CD singles are fun things. Although not as cool to look at and play with as 7", you usually get a couple more songs, and generally at a similar price. They're even more fun when you're dealing with a band like Superchunk, whose recorded output is pretty consistently enjoyable-- you're pretty much guaranteed a couple of pleasant tracks.

On 1000 Pounds, we get the album version of the title track, a great studio outtake ("White Noise"), a David Bowie cover ("Scary Monsters"), and a lovely acoustic reworking of "1000 Pounds," wherein Mac McCaughan's outrageously catchy lead guitar is replaced by... a xylophone! It comes across as bunch of friends sitting on a porch in the summertime, knocking out a tune for the sake of knocking out a tune. The laid-back feel of this track is totally infectious-- there's even a banjo plucking along good-naturedly in the background for good measure.

As for the other two non-album cuts, well, "White Noise" is a cool song. Sure, it's not quite up to the standards of most of Come Pick Me Up's material. Hey, maybe that's why it's a b-side. The Bowie cover is a bit stranger. "Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)" is culled from Bowie's 1980 album of the same name, which is generally considered his last hurrah before the downhill slope of Let's Dance and everything else that followed. Here, Superchunk make the song their own-- if you hadn't heard the original, you'd suspect nothing. It makes for a few truly endearing minutes, and fits in alongside the rest of the EP's songs nicely.

Certainly, the single is a must for Superchunk fans. I mean, it's Superchunk! Of course the fans are going to buy it. And of course, if you've never heard Superchunk and you've only got $5 to spend, 1000 Pounds will make as good an introduction to their music as any of their other EPs. But be forewarned-- once you listen, there's no going back.

-Jeremy Schneyer