{"product_id":"wowee-zowee-9780826429575","title":"Wowee Zowee","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePresents an examination of the classic \"Pavement\" album, including interviews with band members and record label staff. This book pays attention to Malkmus' growth as a musician and songwriter, both of which are evident everywhere on Wowee Zowee.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCharles puts himself in the center of the book—we read about his  aimless college years in Michigan and his discovery of Pavement, whose  songs initially seem half hearted, even bratty, but actually contain an  undertow of emotion that's hard to articulate.  Charles' writing is the same way. He succinctly captures the flavor  of being in one's late teens and early 20s without going into  unnecessary detail. Finishing school, he undergoes that arduous,  interminable crisis of figuring out what to do with life,  discovering that one of the only things that still makes sense is  Pavement. Charles returns to the band time and again, the music weaving  a thread through his life. The book includes unvarnished interviews  with members of the band, providing an honest, first-person account of  the making of the record. But the heart of the book isn't Pavement;  it's Charles, and novelist or no, he has turned in one of the best  pieces of rock journalism in recent memory—a no-bullshit, heartfelt  manifesto of fandom. * The Portland Mercury *\u003cbr\u003eAt the core of every 33 1\/3 book is the question of roping in readers who may be unfamiliar with the band or album, but Charles is able to resituate Pavement as the everyman band they were during the 90s  payday. From tales of major label flirtations (which the band is quick to dismiss as nothing more than random dalliances with the  powers-that-be) to the band's reputation as slackers (which finds Stephen Malkmus tossing aside by pointing out the band's relentless touring schedule), Charles covers much more than the time period of Wowee Zowee without abandoning the album's specific importance in their catalog.  Part history lesson, part fanzine love letter, Bryan Charles has written a book that is as ambitious and yet as untethered as his  subject matter. * Tiny Mix Tapes *\u003cbr\u003e[Charles has written] an oral history about the genesis and recording of Pavement's Wowee Zowee album that is infused with his own personal fandom of the band. Charles paints a vivid picture of the band as it wrote and recorded the album through interviews with band members and the creatives who surrounded the production of the album, all the while sharing his own experiences with the album and as a Pavement fan.Mixing the album's history with Charles' own works exceedingly well, and captures not only the essence of Pavement when they recorded Wowee Zowee, but also the indie rock culture of the time. * Largehearted Boy *\u003cbr\u003ePavement’s third album isn’t the most obvious choice for a 33 1\/3 book … But the series is more concerned with telling new stories than in re-telling old ones, and Bryan Charles relishes the opportunity to argue for a personal favorite. \u003ci\u003eWowee Zowee\u003c\/i\u003e may have been a flop (he even admits a ‘lack of excitement’ when he first heard it), but he shows how the album has gradually revealed a new cohesiveness governing its scattershot aesthetic over the last two decades and how it is now revered by the same listeners who initially shrugged their shoulders. -- Stephen M. Deusner * Pitchfork *","brand":"Continuum Publishing Corporation","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49406190616919,"sku":"9780826429575","price":9.49,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780826429575.jpg?v=1730494856","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/wowee-zowee-9780826429575","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}