Track Listing

1. Stereo
2. Shady lane
3. Transport is arranged
4. Date with IKEA
5. Old to begin
6. Type slowly
7. Embassy row
8. Blue hawaiian
9. We are underused
10. Passat dream
11. Starlings of the slipstream
12. Infinite spark

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31742 in Music
• Released on: 1997-02-10
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Even before it totally kicks in, Brighten the Corners displays a sense of improvement over the listless, shapeless Wowee Zowee. A few simple musical touches like Mellotron strokes and ever-developing vocal harmonies open up Pavement's sound without carrying them off into overly textured snooziness. While this is often cited as Pavement's "domestic" record--several members got married around the time of its creation--its songs more often evince puzzlement than McCartneyish delight with family matters. And as always, Pavement is buzzed about rock; the album's final song is called "Fin" not so much in homage to French film as in rhythm to the marching cadence of Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk". --Jimmy A. Corrigan

CD Description
Pavement's fourth proper LP seems to be a direct response to anyone who thought 1995's WOWEE ZOWEE sealed a downward spiral from indie-pop heroes to incomprehensible, in-joke nonconformists. On BRIGHTEN THE CORNERS, the rock hero in Pavement reemerges as the dominant stereotype, making the lyrical idiosyncrasies on which critics of the band like to harp into witty window-dressing. Nowhere is this dichotomy better heard than on the electrifying opener, "Stereo", which rages with anthemic power-chords and a rock-star chorus ("Hey! Listen to me! I'm on the stereo"), while also pondering the longest-standing mystery in rock, the voice of Rush singer GeddyLee ("how did it get so high/I wonder if he speaks like an ordinary guy").
Musically, BRIGHTEN THE CORNERS extends the rock tradition to the other side of Sonic Youth's dissonant discoveries while staying free of grunge's self-defeatistmentality. No longer a group of lo-fi pranksters, Pavement has tightened up into a mighty ensemble, able to jam like psychedelic maniacs (the closing "Fin") or fly by night like punks on speed ("Embassy Row"). Lyrically, Stephen Malkmus and co-conspirator Scott Kannberg (aka Spiral Stairs) have started questioning where they belong in a late-'90s world seemingly devoid of secrets and mysteries. Their declarations present yet another yin-yang to the Pavement whole: Kannberg'sanswers seem to lie in emotional stability, Malkmus' in thenever-ending search itself. These uncertainties of dealing with one's unrecognised worth play out like an Irvine Welsh novel: the chapters full of spunky glee, the ending steeped in melancholy.

Customer Reviews

Pavement's best gets the treat.
These Pavement double-disc deluxe editions that are being released by Matador every 2 years are among the best reissues that I know. The gorgeous packaging, the brilliant design work, the massive booklets stuffed with interesting liner notes and photos, and the tons of extra-tracks set a new standard to the so-called deluxe editions. Brighten The Corners: Nicene Creedence Edition (love the weird sub-titles!) maintains the level.

This is my favourite Pavement album and ever since these deluxe-editions started coming out I had been waiting for its turn.
Brighten The Corners is Pavement's strongest and most consistent album. All these are good "proper" songs. There is no fooling around with thrown away ideas or silly jams. I understand that those are natural ingredients of the Pavement sound, but Wowee Zowee surely needed a bit more editing and quality control. And don't get it wrong, this is far from shinny and polished, this is still 100% low-fi indie rock as according to Pavement. The band still indulges here and there but overall things are much more in control.

Highlights include the college rock hit 'Stereo' with its bumpy bass line and explosive chorus, the catchy 'Shady Lane' and - a personal favourite and my favourite Scott Kannberg song - the chiming urgent 'Date with IKEA' with its byrdsian guitar all over. The album has a double grand finale with two slow-moving ballads 'Starlings Of The Slipstream' and 'Fin' that feature extended epic guitar abuse by Malkmus with loads of feedback and over-bent strings.

Of the 30-plus bonus tracks you can expect the usual treat. Excellent, interesting, funny, pointless, we get a bit of everything. But there are some standout tracks. The embryonic 'The Hexx', then called 'And Then', is as much powerful as it is underdeveloped. The instrumental 'Beautiful As A Batterfly', 'Westie Can Drum', 'Harness Your Hopes', 'Destroy Mater Dei', 'The Classical'.... are all great additions to this album.

The 50-page booklet features a long essay that deals more with the importance of nonsense lyrics in rock songs and, particularly, in Pavement. It's a very interesting text that runs for several pages until it arrives at Brighten The Corners just at closing time. But I miss a bit of historic context in the liner notes - the recording process, what the band was going through.

For the first time in these re-issues, there are no words by Stephen Malkmus or any of the band members or people involved on the making of the record. This brings back the idea that this album is so under-appreciated, probably even by the band - something that really puzzles me.

Fantastic
One of my favourite albums, laid back and relaxing, yet with moments of indie noise and a more `rock' feel to it, in my opinion a pretty perfect balance between the two sides, and full of some of the most irrelevant lyrics I have heard.
A perfect example is the first track, `Stereo' opening with burbling synthy noise, and a back and forth simple guitar line, leading into a quick burst of noise and the bass line of the verses, the opening lyrics being `pigs they tend to wiggle when they walk, the infrastructure rocks, and the owners hate the jocks' three completely unrelated lines together in the song, yet somehow sounding great, happy and somehow fitting, this then leading into the chorus of loud fuzzy guitars, back through another short blast of noise into the next verse, the slightly more coherent `what about the voice of Geddy Lee, how did it get so high? I wander if he speaks like an ordinary guy (I know him and he does)' which almost makes sense as one, but completely irrelevant to the rest of the song. Odd, yet very enjoyable to listen and relax to, without feeling the need to listen to a big message about humanity or politics, just sitting back and listening to some very enjoyable music. This never really detracts from the songs though, as they still flow perfectly, with some excellent guitar playing and musicianship. Which is probably one of the things I like about this band, no need to try and force a view on you or make music that has a meaning to people, but purely music to enjoy playing and listening to, but with some inventive and excellent sounding playing too.
A stunning album from an excellent band.

Brightener
"Brighten the Corners" remains Pavement's most settled, accessable rock record, but the band doesn't eschew their musical sound or their indie roots. Rather, they just polish up the howly vocals and multilayered musical arrangements, and the result is pretty mellow and pleasant.

It starts off with the intermittently bombastic "Stereo," before shifting to the mellower "Shady Lane" and uplifted sound of "Transport is Arranged." A more raw sound enters with the fun rockers "Date with IKEA" and lighthearted "Embassy Road," while a plaintive confusion arrives with "Old to Begin." The remaining songs harken back to their indie roots, with the monotone jazziness of "Blue Hawaiian" and the weirdness of "We Are Underused" and "Passat Dream." It ends on a pretty strong note with the vaguely ominous "Fin," in which Malkmus requests, "I trust you will tell me/if I am making a fool of myself..."

"Brighten the Corners" serves to connect the lo-fi scratchiness of their early work to a more polished sound. Sure, there are some cries of "sell-out." But Pavement's sound transfers to the smooth studio sound without losing its complexity or raw magic.

The guitar riffs are as good as ever, starting and stopping one moment, and whirling around Malkmus's vocals the next; the percussion is a solid backdrop. There are also some coy beepy-bleepy snatches of mellotron, as well as what sounds like a wavery flute, giving a feeling of vague vulnerability to the lost-soul-type songs.

Malkmus will never sing in the opera, but his soulful monotone is wonderfully well-suited to the music. The songs themselves have a certain feeling of confusion, as if the world is bewildering and chaotic. "I heard what you said/the leaders are dead/now they're robbing the skies/you can hear the followers cry..."

Pavement was still in solid form in "Brighten the Corners." While it may not be the best, the mix of complex rock and thoughtful singing is enough to make it another budding classic by Pavement.