Things That Are Great About Slow Century

– There’s video of “Black Walls”, and it opens the documentary.

– You can hear a snippet of Spiral and SM performing “Home” on KDVS.

– You get to hear a snippet of SM hosting his radio show at the U of VA

– They included a full performance of the original version of “The Hexx”, and it’s the really great one from the Bizarre Festival in 97, from German television.

– The version of “Forklift” in the outtakes section is very inspired and fun.

– You can watch SM struggling to remember the lyrics to “Frontwards” backstage before a performance.

– There’s footage of the band practicing “Flux = Rad” at Doug Easley’s studio, as well as giving an early version of “Discretion Grove” a try during rehearsals for the Terror Twilight sessions.

– An incredibly sloppy performance of “Box Elder” with Gary Young at a Philadelphia record store circa 1991

– An even sloppier version of “Shoot The Singer” a few minutes later.

– If you click on the “P” in Pavement on the documentary menu, there’s more extra footage including SM’s infamous handcuffs comment at the final show, and performances of “Unseen Power of the Picket Fence”, “Camera” and “Conduit For Sale!” in Athens in 1994.

– Bob telling the story of Gary Young’s departure from the band.

– Performances of “Silent Kid” and “Range Life” with a very enthusiastic and animated guy with a backwards red cap in the audience, circa 1994.

– A full live performance of an early version of “Fight This Generation”, with the “I’m an animal” chant at the end.

– The story of Pavement’s experience at the West Virginia stop on the Lollapalooza tour.

– Footage of the second half of “Half A Canyon” on the Lollapalooza tour.

– Footage of SM performing “Expressway To Yr Skull” with Sonic Youth.

– SM talking to the weird German guy at the Bizarre festival, who asks them if they will save rock and roll. SM: “It’s a hard burden, but we’ll save it.”

– Footage from the Lesson In Songwriting on VPRO – “For Sale – The Preston School of Industry”!

– SM kicking Scott Baio out the band.

– Bob on why “Farewell Horizontal” is a terrible name for an album.

– A very strong live version of “Cut Your Hair” on the Terror Twilight tour, easily one of the best performances on either disc.

– Bob talking about why he’s no longer the tour manager.

– A teenager proclaiming that the Pavement show he just saw was “so much better than the Deftones concert!”

– A live version of “She Believes” with Gary Young.

– The final three songs they ever played live (“Stop Breathin'”, “Conduit For Sale!”, and “Here”), which makes me misty-eyed. The version of “Here” is more similar to the album version than the typical heavy live version, by the way.

– The very funny, very bitter computer-read comments from Tom Surgal for the “Rattled By La Rush” video.

– Dan Koretsky and Rian Murphy’s wry commentaries for the “Cut Your Hair” and “Painted Soldiers” videos.

– The hilarious “K-Rock” guy footage at the El Ray. Can someone please let me know who that guy is?

– “Trigger Cut” performed on the very first Pavement tour at Coney Island High

– A snippet of Malkmus playing R.E.M.’s “7 Chinese Bros.”

– The inclusion of Bob and Westy’s cute little “Cymbal Stand” song.

Minor complaints:

* Why are there two versions of “Date With IKEA” on the second disc? Couldn’t we have had a different song, maybe “Kennel D” instead? You only hear “Kennel D” in passing in the documentary, which is a shame because it was a set staple for three tours, and Spiral’s most popular Pavement tune. “You Are A Light” would have been a nice addition too, since it was the best live song from the Terror Twilight era besides “The Hexx”.

* Though I can understand why it was glossed over, I feel that some of the reasons why Pavement ended should’ve been addressed in the documentary. In fact, they never actually say Pavement is over at any point – it’s as if they wanted to leave it open so if the band did eventually reform, the DVD wouldn’t look silly.

* Was there a good reason why the entire Manchester show wasn’t included? It seems like that was a better show than the Seattle concert which is presented in its entirety.