Pavement Redux: Greatest Hits That Never Were (streams)

Pavement’s best-of compilation, Quarantine the Past, is the greatest album you shouldn’t buy.  It’s a (mostly) well-chosen, nicely packaged collection of terrific songs from arguably the best band of the 1990s and one of the best indie bands ever. Instead, what you should do is this: pick up the double-CD reissue of their first album, Slanted and Enchanted: Luxe & Reduxe. Two days later, you will find yourself at Borders or on Amazon buying the reissue of their second CD, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain: L.A.’s Desert Origins. And so on, until you have all five of their full-length albums. The reissues also provide you with the best cuts from their many fine EPs, as well as a lot of stray material and live tracks.  In the long run, this approach will make you happier. And don’t complain about how much it will cost. I know what you spend at Starbucks every week.