Pylon Box


Pylon Box is a 2020 box set compilation album of American alternative rock band Pylon, featuring remixed versions of their first two studio albums as well as over a dozen newly released tracks. It has received positive reviews from critics.

Reception

Editors at AllMusic rated this album 5 out of 5 stars, with critic Mark Deming writing that "Pylon's music challenging but also welcoming, and fun to dance to" and this compilation "is a glorious celebration of the group's original 1978 to 1983 run" and while he bemoans that 1990's Chain is not featured on this set, "Pylon Box is an otherwise near-flawless summation of a great and unique band, and it's absolutely worth every penny of its purchase price". In Glide Magazine, John Moore praised both the band's unique blend of musical influences and the care that New West Records displayed in making the assembling this packaging. Editors at Pitchfork scored this release 8.5 out of 10 and critic Marc Masters praised the band's musicianship across the years of recordings on this box set, also noting the influence the band had on subsequent musicians. Jon Dolan of Rolling Stone gave Pylon Box 4.5 out of 5 stars and ended his review, "From the very first moment they started playing, this was a band that was eons ahead of its time. Pylon Box is exactly the deep dive their incredible legacy deserves." Jason Anderson of Uncut rated this compilation 4.5 out of 5 stars and wrote that Pylon's "insistently rhythmic, continually surprising post-punk racket... can sound as thrilling as it surely did 40 years ago".

Track listing

All songs written by Randall Bewley, Curtis Crowe, Vanessa Briscoe Hay and Michael Lachowski.
Gyrate
  1. "Volume" – 4:13
  2. "Feast On My Heart" – 3:35
  3. "Precaution" – 2:48
  4. "Weather Radio" – 2:16
  5. "The Human Body" – 3:11
  6. "Read a Book" – 2:02
  7. "Driving School" – 3:53
  8. "Gravity" – 2:37
  9. "Danger" – 5:38
  10. "Working Is No Problem" – 3:29
  11. "Stop It" – 3:06
Chomp
  2. "K" – 4:14
  3. "Yo-Yo" – 3:23
  4. "Beep" – 2:01
  5. "Italian Movie Theme" – 3:13
  6. "Crazy" – 3:48
  7. "M-Train" – 2:58
  8. "Buzz" – 2:57
  9. "No Clocks" – 3:56
  10. "Reptiles" – 3:58
  11. "Spider" – 4:06
  12. "Gyrate" – 3:19
  13. "Altitude" – 3:19
Razz Tape
  2. "The Human Body" – 3:08
  3. "Modern Day Fashion Woman" – 3:03
  4. "Read a Book" – 1:48
  5. "Working Is No Problem" – 3:11
  6. "Precaution" – 2:10
  7. "Cool" – 3:02
  8. "Functionality" – 4:31
  9. "Efficiency" – 2:20
  10. "Information" – 2:43
  11. "Dub" – 4:41
  12. "Modern Day Fashion Woman" – 3:51
  13. "Danger" – 4:47
  14. "Feast On My Heart" – 4:17
Extra unreleased tracks
  2. "Untitled" – 2:21
  3. "Cool" – 3:19
  4. "Dub" – 4:42
  5. "Recent Title" – 2:27
  6. "Danger!!" – 5:37
  7. "Crazy" – 3:14
  8. "Reptiles" – 3:32
  9. "No Clocks" – 2:50
  10. "Spider" – 3:49
  11. "3 X 3" – 2:19
  12. "Danger III" – 4:30

Personnel

Pylon
Additional personnel