The more considered production on the record worries me somewhat because part of Pavement's appeal always was the fractured production. On songs like 'Stereo' the f***** levels illustrated so well that some Pavement choruses are just too big to be recorded properly. So the fact that the needles all appear to have stopped short of the red is somewhat disappointing (although some may argue that this is simply a result of  more mature songwriting -. Pah! Pavement always were about being a  joyous racket and this may explain why this LP has featured so highly in most music mags end of the year poll. You can hear those writers for whom Pavement have previously been just that bit too difficult saying "Oh yes, but they're much better now - they've made a proper, listenable record at last". Double pah! Let's face it the music mags Albums of the year are always compromises, very very rarely are they extreme records. After all The Pixies album that won top slot in MM wasn't 'Surfer Rosa' or even 'Doolittle'. It was BOSSANOVA! For ducks sake!)

Anyway I digress. The point is that this is definitely Pavement's most accessible album. Of course the raw production wasn't Pavement's only virtue and the best tracks on this album  do not necessarily depend on the noise-is-good aesthetic. However, the downside is that some tracks are merely quirky (the racket used to lend them some extra credibility.)

So to start with the singles. First single 'Carrot Rope' is a pretty good taster for the whole album. Certainly it lacks the few edges that do appear on the album, but as a torrent of words, with a dynamic to the chorus (Mr Malkmus's words) that lifts it beyond quirky it's a great example of Pavement-lite (but I hate the line 'The wicketkeeper is down'). But the second single was even better - against the odds Pavement-do-pretty was pretty wonderful. 'Major Leagues' is simply GORGEOUS (I called it pretty in the Singles of the Year, but it's way, way better than that.) with a lazy but focussed momentum.

'The Hexx' was a track trailed on a number of the free CDs prior to the album's release and it's moody atmosphere also illustrates in a different way the more disciplined sound on the LP. Underpinned by a lead guitar it's a very effective piece. 'Cream of Gold' is a spiritual successor to classics like 'Date w. Ikea' and 'Kennel District' and is the most up-tempo song on the LP. This is a combination of both the instrumentation, an upwards spiralling guitar riff (which leads ultimately towards its impressive guitar coda), and, probably just as important, the sound and rhythm of SM's words. This song would sound wonderful  whatever way  it was recorded.

These are the real successes on the album - elsewhere it's a more mixed bag. 'Spit On A Stranger' is a pleasant enough introduction to LP, but tracks like 'You Are A Light',   its immediate successor,  is more Pavement-lite, tending towards (perhaps) 'We Dance' territory and even 'Carrot Rope' . 'Ann Don't Cry' is more pleasant  but hardly essential stuff.

'Folk Jam' does sound a bit folky , but largely continues the pleasant (not that word again!) start to the LP, but  its very Pavement-ish chorus retrieves matters somewhat though it falls short of the f***** levels chorus it appears to be building towards. 'Billie' starts off in, er pleasant mode but it's "See the fortune teller" chorus is nicely off kilter and rough-hewn, as the song goes about as daft as this LP gets. 'Platform Blues' is in similar territory, a  melodic but skewed intro followed by the type of plain crooked heavily Fall influenced riffing which you can hear on all Pavement LP, but only rarely here. 'Speak, See, Remember'   completes this trilogy with its loud riffing coupled with melodic sections.