rush" and "Father to a Sister of Thought" to be released as singles on March 30 and June 27, 1995, respectively, but they were not successful. He would later recall that, while his judgment may have been clouded by excessive marijuana usage, both songs "sounded like hits" to him. To promote ''Wowee Zowee'', the band was planning to organize their own festival with fellow bands such as
Sonic Youth Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of the ...
,
the Breeders The Breeders are an American alternative rock band based in Dayton, Ohio, consisting of members Kim Deal (rhythm guitar, lead vocals), her twin sister Kelley Deal (lead guitar, vocals), Josephine Wiggs (bass guitar, vocals) and Jim Macphers ...
, and
Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his experimental and lo-fi style, and became known for creating musical colla ...
. However, after Sonic Youth was chosen to headline the
Lollapalooza Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991 but several years later made Chicago the permanent location for the annual music festival. Mu ...
music festival in the summer of 1995, they asked for Pavement to be on the bill. Performing at Lollapalooza became the highest profile appearance for the band and gave them an opportunity to earn a lot of money. In early 1996, they performed a few more shows in Australia, Japan, and the US.


Critical reception

Upon release, ''Wowee Zowee'' was met with mixed reviews from critics. ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its cov ...
'' editor Mark Kemp described it as a "scattered and sloppy" effort with "half-baked" performances by Malkmus and Kannberg. He also speculated that the relative success of ''Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain'' was a reason for the album's eclectic nature, claiming that Pavement were afraid of success. Similarly, the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'' editor Lorraine Ali called ''Wowee Zowee'' "a sloppy effort, even in Pavement terms", and concluded that the album "comes off lazy and unfinished, never attempting to reach out or connect as previous albums did". Kevin McKeough of the ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...
'' felt that the album was inconsistent, highlighting the songs "Rattled by the Rush", "Grounded", and "Kennel District" as "thrilling pleasures", but criticized Malkmus' "insufferably mannered vocals" on "Brinx Job", his "tiresome
grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock Music genre, genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington (state), Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby to ...
rant" on "Serpentine Pad", and his "gratuitous screaming" at the end of "Half a Canyon". In a very negative review, Caroline Sullivan of ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' found ''Wowee Zowee'' difficult to enjoy, stating that it "probably helps to be a 15-year-old boy to appreciate Pavement", and believed the band does not "release albums so much as in-jokes and their fourth continues the tradition". She added that Malkmus' "monotone occasionally gives way to a pained little yips" and Kannberg "sometimes hits on a lifting melody, but mostly he sounds as confused as his colleagues". ''
Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...
'' writer Eric Weisbard reacted with muted praise, noting the album's "impressively distinct range of sounds and moods", while criticizing Malkmus' unconvincing vocal delivery. He concluded that the album is best enjoyed "at a casual low volume, with little attention paid to the effort and details". Other critics were more positive. Writing for ''
CMJ New Music Monthly CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...
'', editor Michael Vazquez considered ''Wowee Zowee'' a solid and ambitious album, praising its adventurous style and Malkmus' rich lyricism, but acknowledged that several listens are required for appreciation. '' Select'' editor Roy Wilkinson felt that the album has a lot of Pavement's "lazy elegance" and compared the "elegiac sweeps" of "We Dance" to
David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
's 1971 album ''
Hunky Dory ''Hunky Dory'' is the fourth studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on 17December 1971 through RCA Records. Following the release of his 1970 album, '' The Man Who Sold the World'', Bowie took time off from recording and tourin ...
''.
Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
of ''The Village Voice'' was the album's boldest defender, praising Pavement for favoring lyricism over commerciality. He also felt that the album was mellow and rarely chaotic, concluding: "if their vocation is beguiling song-music that doesn't sound like anything else or create its own rut, this reinforces one's gut feeling that they can do it forever." Despite the middling reviews from most critics, ''Wowee Zowee'' was ranked number 17 in the 1995 Pazz & Jop poll.


Legacy

''Wowee Zowee'' ruined any opportunity Pavement had to capitalize on the success of ''Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain''. By June 2009, the album had sold 129,000 copies according to
Nielsen SoundScan Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...
, a notable drop-off from its predecessor, which had sold 246,000 copies. Kannberg acknowledged that the band felt a bit under pressure to release a follow-up to ''Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain'', and that ''Wowee Zowee'' would have been much different if they had given themselves more time to think about it. As a result, Pavement decided to be more patient and work on tidier arrangements for their next studio album, '' Brighten the Corners'' (1997). Kannberg regards ''Wowee Zowee'' with mixed feelings and considers it his least favorite Pavement record. Conversely, when asked about his favorite Pavement album, Malkmus said, "It would be one of the first three ones, but for different reasons." In 1997, Nastanovich stated that ''Wowee Zowee'' is his favorite Pavement record. Retrospectively, ''Wowee Zowee'' has been reappraised in highly positive terms and is frequently viewed by many "diehard" Pavement fans as the band's best work.
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
editor
Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, oc ...
wrote that repeated listenings reveal the album to be "a dense collage of '90s rock & roll that recasts the past and present into one rich, kaleidoscopic, and blissfully cryptic world view". Nina Corcoran of ''
Consequence Consequence may refer to: * Logical consequence, also known as a ''consequence relation'', or ''entailment'' * In operant conditioning, a result of some behavior * Consequentialism, a theory in philosophy in which the morality of an act is determ ...
'' said that ''Wowee Zowee'' has become "the beloved oddball in Pavement's discography", and assumed that the band "knew what they were doing all along, even if we were reluctant to believe them at first". In 2006, Matador released '' Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels Edition'', a compilation containing ''Wowee Zowee'' in its entirety, as well as B-sides, outtakes, radio shots, live songs, and compilation tracks from the same era. According to ''Rolling Stone'' writer
Rob Sheffield Robert James Sheffield (born February 2, 1966) is an American music journalist and author. He is a long time contributing editor at ''Rolling Stone'', writing about music, TV, and pop culture. Previously, he was a contributing editor at ''Blen ...
, ''Wowee Zowee'' has come to be widely viewed as a "masterpiece". Sheffield explained that people started to appreciate ''Wowee Zowee'' after the band released ''Brighten the Corners'', a radical departure that put the album's eclectic nature into perspective. He also remarked that the former was overshadowed by other successful Matador releases, such as ''
Alien Lanes ''Alien Lanes'' is the eighth full-length album by American lo-fi band Guided by Voices, released on April 4, 1995.Guided by Voices and '' Electr-O-Pura'' by
Yo La Tengo Yo La Tengo (YLT; Spanish for "I have her") is an American indie rock band formed in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1984. Since 1992, the lineup has consisted of Ira Kaplan (guitars, piano, vocals), Georgia Hubley (drums, piano, vocals), and James Mc ...
. In 2020, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked the album 265th in its updated list of
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is a recurring opinion survey and music ranking of the finest albums in history, compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and indust ...
—ahead of ''Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain'' and behind Pavement's 1992 debut album, ''
Slanted and Enchanted ''Slanted and Enchanted'' is the debut studio album by American indie rock band Pavement, released on April 20, 1992 by Matador Records. It is the only Pavement album to feature drummer Gary Young. The album received critical acclaim and is ...
'', which were ranked 434th and 199th, respectively. Several musicians, including American pianist
Johnny Iguana Brian Berkowitz, known professionally as Johnny Iguana, is an American Chicago blues pianist, singer and songwriter. He has recorded albums with Junior Wells, Carey Bell, Koko Taylor, Lil' Ed Williams, Eddie Shaw, Matthew Skoller, Lurrie Be ...
, American multi-instrumentalist
Jeff Rosenstock Jeffrey Ernest Rosenstock (born September 7, 1982) is an American musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter from Long Island, New York. He is known for his former bands Bomb the Music Industry! and The Arrogant Sons of Bitches, as we ...
, and Filipino-British singer-songwriter
Beabadoobee Beatrice Kristi Ilejay Laus (born 3 June 2000), known professionally as beabadoobee (; '), is a Filipino-British singer-songwriter. From 2018 to 2021, she released five extended plays under the independent label Dirty Hit: ''Lice'' (2018), ''P ...
, cited the album as having a profound impact on them.


Track listing


Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's
liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are descen ...
. Pavement *
Stephen Malkmus Stephen Joseph Malkmus (born May 30, 1966) is an American musician best known as the primary songwriter, lead singer and guitarist of the indie rock band Pavement. He currently performs with Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks and as a solo artist ...
– vocals, guitar, mixing * Scott Kannberg – guitar, vocals *
Mark Ibold Mark Alan Ibold (born October 17, 1962) is an American musician. He is best known as the bass guitarist of the indie rock band Pavement, with whom he recorded four studio albums. Following Pavement's initial break-up in 1999, Ibold joined the a ...
– bass *
Bob Nastanovich Robert Nastanovich (born August 27, 1967) is an American musician and member of the indie rock band Pavement, as well as a former member of Silver Jews, Ectoslavia, Pale Horse Riders, and Misshapen Lodge. Early life Bob Nastanovich was born i ...
– percussion, vocals * Steve West – drums, percussion Additional musicians * Doug Easley – pedal steel guitar on "Father to a Sister of Thought", engineer * Sibel Firat – cello on "Fight This Generation" Technical * Davis McCain – engineer * Mark Venezia – engineer * Bryce Goggin – mixing * Jan BL – mixing * Rich Costey – mixing * Gregory Hull – mastering


Charts


References


External links

* {{Authority control 1995 albums Big Cat Records albums Domino Recording Company albums King Records (Japan) albums Matador Records albums Pavement (band) albums Pony Canyon albums