Cheap Pavement - Slow Century (DVD) Price

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Customer Reviews of Pavement - Slow Century

This is going to be a Slow Century...
The title is very appropriate...yes, the twenty first century is going to be a very slow one, considering there will most likely be no new Pavement music because they broke up, like, three years ago or something. But what better way to look back on one of the greatest and most influential bands of the last century than with a double DVD commerating their greatness? This DVD is most definitely tha shiznit! Its a great companion to Slanted And Enchanted: Luxe And Reduxe. Not only do you get two full live shows, every one of the band's somewhat strange but awesome music videos, a 90 minute documentary, three alternate music videos, band and artist commentary, and...wait...that's all that you get. The music videos are great. Many of them are quite simple, but they are all a lot of fun to watch. The alternate ones are even better than the ones that replaced them, except the Cut Your Hair alternate...that ones just stupid. There are also some little filler materials between videos, the most gutbustingly hilarious one being a concert introduction by some KROQ guy...it's just hilarious. The documentary is also fun, particularly because of the footage of Gary Young standing on his head and falling over while playing the drums among other things. Also, seeing Sprial Stairs flip off the crowd at Lollapalooza and then moon them is priceless material...along with Stephen Malkmus getting hit with a rock. The concerts are good but are only fun if you play with the multi angleswhile you're watching them. Anyway, if you would like to spend 25 dollars on a DVD, spend it on this one. DVDs like these by bands as good as these were put on this earth for a reason. It's only a matter of time until we see a Pixies DVD or a Flaming Lips DVD or the upcoming Weezer DVD...until then, enjoy Pavement because they rock.

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The Debris Slid Into Slow Century!!
What a disappointment. The videos were nice, but many were contrived and not very creative. The documentary was sub, sub, sub-par -- no real insight into the band, their dynamics. I wasn't looking for a Behind the Music expose, or anything, but the documentary seemed to be long on exposition and short on actual content. Malkmus looked like he couldn't even stand talking to the camera, and Kannenberg was overly cheerful and eager to please. So in a sense, their songwriting sensibilities played out in the documentary. Hmmmm...

The concerts stunk. I'm not sure if they were recorded on a hand-held camcorder, but the sound quality was awful. If these were official recordings of these shows, why not plug into the sound board and get a clean recording off the PA? Instead we get horribly recorded sound, muddy vocals and all. The Seattle concert seeems to be an exercise in selling Terror Twilight, as the band struggles through several lackluster numbers from that release. All in all, Malkmus seems ready to leave the band.

So why, after all this negativity, did I still give the thing three stars? Because I love Pavement and their music, that's why. This release is great for super-fans, but it's really not that substantive, and doesn't even touch how great their albums are. The content just doesn't justify the work that was put into the DVD interface, and packaging -- both wonderful.

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just about all you want
good history/nostalgia coverage. very professional and dreamy artwork all over the place. two shows. videos. perhaps we can call this the *eek* Your quintessential Pavement bookend.