Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks: 25/26 - 2002

25
2002/04/??, Abril Pro Rock (Rio de Janeiro)
Chromatic advisor
JoJo's jacket
Vague space
Witch mountain bridge
Church on white
Memory pull
Jenny & the ess-dog
In the mouth a desert

Shortly before commencing recording on their second album (Mike Clark's first), the Jicks travelled to South America for a short tour. They came packed with new songs, a sense of urgency, and some Pavement songs for an audience that never got to see that band.

Of course the first thing to notice here is 'Chromatic advisor' – a Malkmus original, all set to get recorded, that was never heard from again. And it's a cracker – with a slinky, somewhat doomy, chromatic (yes) riff which sort of transposes itself sideways for the choruses. Cool electric piano too. Maybe Stephen decided in the end that it was too much of a one trick song, but I'm not complaining. It keeps my attention throughout – and it's got a cool breakdown section. Could've been quite something.

Btw, I dig the way, on this recording, you can hear a recurring jingle 'Cidade' at all the right moments.

'Memory pull' is another one that got lost. A meandering late-Velvet Underground groove with great (Winwood-esque?) organ from Mike. VU-meets-Traffic? Now there's a thought. Would've been my favorite version of this song, if not for the fact that the recording start halfway through the first chorus. What follows is very good, though, an amazing spiralling solo.

Either one of these two could've easily been included on the 'Pig lib' bonus disc (or instead of 'Shake it around').

Then there's a right-on rendition of 'Witch mountain bridge' – obviously they know they've got a great one there –, a couple of nice pop songs from the first album (I particularly like the fierce solo on 'JoJo's jacket'), and to close, 'In the mouth a desert', played sort of like when Jerry Lee Lewis or Chuck Berry tour their classics backed by nightly different local bar bands. Wherever they end up, there's always an enthusiastic bar band ready to step up. It's a gutsy rendition that never makes me forget the great Pavement versions I've heard (but then, why should it?)

26
2002, april?, South American/Asian tour
Grab it and gone
(Do not feed the) oyster
(Musikaos, tv-show)

Gold soundz (Seoul)

Phantasies
The hook
(Fnac, Sao Paulo)

More recordings from the South American tour, scavenged from YouTube.

Two new songs from the Musikaos TV show (they also played 'JoJo's jacket' and 'Jenny & the Ess-dog'), among them a first time appearance for another discarded song 'Grab it and gone' (sometimes known as 'Gravity bong').

Straying from the topic: It's weird how obseqious the host is ('You have all the time you need...'). This seems like the right time to mention my belief that the best music in the world was made in Brazil between 1967 and 1977. Why should a talk show host who presumably can get Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Marcos Valle, Edu Lobo, Lo Borges, Tom Ze, Milton Nascimento, stray Mutantes, Jorge Ben or a dozen other exceptional artists to appear on his show be so impressed by any American artist? Anyway, back to the topic.

Great version of 'Grab it and gone' – probably my favorite. Maybe that's just cause I can see 'em doing it. Joanna on drums, John on bass, Mike on percussion. Another classic rock one which ended up forgotten. Almost an 'Exile on Main Street'-riff. As far as riff-songs go, this one beats 'Shake it around' any day. 'Oyster' is dead-on too.

Two more tracks from an in-store appearance at Fnac, Sao Paulo. I can't mention anything unique about these versions, they just have a nice easy-going, free-flowing vibe (sure, I dig the Grateful Dead too).

And in between, a version of 'Gold soundz' from Seoul in 2002. I have no idea when that tour happened. Like 'In the mouth a desert' in Rio – gutsy, sort of unfocused, but hey, I'd scream too if it happened!

I keep coming back to 'Grab it and gone' and 'Oyster' though.