Pavement's Brighten The Corners On Vinyl: Awesome, Expensive

Is this really the way it has to go down? Are the indie record labels really going to start playing us just like the majors do, and keep rereleasing the same material, but tagging on "bonus" tracks to make each new release "essential" to collectors? Argh. It seems that way, doesn't it Matador?

The most frustrating part about this situation, is that this release sounds so awesome. To put it simply: Matador has decided to release Brighten The Corners: Nicene Creedence Edition as a 4-record vinyl set. The set will encompass the entirety of Nicene Creedence, plus eight new tracks that were not included on that disc, five of which are previously unreleased. From the official press release:

This super deluxe M-Pak accordion style box set comes with a 16-page, 12" x 12" full color booklet, MP3 coupon, and huge essay by New Yorker critic Alex Ross. The vinyl edition of this album also contains eight extra tracks not on the CD, five of which are previously unreleased and including the track "Agony of the Stars." Also includes material from the CD version: the re-mastered original twelve song album, ten non-album B-sides, ten outtakes, and fourteen live radio session tracks. The wealth of extra material testifies to the extraordinary creativity of the band in this period.

Here's where we start to get a little cranky: we love vinyl, we love Pavement bonus material, but this kind of sucks. We dropped twenty-some-odd dollars on the Nicene Creedence preorder, and managed to get all the goodies and vinyl that came along with that. It felt pretty complete, you know: all the tracks, in one place, happily arranged. Enter the new vinyl release, and now our completist copy of Nicene Creedence is decidedly un-completist.

To add insult to injury, the set is definitely on the pricey side: a whopping eighty dollars for the package. Now, we know nice vinyl costs cash, but at $20 a disc, that's definitely on the pricey side. Perhaps most frustrating is the fact that we will probably end up shelling out for it. In our eyes, Brighten The Corners is a high point in the band's career, and having a nice crisp vinyl copy of it is more than tempting. If you're in the same boat, you can preorder at Insound.

Argh, to say the least.

mp3: Pavement - Type Slowly (Live, From The Nicene Creedence Bonus LP)