I know Slanted & Enchanted gets all the praise, but I like Crooked Rain just as much.

Wow you seem to have some serious venom for them.

Definitely one of the best bands of the 90's. Took me a bit to warm up to them, but it's been a love fest for a while now. They paved the way (no pun intended) for all of the great indie bands of today.

This comment is beneath your viewing threshold.

Best band of the 90's and it's not even remotely close. Few bands can claimed to have as great of songs like "Here" (my favorite Pavement song), "Gold Sondz", and "Zurich is Stained", to name a few. Stephen Malkmjs is a lyricist on par with Morrissey, Lennon and McCartney, and Jagger and Richards. And then there are the albums, which are all at least great and their first two (and depending on my mood, their third) are among the 10 best albums of the 90's and are easily among the best albums ever. In all, the greatest indie band ever, and maybe the greatest band of all time.

Much like the Velvet Underground, Pavement made 5 albums which were all completely different. Each of their albums are great in their own way. Slanted and Enchanted is a very lo-fi album, and is probably their best. Crooked Rain has a much more classic indie sound, and almost matches it's predecessor. Wowee Zowee is very experimental and is also just as strong as Crooked Rain and Slanted and Enchanted. Brighten the Corners has a much cleaner sound. It has some great songs on it, but not as strong as the previous 3. Terror Twilight has a similar sound to Brighten the Corners, and is also good, but not as strong as the first 3. Pavement are the best indie band, and the best band of the 1990's.

It's rare for a band to have one album that completely captures the zeitgeist of their time and genre. Pavement doesn't just have two albums that perfectly embody the time and feel of '90s indie rcok, but they each attain completely distinct, complementary forms of perfection.

Brighten the Corners aint bad neither. Date with Ikea is boss.

"So drunk in the August sun/And you're the kind of girl I like/Because you're empty and I'm empty/And you can never quarantine the past"

Fotr me it has always difficult to decided between the roughness of "Slanted & Enchanted" and the beauty and matureness of "Crooked rain, crooked rain" which reflects a mellower yet inspired sound driven by a band at the peak of their game.

lots of great songs...

I don't see the big deal with Pavement. Sure--they're an okay band, but I say the critics give them too high of a rating...