Pavement

Quarantine the Past: The Best of Pavement

(Matador)

Record Review by Kevan Peterson

Perfectly timed release to coincide with Pavement’s reunion tour, Quarantine the Past comes out in time to pry open every fanboy’s wallet before the big show.  Offering up remastered versions of many of Pavement’s finer moments, this album will serve audiophiles well.  It also delivers a heaping pile of Pavement’s best for any newbie listeners to the band’s off-kilter sound.  The title is gleamed from the opening track “Gold Soundz” which carries the lyric “you can never quarantine the past.” 

Eschewing chronological order for the band’s random sampling of self-proclaimed favorites in no particular order Quaratine delivers a few unexpected side dishes alongside main course favorites such as “Cut Your Hair,” and “Spit on a Stranger.”  Three pre-Matador releases grace the album including the lo-fi tune “Box Elder,” which serves as a precursor to Pavement’s odd rise to fame. 

Diehard fans will be pleased with the sampling, although many will no doubt have long lists of their own that didn’t make the cut.  Just like no two Pavement songs are alike, their fans are even more diverse and rabid in their love of any given album.  “Unseen Power of the Picket Fence,” a love song to R.E.M., makes for a fun addition whose original source came from a compilation CD in the ‘90s.  Fortunately for old and new fans alike, the past has not been quarantined but has instead been spread like a virus to record stores and digital outlets for all to be infected by.