Best Stephen Malkmus Solo Album

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Poll Results

OptionVotes
2001 - Stephen Malkmus 20
2003 - Pig Lib 15
2008- Real Emotional Trash 13
2005 - Face The Truth 12


Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 16 September 2010 19:39 (fifteen years ago)

FtT>PL>SM>RET

mizzell, Thursday, 16 September 2010 19:40 (fifteen years ago)

r.e.t. is the only one of these i can deal with

call all destroyer, Thursday, 16 September 2010 19:40 (fifteen years ago)

Toe-ring

Excluding Skits and Such (Eazy), Thursday, 16 September 2010 19:41 (fifteen years ago)

Pig Lib over SM

dmr, Thursday, 16 September 2010 19:41 (fifteen years ago)

PIg Lib is the only whose affectations really grate.

Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 16 September 2010 19:41 (fifteen years ago)

Inspired by returning to FTT for the first time since 2006 and finding lots of good, goofy moments ("Mama," "Post-Paint Boy," "Freeze The Saints").

Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 16 September 2010 19:44 (fifteen years ago)

he's got some really great b-sides too

Dynamic Calories
Fractions and Feelings
Old Jerry
The Poet and the Witch (live)
Shake it Around (live)
Wow Ass Jeans
Walk Into the Mirror
Pennywhistle Thunder
Carl the Clod

mizzell, Thursday, 16 September 2010 19:46 (fifteen years ago)

never given him a second chance after the abortion that is his solo debut

Dr. Lol Evans (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 16 September 2010 19:47 (fifteen years ago)

face the truth is the only one i haven't really gotten into. not sure, i should revisit it.

tylerw, Thursday, 16 September 2010 19:47 (fifteen years ago)

I use those lines from "Pink India" all the time: "I had a crap gin and tonic/It wounded me."

Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 16 September 2010 19:48 (fifteen years ago)

^^^ love that so much

aerosmith: live at gunpoint (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Thursday, 16 September 2010 19:59 (fifteen years ago)

to me it felt like real emotional trash was the best one since the debut but I was listening to other stuff in '08 so I never really got to know it and now I totally have no idea where my copy of it is but if I turn it up well look out world

aerosmith: live at gunpoint (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Thursday, 16 September 2010 20:00 (fifteen years ago)

I'd probably vote for the s/t if the second side ("Ess-Dog" excepted) didn't drift ("vague space" is an apt descriptor).

Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 16 September 2010 20:00 (fifteen years ago)

<3 real emotional trash, but can't believe he left off "walk into the mirror" and "mr. jolly" -- both wonderful tunes.

tylerw, Thursday, 16 September 2010 20:04 (fifteen years ago)

apparently janet didn't like "walk into the mirror"

mizzell, Thursday, 16 September 2010 20:05 (fifteen years ago)

boooooo janet

tylerw, Thursday, 16 September 2010 20:07 (fifteen years ago)

i put on ftt the other day and was astounded by how downbeat it is once you get past those first couple tracks

love it

p.m.s.b. (pre-mall smoke bomb) (zorn_bond.mp3), Thursday, 16 September 2010 20:07 (fifteen years ago)

i have a radio session from around the time of face the truth that's just malkmus playing solo acoustic -- he could have a career as a psych-folk troubadour if he wanted to.

tylerw, Thursday, 16 September 2010 20:09 (fifteen years ago)

ummmmmmmm ysi?

p.m.s.b. (pre-mall smoke bomb) (zorn_bond.mp3), Thursday, 16 September 2010 20:10 (fifteen years ago)

do want

p.m.s.b. (pre-mall smoke bomb) (zorn_bond.mp3), Thursday, 16 September 2010 20:10 (fifteen years ago)

it's on disc somewheres, but i'll dig it out for ya when i get a chance.

tylerw, Thursday, 16 September 2010 20:12 (fifteen years ago)

yeah I would listen to that & be taking notes tbqf

aerosmith: live at gunpoint (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Thursday, 16 September 2010 20:13 (fifteen years ago)

can i post a yousendit link here? or will i get in all kindsa trouble. this is unofficial stuff.

tylerw, Thursday, 16 September 2010 20:22 (fifteen years ago)

if it's unofficial it's cool iirc?

p.m.s.b. (pre-mall smoke bomb) (zorn_bond.mp3), Thursday, 16 September 2010 20:25 (fifteen years ago)

i think this still works -- not my link, just where I originally got it: http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=batch_download&batch_id=Q01HcXlpSWVtUUZFQlE9PQ lemme know.

tylerw, Thursday, 16 September 2010 20:29 (fifteen years ago)

Never heard the RET b-sides.

Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 16 September 2010 20:30 (fifteen years ago)

Expired link, tyler

Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 16 September 2010 20:30 (fifteen years ago)

doh!
i'll have to dig it out then ...

tylerw, Thursday, 16 September 2010 20:35 (fifteen years ago)

yeah i googled for this and no dice :/

p.m.s.b. (pre-mall smoke bomb) (zorn_bond.mp3), Thursday, 16 September 2010 20:36 (fifteen years ago)

and my googling is legendary

p.m.s.b. (pre-mall smoke bomb) (zorn_bond.mp3), Thursday, 16 September 2010 20:36 (fifteen years ago)

He played solo at Pitchfork that year as well, must be audio/video of that somewhere.

Excluding Skits and Such (Eazy), Thursday, 16 September 2010 20:37 (fifteen years ago)

here's some of the session on video ... and i guess it is probably archived on the kcrw site?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC3CCA2zHHg

tylerw, Thursday, 16 September 2010 20:38 (fifteen years ago)

oh ok kcrw cool

p.m.s.b. (pre-mall smoke bomb) (zorn_bond.mp3), Thursday, 16 September 2010 20:39 (fifteen years ago)

http://www.stephenmalkmus.com/punbb/upload/viewtopic.php?id=5843

p.m.s.b. (pre-mall smoke bomb) (zorn_bond.mp3), Thursday, 16 September 2010 20:40 (fifteen years ago)

pig lib > face the truth > stephen malkmus > trash

first 3 are all pretty close though, and the self titled has a few of my favorite solo malkmus songs ('church on white'!)

ciderpress, Thursday, 16 September 2010 20:41 (fifteen years ago)

first 3 are all pretty close though, and the self titled has a few of my favorite solo malkmus songs ('church on white' the hook!)

mizzell, Thursday, 16 September 2010 20:42 (fifteen years ago)

Rob Sheffield wrote a moving bit on 9-11 in which he mentions wandering dazed around NYC listening to "Church on White."

Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 16 September 2010 20:43 (fifteen years ago)

yeah, church on white ... is that malkmus' best-ever guitar solo? maybe.

tylerw, Thursday, 16 September 2010 20:48 (fifteen years ago)

the song has always sounded to my ears like "You Are the Sunshine of My Life"'s dark angel.

Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 16 September 2010 20:52 (fifteen years ago)

i like "Deado" off the debut. gramted it's mostly for that "oh yeah!" sample. gets me every time.

Moreno, Thursday, 16 September 2010 21:02 (fifteen years ago)

man is that an sm7 he's using? kinda hating those lately /geek

aerosmith: live at gunpoint (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Thursday, 16 September 2010 21:03 (fifteen years ago)

that raga thing tylerw is pretty dope! what record is that on.

Fartbritz Sootzveti (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 16 September 2010 21:11 (fifteen years ago)

no more shoes? it's on face the truth.

tylerw, Thursday, 16 September 2010 21:12 (fifteen years ago)

I only really feel like I know Stephen Malkmus and Pig Lib so I'll go with Pig Lib. I really love the bonus Pig Lib bonus tracks cd with Dynamic Calories, Fractions and Feelings, Old Jerry etc. Would prob vote for that if allowed!

cajunsunday, Thursday, 16 September 2010 21:43 (fifteen years ago)

you can vote for that in one of the matador polls

mizzell, Thursday, 16 September 2010 21:44 (fifteen years ago)

¡Olé! It's the Matador Records Poll! Part Doce: 551-600
I almost did.

mizzell, Thursday, 16 September 2010 21:45 (fifteen years ago)

btw for any crazy geeks that want to mp3 that shit (since apparently the whole set of 6 songs is on youtube? or are there more tyler?)

listentoyoutube.com

v v v helpful

p.m.s.b. (pre-mall smoke bomb) (zorn_bond.mp3), Thursday, 16 September 2010 21:46 (fifteen years ago)

the first one is by far the best. some days i even like it better than terror twilight

sonderangerbot, Thursday, 16 September 2010 21:50 (fifteen years ago)

yeah, the debut is the answer

Zeno, Thursday, 16 September 2010 21:50 (fifteen years ago)

i like all of them better than tt

mizzell, Thursday, 16 September 2010 21:50 (fifteen years ago)

man the solo malediction in that kcrw set is insane

p.m.s.b. (pre-mall smoke bomb) (zorn_bond.mp3), Thursday, 16 September 2010 21:56 (fifteen years ago)

pig lib owns! one (1) "vanessa from queens" and zero (0) "phantasies" is the reason it owns.

btw outside a pavement show the other night, near the tour bus zone, i saw a guy in a last plane to jakarta t-shirt showing his friend a recently-taken cellphone picture of himself with stephen (or, to paraphrase the gentlemen in question, "steve," as in, "hey, check out me and steve").

del griffith, Thursday, 16 September 2010 22:05 (fifteen years ago)

could've been some other guy named steve i suppose, i mean i didn't see the picture but he sure did seem awful proud of it

del griffith, Thursday, 16 September 2010 22:06 (fifteen years ago)

Pig Lib is the most Pavement of all the SM solo albums, but the self-titled disc probably gets my nod. It's an incredibly charming little record.

I never thought I could like a Malkmus album as little as Real Emotional Trash, though.

Evan R, Thursday, 16 September 2010 22:07 (fifteen years ago)

Always repped for the self-titled, but listened to Pig Lib the other night and now think it's got the best mix of winsome Malk (Vanessa from Queens, Ramp of Death, Us) + badassery (Water and a Seat, Sheets, Dark Wave) + at least one underrated in-between song (Animal Midnight). The last two records are nice but I can't really think of too many highlights between them.

Vaguely Threatening CAPTCHAs, Thursday, 16 September 2010 23:27 (fifteen years ago)

can i just btw thank u tyler for that kcrw set cause i have just had it on repeat all day and it is joy

p.m.s.b. (pre-mall smoke bomb) (zorn_bond.mp3), Thursday, 16 September 2010 23:28 (fifteen years ago)

Shocked at the hatred for R.E.T. Malkmus' solo career is one of the most underrated indie rock "things" of the 00's tho...So many great songs (esp. the B-sides...).

Badmotorfinger Debate Club (MFB), Friday, 17 September 2010 05:39 (fifteen years ago)

Face The Truth

da croupier, Friday, 17 September 2010 05:51 (fifteen years ago)

i remember the early word on the debut was so bad and the cover/full page ad in spin mag provoked so much mockery and derision that by the time the thing actually came out it actually sounded fresh, definitely liked it more than terror twilight though i haven't heard it (aside from random hearings of 'jenny and the ess-dog' over the years) since 2001. pig lib i hated so much when it came out but have done a complete 180 on since, it's the only solo malkmus i've played with any regularity since. face the truth i loved a great deal at the time, it was almost everything i wanted a malkmus solo record to be, but i haven't played it in forever either. real emotional trash i think i listened to twice when it came out and promptly forgot. pretty sure 'church on white' would still be my fave song but voted pig lib.

balls, Friday, 17 September 2010 06:42 (fifteen years ago)

also the debut feels like one of the last moments i can remember when indie rock still worked like that, when by and large the only way you heard a record before it came out was you knew someone at the local altweekly/college radio station/record store who got a promo, before leaks were a major factor, and before pitchfork was really setting the agenda. one thing at the heart of 'gold soundz' topping that pfork list is that its so about what loving indie rock was like in the 90s, it's a cuddlier 'gimme indie rock' basically, and that indie rock so doesn't work that way anymore, pfork sorta killed that specific sense of indie community (and if they hadn't something else would've). no more secrets.

balls, Friday, 17 September 2010 06:55 (fifteen years ago)

Pig Lib was my favourite album of 2003, so that. The first one was lots of fun, kind of wacky for Malkmus, but also lots of pretty bits. The third one moved me barely more than an inch, while the fourth one just hasn't stuck, despite soem nifty guitar work.

village idiot (dog latin), Friday, 17 September 2010 09:08 (fifteen years ago)

think theres a noticeable difference with what he's doing on the jicks albums (pig lib/RET) and solo (SM/FTT). think RET and SM are the best of the two as complete albums, although theres good and bad on each. interesting that with the upcoming (beck-produced?) album he might be aiming between the two camps a bit.

b-sides album would be a serious contender, though.

matt h, Friday, 17 September 2010 10:09 (fifteen years ago)

think theres a noticeable difference with what he's doing on the jicks albums (pig lib/RET) and solo (SM/FTT).
always a little confused by this -- they're all essentially Jicks records, regardless of whether "jicks" is on the cover, right? Same people are playing on all of them, i think (aside from the drummer switch on the last one).

tylerw, Friday, 17 September 2010 15:06 (fifteen years ago)

and glad people are digging that kcrw set, it is very cool. other sm solo shows i've heard are kinda rowdy singalong affairs, but the kcrw thing seems more measured and thought out.

tylerw, Friday, 17 September 2010 15:07 (fifteen years ago)

all four of these are great, but pig lib's my favorite. never thought i'd hear something as zeppelin epic as "1% of one" or "witch mountain bridge" out of him

kamerad, Friday, 17 September 2010 18:40 (fifteen years ago)

Real Emotional Trash > Pig Lib > Stephen Malkmus > Face The Truth

Arghn, Saturday, 18 September 2010 14:03 (fifteen years ago)

it's face the truth for me, but mostly by default...

charlie h, Saturday, 18 September 2010 14:06 (fifteen years ago)

think the jicks/non-jicks albums are separated by writing approaches. for FTT, SM has said how most of the album was demo'd and recorded by him, with the jicks adding some instrumentation later, compared to writing and recording the others along with the band in the studio.

matt h, Saturday, 18 September 2010 16:54 (fifteen years ago)

He's clearly drumming on "I've Hardly Been."

Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 18 September 2010 17:11 (fifteen years ago)

Real Emotional Trash

o. nate, Sunday, 19 September 2010 03:22 (fifteen years ago)

SM did quite a bit of the drumming on the post-Gary Pavement records fwiw. I think BTC is the only one West got full reign of the kit on.

Fartbritz Sootzveti (Steve Shasta), Sunday, 19 September 2010 05:24 (fifteen years ago)

My prob with "Face The Truth" is a lot of it (particularly the song titles) sound like a self-parody.

village idiot (dog latin), Sunday, 19 September 2010 13:24 (fifteen years ago)

just posted that kcrw session + another radio session over here: http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/

tylerw, Monday, 20 September 2010 03:41 (fifteen years ago)

oh man is that yer blog i <3 it a lot

p.m.s.b. (pre-mall smoke bomb) (zorn_bond.mp3), Monday, 20 September 2010 03:44 (fifteen years ago)

thanks tyler

kamerad, Monday, 20 September 2010 03:54 (fifteen years ago)

and great picture of malkmus on that post

kamerad, Monday, 20 September 2010 03:55 (fifteen years ago)

no prob, dudes -- hope you dig it.

tylerw, Monday, 20 September 2010 15:05 (fifteen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

System, Tuesday, 21 September 2010 23:01 (fifteen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

System, Wednesday, 22 September 2010 23:01 (fifteen years ago)

wow

"SEX" drought, 2 wisks (zorn_bond.mp3), Wednesday, 22 September 2010 23:04 (fifteen years ago)

look what whiney and lex did -- they drove voters into this thread.

raging hetero lifechill (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 22 September 2010 23:09 (fifteen years ago)

could've been like steve malkmus :(

mittens reduxeo, Thursday, 23 September 2010 02:33 (fifteen years ago)

i would've voted Pig Lib, myself.

LAMBDA LAMBDA LANDA (Beatrix Kiddo), Friday, 24 September 2010 20:46 (fifteen years ago)

can someone explain the major RET love to me? i ask because i kind of hate that record relatively speaking. it's the one malk disc i never wanna throw on.

LAMBDA LAMBDA LANDA (Beatrix Kiddo), Friday, 24 September 2010 20:50 (fifteen years ago)

I can't quite handle the whole thing at one sitting, but this thread inspired me to pull out Pig Lib again after a long break. Do Not Feed The Oysters and Water and a Seat remain pretty great. Whole album makes me wish he'd collaborated with Yes or something like that. Definitely want more weird-o time signature stuff from him.

dlp9001, Sunday, 26 September 2010 03:53 (fifteen years ago)

don't know if he has the chops yet to hang with chris squire, but he's getting there. pretty amazing that he's gone from mark e. smith jr in the early days to acidfolkprog jam dude. not many have bridged such extremes so well

kamerad, Sunday, 26 September 2010 15:47 (fifteen years ago)


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