“Spit on a Stranger” – Nickel Creek
(Words/Music: Stephen Malkmus, available on This Side, Sugar Hill 2002)

One of the consequences of having a large music library is that certain artifacts fall through the cracks.  Whether a LP gets lost in storage, a CD gets lost under a car seat, or an MP3 gets lost in some secluded sub-folder, we can go months or years without hearing a specific record.  Sometimes, these are old favorites hiding out until we rediscover them and fall back in love.  Even though I’d rather not lose track of a favorite record, the moment of reunion and the countless plays afterward almost makes up for the lost time.  At times, I know I have far too much music for my own good due to addictions to thrift store record bins and used CD racks (not to mention downloading), and I occasionally want to forego new music (or new to me at least) in order to rediscover some things I haven’t listened to in ages (or never gave enough listens to in the first place).

Still, some songs and records seem destined for the dark corners of my record collection.  Specifically, I have a fair amount of “gimmicky” records – things I checked out based mostly on the premise.  For whatever reason, I was intrigued by these albums.  A string quartet tribute to OK Computer? The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra playing the songs of U2? I have these records somewhere (and others like this) and listened to them at least once (some of them more often).  Looking back, these seemed destined to find their way to a cardboard box in the back of my closet.  It seems like these records boomed in the late ‘90s for whatever reason, and they still exist today yet don’t seem as prevalent (although, to be fair, I’m not spending as much time browsing in record stores these days as I did a decade ago, and I’d likely go right past a violin reinterpretation of Fall Out Boy).  Instead, I see these “gimmick” songs as MP3s, whether they are things like Ben Folds covering Dr. Dre or a bluegrass cover band calling themselves Hayseed Dixie (say it out loud and you’ll figure out who they cover).  This isn’t to say these aren’t fun – often, they’re very enjoyable.  However, these songs rarely make it to my iTunes library – it’s usually one listen before being deleted.  Even if these songs make it to my library, they’re usually forgotten unless added to a playlist immediately.

Nickel Creek’s cover of Pavement’s “Spit on a Stranger” fell into that second category.  I downloaded it years ago after finding out that the bluegrass band covered one of my favorite songs from Terror Twilight.  I stumbled across it this afternoon after going years without thinking about it, so I gave it a listen.  Two things jumped out at me listening to it now.  First, Nickel Creek does well with the song, emphasizing the bouncy feel that’s only hinted at in the original.  Even with a sunnier arrangement, “Spit on a Stranger” still feels right, and it only emphasizes how it (and a lot of Terror Twilight) has more in common with Stephen Malkmus’s earlier, song-focused solo work rather than the idiosyncratic direction Pavement went on prior albums.  The electric guitar that joins in about half way seems perfect too – giving their version a slightly rougher feel.  The second revelation I had was that while I enjoy music like this, I’d rather hear originals than a song I know.  I don’t know much (or really, anything) about bluegrass, and I imagine that Nickel Creek are kind of pop-bluegrass, but it’s hard for me to appreciate their musicianship when I’m trying not to compare it to the original.  Specifically, I’m distracted by the way the vocalist squeaks on the high notes, and it’s hard to focus on the subtleties of the arrangement when I’m busy cringing.  Overall, I’d rather hear Pavement’s version (it wasn’t really a fair fight), but there’s a place in my library for this cover version.  While I wouldn’t want to hear it every day, I don’t particularly want to go another four or five years without hearing it again.

More on Nickel Creek: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm