Buy Now
| Buy on |
|
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
Aug 12, 2015In 2015, it sounds like Eden. But it doesn't sound dated--mainly because so many bands are still feasting on Pavement's ideas.
-
Aug 12, 2015Any record containing tracks of this quality, as well as 24 others of a similarly high standard, is always worth releasing, whether or not it feels academically or artistically necessary.
-
Aug 11, 2015Secret History gives Pavement some credit by pulling these tracks out on their own, instead of a collection of afterthoughts stuffed in the back of a remastered box set. This isn't just bonus material, this is pure Pavement gold.
-
Aug 11, 2015This is an album that’s strictly for vinyl completists who can’t stomach the idea of owning their favorite band’s recordings in a digital format. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this.
-
Aug 21, 2015It's pretty intimate and will be deeply appreciated (especially the outtakes) if you're a fan.
-
Aug 17, 2015These are recordings that have never seen release on vinyl and, collected together, they do amount to a vibrant, exciting snapshot of Pavement at their wildest. For that specific audience, this is certainly worthwhile.
-
MojoAug 11, 2015The songs remain brilliantly elliptical surveys, often of contemporary America. [Sep 2015, p.103]
-
Q MagazineAug 11, 2015A collection of B-sides, Peel Sessions, alternative takes and unreleased tracks which reveal that the Californians were undergoing a spell of prolific creativity bordering on incontinence. [Sep 2015, p.121]
-
Aug 20, 2015This is material and history that has already been covered and celebrated by fans and journalists alike many times over. As a vinyl-only reissue, Matador is focused a on a very specific and very curious quadrant of consumers, but those that need what is the first in many likely volumes are assuredly still going to get their money’s worth.
-
Aug 12, 2015All of these songs were available as part of the 2002 Slanted & Enchanted: Luxe & Reduxe 2XCD. Right, all of them. Even the liner notes included here.... If you're looking for silver linings, it’s the first time 25 of the 30 songs have appeared on vinyl--purists, there’s that. And, of course, the music itself is mostly great.
-
UncutAug 11, 2015This is essentially the same clutch of B-sides, outtakes and live tracks you'll already own if you shelled out for 2002's Slanted And Enchanted (Luxe and Reduxe) edition, sans the mother album itself. [Sep 2015, p.94]
-
The WireAug 14, 2015Vol 1 collects the same tracks as the bonus disc from 2002's Luxe Reduxe reissue.... It's a little bizarre. [Aug 2015, p.67]
-
Aug 12, 2015As an alternative introduction to one of our greatest bands, or a gateway towards getting to know them a little better, it is excellent. If you’re a superfan already, then the novelty of having this particular collection of songs you already own in a nice gatefold package is about as far as it will go.
-
Aug 11, 2015Overall The Secret History (Volume 1) is a well constructed and complete portrait of an early Pavement, but with the release's main audience being the avid fan (and with all these tracks available on 2002's 'Luxe and Redux' reissue of 'Slanted...') this leaves only the mad and the keen with a turntable who'll truly want it.
-
Aug 17, 2015If you've already heard 2002's tenth-anniversary reissue of the group's debut album, Slanted and Enchanted, then you've already heard everything compiled here.
-
Aug 17, 2015It’s hard not to be cynical about such repackaging, even if the music within is so special.