Pavement's Wowee Zowee (33 1/3)

received in excellent condition. thanks.

I really enjoyed the author's nostalgia associated with Wowee Zowee. That was the first album by Pavement that I bought and listened to. It was my entry point into a band that would become a staple of my late high school and college life. Nevertheless, Charles' review of the album is peppered with his theory that Wowee Zowee was an intentionally "difficult" album that Pavement deliberately made to sabotage their careers and maintain a "slacker" image that so typified "Gen X". By doing this, Charles buys into the stereotype of slackers and the myth of Gen X. Thankfully, through his many entertaining interviews, those associated with the album, especially members of the band, refute Charles' notion. I especially enjoyed his conversation with Gerard Cosley, head of Matador Records, who laughs off Charles' hypothesis about the album. Whatever the case, the book was a quick read about one of my favorite albums, and he had access to members of the band. One of the funniest things about this book though was that it seemed that none of the band members could remember the stories behind the recording of the album. They all only seemed to remember about the barbeque in Memphis, where the album was recorded

This is a very well-done overview of a mostly unsung album by a great band.As with a lot of the 33 1/3rd series, autobiography plays a part, but Bryan Charles is a keen, level-headed fan with a rich memory for time and place, and he uses his own background to give his reporting a foundation. Since we know how he feels about the group and exactly why, it amplifies his exploration of "Wowee Zowee" as he encounters and interviews the key figures behind it.Just one thing about Charles' book was distracting, and this is totally my opinion. During a fair amount of the book, his style, phrasing, and sentence structure seem to owe a pretty heavy debt to the "White Jazz"-era prose of crime novelist James Ellroy. Charles doesn't suddenly go ultraviolent, but he does tend toward the short, staccato beats of Ellroy, with some of the hipster vibe. Call me crazy, but if you know the crime author's patter, you might see what I'm talking about in this portion:"I told him I'd heard about a meeting with Matador and two of the Pavement guys. Gerard was pushing Wowee Zowee. You were checked out. You were on the phone or something, not listening. You said the record was s--t and nothing could be done with it."Or this..."I regressed a little, became a gaping fan ... I nudged my friend Jim. He stared too. Our dinner companions were square. They didn't know who Pavement was or get the big deal. Half a beer later I relaxed and quit staring so much. But seeing Mark Ibold still blew my mind...."There are about two dozen more instances I could cite, but that'd probably only make me seem more OCD. And I realize this is an elaborate quibble, to be sure. Plus, if Charles actually is aping Ellroy, there are certainly worse or less appropriate writers he could mimic. Style aside, the overall product is a fine dissection of an excellent album.

This particular 33 1/3 book had no reviews when I ordered it. I decided to take a risk just because I love Pavement so much, and Wowee Zowee in particular.The book works because Bryan Charles very obviously loves the band and album deeply. There is a fair amount of this book that is autobiographical - something I expected would irritate me. But honestly, I dug it and truly felt that that aspect ended up enriching the entire thing. But anyway, the bulk of the material is comprised of interviews with the band members and other relevant personnel. There's plenty of detail about the recording of the songs and so forth. Plenty to keep you happy even if you don't care about Pavement's impact on the writer's teenage years.I'd say the book is really all about Pavement in general and their effect on the writer. Wowee Zowee is the focus, obviously, but any Pavement fan should still buy this book even if Wowee Zowee isn't their favorite album. Charles even goes over his thought process in choosing which Pavement album to write about, which I thought was pretty cool.Long story short - this is a very good, informative book. It is a loving, well-written, and worthy tribute to a great band and album. These 33 1/3 books (based on reviews here) seem to be very much hit-or-miss, but I think this one can be firmly placed in the "hit" section.The last sentence in the Acknowledgements is "BUYING BOOKS IN BOOKSTORES IS COOL." Woops.

I'm reading this book. so far i'm a ways in. but it gets hard. the entire book. is written like this. it's hurting my brain.I plan to read this whole book, but it feels somehow like chinese water torture or possibly like reading in another language that you don't know very well and are translating it in your head word by word as you go. Beyond his extremely annoying prose, the first 20 pages or so (as far as I've gotten) are just about the author, his jobs, his girlfriends and many stories about "rock dudes" "jocking out" to different bands. Basically it took him 20 pages to say he didn't like wowee zowee at first but then changed his mind. And then there was the epic scene where he was in the virgin megastore and decided to write this book. So uh, buyer beware. I think you have to be really interested in learning about this classic album (I am) in order to slog through this.

I really enjoyed this book. I agree with a previous review that the style of writing can be a bit hard to follow at times, there were often times that I was not sure who he was quoting or if he was making an observation of his own. However, overall I still really enjoyed it. I felt like a dork wanting to read this at first, but I'm glad I ordered it. I think any diehard Pavement fan will enjoy it too.

author wouldn't shut up about him self a decent read overall

Lurves this book. Still love listening to this LP and the author captures what it was like to discover Pavement in the 90s back when Rick bands could still be, in the words of Rhett Miller, mythical creatures.

A good book that I enjoyed reading. The author Bryan Charles interviewed all the right people (including all five Pavement band members of the time), asked all the right questions and doesn't fall into the pitfall of analysing and over-analysing the lyrics. Some authors in this series do that ad nauseum - and often wrongly - yawn!After the intro the book is made up of a series of interviews, along with the author's thoughts, and some interesting background about the band, what was going on, etc.Charles is clearly quite a decent writer, which helps as he manages to maintain interest throughout. He also adds a further dimension by referring to events in his own life (particularly at the start) at certain points in the chronology of the band and the years in which he wrote the book, but it's never too off-topic and he doesn't allow that to come anyway close to taking over, so it remains an interesting background thread of some merit whilst the album remains fully in focus.I differ from the author in that I always loved Wowee Zowee right from the off. As a teenager in England who'd got into Pavement around the time of the Crooked Rain Crooked Rain album, I bought Wowee Zowee as soon as it came out with hot anticipation. Some time before its release I'd listened in to a BBC Radio 1 session in which Grounded was played, and had been impressed. Alas, that session doesn't seem to have been included on any of the deluxe CD reissues... I remember that the album wasn't quite what I was expecting, but I immediately took to it. To me at the time it seemed like a cross between the previous album and the Westing compilation. (-My God, was that really nearly 20 years ago? how frightening!)Just one opinion to take issue with: the Spiral Stairs song Hit the Plane Down on Crooked Rain Crooked Rain was 'arguably swappable' - you must be joking, mate! - that song makes that album damned near perfect!!Cheers, TR.

person i bought this for was over the moon with it. loved it to bits. cant say more than that.

If your Pavement fan you should be able to relate to this book, it was a brilliant read and made me want to read more about this iconic band!