Stephen Malkmus - Jenny & The Ess-Dog [Import]

If you want to know how good Stephen Malkmus is, listen to the A-side, an affectingly ironic portrait of a May-December romance between a burnt-out guitarist and a starry-eyed coed that sounds deeper because of his off-hand, tossed-off delivery. And if you want to know why he broke up the band, check out the three B-sides, all covers, all recorded live in Germany in February of 2001. On the surface, these are all "eclectic," since they are covers of '70s boogie (Black Oak Arkansas' "Keep the Faith"), record-collector obscuro (Lobby Loyde & the Coloured Balls' "That's What Mama Said"), and post-punk weirdness (the Wipers' "Alien Boy"), but SM & the Jicks treat them all like blazing rockers. Read More