搬運(yùn)自：網(wǎng)易云音樂專欄【Music Online Zine Courier】（在原文基礎(chǔ)上添加了英語原文與排版調(diào)整）

翻譯：Beans_Beans??

The first career-spanning Pavement compcontains their best-known songs as well as concert staples, fan favorites, andat least a couple of curveballs.

這張橫跨Pavement樂隊(duì)生涯的大合輯涵蓋了他們最知名的歌曲，以及一些在音樂現(xiàn)場(chǎng)的主打歌、樂迷們廣為流傳的口碑神作，而且依舊能為我們帶來驚喜。

Pavement have a fairly small catalog-- fivefull-length albums and a handful of EPs, plus a compilation of early singles.Over the past decade, their B-sides, radio sessions, and assorted rarities havebeen repackaged into a series of excellent reissues, which has made it easy tobe a Pavement completist without blowing a lot of cash. It's all veryaccessible, but it's not easy to know where to start. Quarantine the Past, thefirst-ever Pavement retrospective compilation, solves this problem by providinga cheap and easy entry point to the band that represents the breadth of theirsongbook. The best-known songs are featured-- "Cut Your Hair","Gold Soundz", "Here", "Shady Lane", "Spiton a Stranger"-- but so are concert staples, fan favorites, and at least acouple of curveballs. The sequence is non-chronological, zig-zagging throughthe catalog and evenly distributing the obvious classics throughout the runningorder.

Pavement的專輯名錄可謂是相當(dāng)短小——5張全場(chǎng)專輯、少數(shù)幾張EP、還有一些早期曲目的匯編合輯。在過去的十年里，他們的一些B-sides、電臺(tái)現(xiàn)場(chǎng)以及各種稀有音源被重新包裝成一系列優(yōu)秀的再版唱片，而這也使得人們不需要花費(fèi)太多，便很容易成為Pavement樂隊(duì)的全套收藏愛好者。如此輕而易舉，但要知道從哪里開始并不容易。《Quarantine the Past》，有史以來第一張Pavement樂隊(duì)的回顧性匯編合集解決了這一問題，為樂隊(duì)的準(zhǔn)樂迷們提供了一張簡易價(jià)廉的“新手村”門票。那些最知名的曲目——“Cut Your Hair”、“Gold Soundz”、 “Here”、“Shady Lane”、“Spiton a Stranger”——都有收錄其中，同時(shí)也有一些音樂現(xiàn)場(chǎng)的主打曲目、樂迷們廣為流傳的口碑神作，而且依舊能為我們帶來驚喜。合輯中的曲序并沒有依照時(shí)間順序，它們被打散均勻地排布，那些顯眼的經(jīng)典曲目鑲嵌其中。?

It's important that a Pavement best-of notonly focus on their singles, which often erred on the side of novelty andlevity. The dark horses here are essential in sketching out the group's range,from the punky blast of "Unfair" and "Debris Slide" to theloose, stoned sound of "Heaven Is a Truck". "Grounded" ismajestic, "Shoot the Singer" is wistful, "Date With Ikea"is a suburban anthem. "Embassy Row" is like an alternate-universePavement that could compete on modern rock radio with the likes of Weezer, and"Box Elder" is a platonic ideal of simple, lo-fi indie pop. Fans ofthe band may look over the tracklisting and wonder why some of their favoritesdidn't make the cut, but every song on this thing is an unimpeachable gem, andthe collection presents a well-rounded summary of their distinct and variedbody of work.

更為重要的是，要深入了解Pavement的所謂“生涯最佳”不能僅僅關(guān)注在他們的那些知名的單曲，這些單曲往往偏向于新奇和輕松的一面。而這張合輯中的黑馬——從“Unfair”和“Debris Slide”的朋克式轟炸到“Heaven Is a Truck”中松散卻分量十足的聲音——對(duì)勾勒出這一宏偉藍(lán)圖的輪廓至關(guān)重要。除此之外，“Grounded”更顯雄偉，“Shoot the Singer”不失俏皮，“Date With Ikea”像是一首來自郊野的頌歌?！癊mbassy Row”像是來自另一宇宙的Pavement作品，可以在如今的搖滾電臺(tái)中與Weezer等人相提并論；而“Box Elder”則是簡單愜意的獨(dú)立流行樂的理想狀態(tài)。可能樂隊(duì)的一些歌迷們仔細(xì)地瀏覽一下曲目表后，想知道為什么他們最喜歡的一些歌曲沒有入選，但這里的每一首歌都是無可挑剔的精品，而且這套唱片對(duì)他們生涯中獨(dú)特而多樣的作品進(jìn)行了全面的總結(jié)。

Pavement were mainly a vehicle for thesongwriting of Stephen Malkmus, who penned almost all of the band's material.In terms of rock archetypes, Malkmus is a true original. He's erudite butbratty, laid-back yet buttoned-up. He's an inscrutable goofball, a pragmaticromantic, an aloof charmer. His music is loaded with references to culturalhistory-- one of these songs is an imaginary history of R.E.M.-- but his nerdyimpulses and arty affect is consistently overwhelmed by his casual coolness.There's an impossible ease and haphazard grace to this music. A lot of bandswork very hard to make you appreciate their meticulous craft or browbeat youwith hooks, but Pavement tossed off brilliantly composed pop songs with ashambling, carefree swagger. They made it sound easy, and maybe it was. Thebest kind of genius tends to come very naturally to people, like a side effectof just being themselves. In "Frontwards", Malkmus sings "I'vegot style/ Miles and miles/ So much style that it's wasted," and that'spretty much him and his band in a nutshell.

Pavement樂隊(duì)主要是Stephen Malkmus的創(chuàng)作載體，他幾乎承辦創(chuàng)作了樂隊(duì)的所有作品。就搖滾樂的初衷而言，Malkmus是一個(gè)真正的原創(chuàng)者。他博學(xué)而又不失風(fēng)趣，閑逸而又不失內(nèi)涵。他是一個(gè)難以捉摸的沙雕、一個(gè)務(wù)實(shí)的浪漫主義者、一個(gè)高冷男神。他的音樂中充斥著對(duì)文化歷史的引言——其中一首歌是想象中的R.E.M.的歷史——但他的書呆子般沖動(dòng)作為和文藝氣息始終被他隨意而為的酷感所壓倒。這種音樂蘊(yùn)含著一種難以置信的輕松和紛亂的優(yōu)雅。許多樂隊(duì)非常努力地讓你欣賞他們一絲不茍的工藝，或是用些Hook試圖唬住你，但Pavement則用一種隨心所欲、無拘無束的大手筆揮灑出更為精彩的流行樂曲。他們讓音樂聽起來更加容易，也許它本來就應(yīng)如此也確實(shí)如此。那些杰出的天才往往是自然而然地出現(xiàn)在大眾視野，更像是“做真正的自己”的副作用。在“Frontwards”中，Malkmus唱道：“I've got style/ Miles and miles/ So much style that it's wasted”，這幾乎就是對(duì)他和他的樂隊(duì)最好的概括。

Malkmus' lyrics, central to the band'sappeal, alternate between whimsical nonsense and epigrammatic quotables. Thesongs seldom slot neatly into readily identifiable emotional states or refer tospecific experiences, instead falling into the liminal spaces between thoughtsand feelings. Malkmus' words indicate context and supply the listener with richimagery, but the real poetry is in the way his phrases flow with the melodies,and are offset by evocative guitar textures and unexpected noises. The groupnever compromised tunefulness for artiness, but mystique and abstraction wereamong their core values. In retrospect, certain lines ring out like statementsof intent-- "We need secrets," "Tricks are everything tome."

Malkmus的歌詞可謂是樂隊(duì)的核心吸引力，它們?cè)诋愊胩扉_的無稽之談和附庸風(fēng)雅的語錄之間反復(fù)橫跳。這些歌曲罕有能歸入人們易識(shí)別的情緒狀態(tài)，也沒有提到那些可以引人共鳴的具體經(jīng)歷，而是落入思想和感覺之間的閾限空間。Malkmus用話語闡明背景，并為聽眾提供了豐富的聯(lián)覺圖像，但真正詩意的地方在于他詞句隨旋律流動(dòng)的方式，并最終被令人回味的吉他波紋和出人意料的噪音所抵消。這支樂隊(duì)從不會(huì)為藝術(shù)性而犧牲曲調(diào)，但神秘性和抽象性仍作為他們核心價(jià)值之一。回過頭來看，先前的某些句子就像是對(duì)這一意圖的陳述——“We need secrets”，“Tricks are everything tome”。

The very best Pavement songs delight incuriosity and imagination, drawing connections between images and ideas as ifeverything in the world was full of character and significance. This is part ofwhy, for example, a playful joke about the voice of Rush's lead singer in"Stereo" never gets stale. It's in the middle of a song that may aswell be a sub-genre unto itself, bouncing about gleefully, utterly fascinatedby the all the obscure details of the world. They found the magic in themundane, and could make small enthusiasms, silly in-jokes, and skewedobservations seem profound and glorious.

Pavement最好的樂曲總以好奇心和想象力為音符，在直觀的圖像與抽象的靈感之間建立聯(lián)系，讓世上的一切都更具個(gè)性和意義。這就是，例如，“Stereo”中關(guān)于Rush主唱的聲音的玩笑話總能博人一笑的原因。這首本身可能是作為一個(gè)亞流派的作品，歡快地躍動(dòng)著，完完全全沉浸在世上每一角落中晦澀的細(xì)節(jié)之處。他們從平凡中尋得魔力，令那些微不足道的激情、那些蠢蠢的、往往是密友間心照不宣的段子和扭轉(zhuǎn)視角后眼中扭曲的世界在此刻變得深刻而輝煌。

A decade after the band's dissolution,Pavement's music has proven itself to have an evergreen quality. To be sure,it's all very much of its time and no band aside from perhaps Guided By Voicesbetter epitomizes the sound and style of 1990s indie rock, but the materialtranscends its era as much as it defines it. This compilation exists mainly toget an entry-level Pavement product on the market to coincide with theirreunion tour, but it has a value beyond crass commercial necessity. Unlikeother cross-generational legacy bands like the Pixies, Sonic Youth, and TalkingHeads, Pavement's songs fit together comfortably as a jukebox-friendly hitparade.

樂隊(duì)解散十年后，Pavement的音樂已然證明了它自己的常青、不朽?？梢钥隙ǖ氖牵@些音樂很大程度上仍屬于那個(gè)它們問世的時(shí)代，除了Guided By Voices之外，想必沒有哪個(gè)樂隊(duì)再能更好地代表上個(gè)世紀(jì)90年代獨(dú)立搖滾的聲音和風(fēng)尚。但同時(shí)就像它們定義了它的時(shí)代一樣，這些作品也超越了它的時(shí)代。這張合輯的存在主要是為了讓Pavement樂隊(duì)的入門級(jí)作品再次流入市場(chǎng)，以配合他們的重聚巡演順利進(jìn)行，但它如今的價(jià)值已遠(yuǎn)超它本被期望的粗俗的商業(yè)需要。與其他跨時(shí)代的傳統(tǒng)樂隊(duì)，如Pixies、Sonic Youth和Talking Heads不同，Pavement的樂曲可以被愜意的隨機(jī)組合在一起，變身為唱機(jī)上的熱門歌曲。

Some tracks, like the Spiral Stairsshowcase "Date With Ikea" and the early EP cut "Mellow JazzDocent", shine brighter than in their original contexts, while numberslike "In the Mouth a Desert" and "Gold Soundz" come outsounding like modern standards. As much as their albums excel as unified works,no one ever needed to hear those records in full to fall in love with "CutYour Hair", "Shady Lane", or "Range Life" on MTV,college radio, or someone's mixtape. Quarantine the Past doesn't replace thealbums, but it's a highly listenable alternative that is as much a treat fornostalgic older fans as it is a valuable gateway for new listeners.

還有一些曲目，如Spiral Stairs演繹的“Date With Ikea”和早期EP中的“Mellow Jazz Docent”，比在它們?cè)鹊谋尘案右?；同時(shí)像“In the Mouth a Desert”和“Gold Soundz”聽起來更像是當(dāng)下的杰作。盡管他們的專輯都是一張張聽感統(tǒng)一的出色作品，但沒有人是需要聽完所有這些專輯的全部內(nèi)容后，才要去愛上會(huì)在MTV、某大學(xué)廣播電臺(tái)或是某人mixtape中出沒的“Cut Your Hair”、“Shady Lane”、“Range Life”?！禥uarantine the Past》并不能取締這些專輯，但它仍是一個(gè)可聽度爆表的替代品，對(duì)那些借以懷舊的老樂迷而言仍是一種享受，對(duì)新聽眾來說也是一個(gè)極有價(jià)值的入門渠道。