R. Stevie Moore
Ariel Pink’s Picks Volume One
(Personal Injury/Light in the Attic Records 2015)

Because R. Stevie Moore has been so prolific for so long, most of his LP and CD releases have been career-spanning compilations that cherry-pick the compiler’s personal favorites from across the decades. Which means in part that aside from their consistently high quality, each compilation is pretty much down to the curator’s tastes. Ariel Pink , who was known in the tape-trading underground as an R. Stevie Moore superfan way, way before his major-label deal (he once wrote and recorded a song called “R. Stevie’s Brain”) naturally appears to favor the RSM songs that match his own personal style. So this batch of songs dates, non-chronologically, from between 1973 and 1984. This isn’t so much because those 11 years were the high point of Stevie’s career — he’s done fantastic work before and after that stretch — but because that’s clearly the musical era that’s closest to Ariel Pink’s heart. Even a casual listen to one of Pink’s albums makes it plain that he’s well-versed in vintage Top 40 sounds from the classic rock era, which constantly reveal themselves in idiosyncratic ways in his own songs. That description also fits R. Stevie Moore, whose love for sturdy, melodic pop songwriting underpins even some of his most freewheeling experiments. It’s telling that one of the oddest songs here, the nearly nine-minute stylistic collage “Safe, Reliable and Courteous,” also features probably the most insidiously catchy hook line of the bunch. Elsewhere, it’s hard not to just lay out some of the high points one at a time. “Benefit of the Doubt” bounces along on a rubbery, melodic bass line reminiscent of one of Paul McCartney ‘s more upbeat Wings -era rockers. “Here Comes Summer Again” is a synths-and-harmonies bit of sunshine pop more effective than anything on The Beach Boys Love You . “Girl Go” sets a yearning falsetto melody against a thumping two-step drum machine beat. “Come My Way” is as affectionate a ’60s pop pastiche as anything the Flamin’ Groovies ever did, but with a purer rock ‘n’ roll heart. “Father Goes” and “Don’t Be Ridiculous” are fine examples of Stevie’s moodier side, all close-miked acoustic guitars and vocals, while the woozy “We’re In Vietnam” matches a Rundgren- esque melody to a lost-love lyric that matches Harry Nilsson at his most endearingly scabrous (“Now she’s gone and I couldn’t give two shits…I do miss her tits”). At 17 tracks spread across four sides of hot-pink vinyl, Ariel Pink’s Picks Volume One holds together as a solid introduction, but if this is your first R. Stevie Moore album, know this: as great as these songs are, they’re not even the really top-shelf, classic Stevie. (Wait till you hear “Hobbies Galore,” “I Wanna Hit You” or “Part of the Problem”!) There’s so, so much more to discover.