Cooler than Crooked Rain, you couldn't get Crooked Rain in 1994. Beaten up by the classic rock bands packaged as grunge, many indie kids fell for the playful, seemingly rudderless sound of Pavement, which was also not averse to it through frontman Stephen Malkmus to give a lot to the quasi-alternative world. The debut Slanted & Enchanted was a cult hit, but the successor Crooked Rain, Crooked
… Rain made Malkmus and his men 'the next big thing' of the underground. The limitations lay the strength of Pavement, who knew how to skillfully sabotage his intelligent but reasonably traditional songs with rattling ensemble and false crow singing. The fact that the band was inspired by country music in some of the songs on this album did not hurt the accessibility. The single Range Life was therefore occasionally heard on the radio. But Pavement's true appeal lay in the magical moments of chance that the group managed to capture on tape. Besides being incredibly cool, Pavement always sounded incredibly exciting. For as long as it lasted, anyway. Because after Crooked Rain the magic seeped out of the group for each new album, until it had completely disappeared. (MS)more