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Amazon.co.uk Review
Unfazed by the dissolution of Pavement in 2000, Kannberg chose, for All This Sounds Gas, to return to his four-track recorder, and began work anew as the cryptically named Preston School of Industry. For a while, it looked like Scott Kannberg was going to become the man that alt-rock forgot. Going under the pseudonym "Spiral Stairs", Kannberg was the founding member of the charming Pavement that wasn't Stephen Malkmus, and it was his laconic, effortlessly gorgeous guitar lines that elevated albums such as Slanted and Enchanted above the rest of the shambolic indie-pop crop. Judging by much of All This Sounds Gas, Kannberg's impact on late-era Pavement appears to have been minimal: this sounds like a real blast from the past--think the winding left-field ramble of Wowee Zowie over the refined perfect pop of Terror Twilight. Without Malkmus dripping his trademarked honey-glazed surreality over Kannberg's gliding melodic scree, it can't be denied that there's a little something missing. But Kannberg's lead vocal is more than just functional; "Whale Bones" and "Falling Away" are elegantly shrugged-off lo-fidelity beauties, "Solitare" nods slyly towards Lou Reed's "Kill Your Songs", and on the closing seven-minute "Take a Stand", Kannberg plucks up the confidence to lay on his grand Wayne Coyne impression--and impressively, just about pulls it off. Spiral Stairs lives! And this sure beats retirement. -- Louis Pattison
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
How does an agoraphobe buy underwear?,
This review is from: All This Sound Gas (Audio CD)
After Stephen Malkmus's polished debut, described by himself as like Pavement with a different rhythm section, comes Pavement's other main inspiration's retort.Scott Kannberg, or Spiral Stairs, as you may know him better, does not disappoint. From the beauty of the opening "Whalebones" onwards, this is a classic album, and with some gorgeous pedal steel guitar on "A treasure @ silver bank", you can't go wrong. If you liked Pavement, you cannot fail to like this album. It bears more regular play than the Malkmus album, and that is a good album in its own right. Personal opinion is that its probably closest to "Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain" in spirit. As the sticker on the front of the case states: "Includes 4 hits, 5 smashes and 2 soon-to-be classics." Enough said...
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.9 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews) 7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Worthy effort with the promise of more to come,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: All This Sounds Gas (Audio CD)
When Mick Jones left the Clash and formed Big Audio Dynamite, the joke among Clash fans was that if you dubbed the Clash's final Jones-less album and the new BAD album together on a tape you could pretend that the band had never really broken up. In some respects, this logic applies to Pavement with regards to Malkmus' wonderful solo debut and Scott's new band, PSOI. Much like Mick Jones, Scott had very few songs of his own with Pavement, but the ones he did have always stood out and his guitar work was a prominent part of the band. Can his songs hold up on their own however? "All This Sounds Gar" proves that indeed they can; Scotts guitar work is as strong as ever, his vocals hold their own, and his song arrangments are interesting. Unlike most Pavement releases, however, the music is far from groundbreaking. Scott's mix of guitar based indie rock with the slightest influence of twang-free country is tried and true, and purely a matter of preference; this is one album where fans know exactly what they're getting when they buy it, and it's consistent enough the few fans of the genre will be disappointed. There are a few standout tracks: Solitaire has some interesting keyboards, Doping for Gold has some stellar guitar work and vocals and, ending on an emotional, energetic note that recalls Scott's work with Pavement at its best, and Idea of Fires is an upbeat bit of folk-rock that slows down for it's brilliant sing-along chorus, only to pick up again for some trademark buzzing guitar. It's these standout tracks that make one believe PSOI is capable of much more, however. At recent live shows, the band ripped through only the best tracks on the album (and unofficial confirmation that other songs perhaps weren't up to par) with such energy that most of the crowd who had never heard of them were drooling. Doping For Gold, in particular, benefitted from the frantic and intense drumming; it rocked so hard most of the crowd had goose bumps , and the new found energy only made the underlying emotions behind the song that much stronger. Thus, it's not illogical to believe and PSOI is capable of producing songs much better than some of this material. Keep your eyes out for future releases by the band, we can expect great things. In the meantime, "All This Sounds Gas" is a rewarding way to pass the time before the band's inevitable "Wowee Zowee" epic is released.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Positve Review,
By Bernie Hackensaw - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: All This Sounds Gas (Audio CD)
I realize that every review I've ever posted on Amazon has been a negative one. I'm not a negative person; I just want to prevent people from making the same mistakes I've made, such as buying "The Man Who Was Dr. Seuss." So, I wanted to finally add something positive to this website and rather than give OK Computer its 1,200th 5-star review I'd like to try to turn someone on to this tragically underrated album. Scott Kannberg (aka Spiral Stairs) took all the most melodic and beautiful elements of Pavement's best work and brought them to PSOI. I wholeheartedly agree with other reviewers that All This Sounds Gas easily trumps any of Malkmus's post-Pavement efforts. Download the free Whalebones mp3 above. If you don't like that than take a high-powered rifle and kindly remove yourself from the gene pool. If you do then buy the album; you won't regret it.
P.S. I got a chance to meet Kannberg at an LA show and he's a geniunely nice guy! 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
...and the other half,
By Rob Damm - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: All This Sounds Gas (Audio CD)
Sometimes, you don't know what you have until it's gone. I guess I never realized what an important element of Pavement Spiral Stairs was until I heard SM's solo album... while I love "Stephen Malkmus", it's missing the Spiral Stairs tunes that always served as such as great counterpoint to SM's erudite musings. Well, fear not, because there is almost an hour's worth of those tunes contained within the slime-green CD that is "All This Sounds Gas". The album is lo-fi sounding--- think pre-"Brighten The Corners" sonically. Guitars sound real, drums primitive, vocals alive. Musically, it's guitar-pop with a few countryish touches. It reminded me a little of the Frank Black album "Dog in The Sand". There are some very strong tunes. Overall, I'm not as in love with it as SM's solo album, but it's a great, tunefull and well-written album that will spend plenty of time in any Pavement fan's CD player. |
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