Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks: 27/28 - 2002

27
2002/04/28, Buenos Aires
Old Jerry
Wipeout
Witch mountain bridge
The hook
Grab it and gone
Fractions and feelings
Toto jam
Here

My own selection of highlights from the Buenos Aires show.

'Old Jerry' - Malkmus's always had the gift for wringing emotion from the most inhospitable lines, but even so the sweet unfullfilled longing captured in the way he sings 'Old Jerry / Ride the canary' is something to hear. Ride the canary? It makes sense when he sings it. 'The heart is bigger than a hockey puck' also does it for me in a big way. Malkmus' 'Blind Willie McTell' if you will – excised from the album it would without doubt been a/the highlight of (as it would be for most albums in the world). You kind of see the point – which other songs could possibly be sequenced around it?

'Old Jerry' takes us back to the open-ended desire (you want something but you can't name it) of older songs like 'Grounded' or 'Here' – indeed, a large part of 'Wowee zowee' is built on that feeling ('Pueblo', 'Motion suggests itself'...). Though it's definitely got a structure (most versions of it go through the same sections in roughly the same order), it doesn't feel it. It's an extended reverie, verses and choruses and solos drifting by on that cushiony bed of dry drums, minimalist bass and rippling electric piano chords. Like 'Dark star', I could sequence all the versions I've amassed one after the other, and just listen to it indefinitely (there are only six known versions though, including the released studio take - we'll discuss them in the notes coming up).

With songs like 'Old Jerry' and 'Pink India' and 'Witch mountain bridge' you know you're into something special as a Malkmus-fan.

'Wipeout' (a 45 second attempt at the surf classic) and 'Toto jam' are dumb fun. In fact, the Toto jam (named by Malkmus but musically the work of Moen and Clark, you can hear Joanna refuse to participate at the start) points to an interesting dialectic in the band (in my opinion). To me, the three drummers of the Jicks designate the three eras of the band. And each drummer bonded differently within the band, accentuating different aspects of the band. At the very start John Moen played to Stephen – in the 2001 shows you can hear that dialog. But as time went on there was a growing Moen – Clark affiliation, which is a pretty cool and distinctive baseline for the music: drummer – keyboards. Mike never did play as much keyboards again after John Moen left, picking up the guitar in a big way during the Weiss years (especially live) and only now returning a bit (which I think is a very good thing – his melodic ideas on the keyboard are more unique than those on the guitar). We'll discuss the other drummers later, but during the Weiss years the base of the music was the Janet – Joanna bass and drums axis. Jake Morris is going for a direct dialog with Stephen again, which is interesting. It can't be easy, it's what Westie did very well in my opinion.
Maybe it's just my imagination.

'The hook' starts off with an exotic drum solo – possibly inspired by Tom Zé's crazy rhythms (which Stephen mentions on the Abril Pro Rock set). Love it – except they completely fumble it trying to land into the song. Oops...

A first appearance for another song which nearly made it onto 'Pig lib', 'Fractions and feelings'. Luckily we got to hear a definitive version of this lovely wistful song on the 'Pig lib' bonus disc. 'Dynamic calories' and 'Fractions and feelings' are the proto-'Lariat'.

The set ends (?sounds like they're gearing up for something else afterwards) with a great version of 'Here'. Unlike the previous 'In the mouth...' and 'Gold soundz' this one the Jicks really take on, delivering a version which is their own. Truth be told, I always felt the Pavement live version of 'Here' -the distorted version with big drums- was misdirected and ineffective. They didn't dare engage with the real emotion of the song, and they botched it (there's some late '99 versions where they finally realise it's supposed to be a slow and soft song). The Jicks make no such mistakes, this one's a keeper.

Anyway, the next month the Jicks would start recording their second album. These South American dates capture them on the brink. And the new songs played make it clear that they had either a different idea of their next album than the one they ended up with or they didn't have a set idea yet. In Buenos Aires 'Grab it and gone' is introduced as a song from the new album. It could have gone in different directions from here.

28
2002?
Memory pull

The only complete version of 'Memory pull' I know is an undated one. I can't make up my mind if it's an earlier or later incarnation than the Abril Pro Rock version.

Even in this less than perfect recording the song stands up as a Lou Reed influenced groove (dig that Reed-esque opening line 'Jenny came down here from Rhode Island').

The reason I'd like it to be an earlier version is that Mike plays a rollicking piano part here – but I like the organ on the Abril Pro Rock version better. However there's something definitive about this version. Something tells me this was the final version.

The solos (last 2 minutes) are just as satisfying as in the other version.

But that's sadly the last we hear from this song.