Isolation Drills is a tough album to review since its impact on the listener is likely to swing wildly based on what aspects of GBV you like the most. In my original review I called it GBV's most accessible, which I'm not sure I agree with anymore. I find The Enemy, Fine to See You, and Privately to be droning and meandering to the point where I have a hard time even parsing an actual melody in them, and those tracks are the key reason that my final score might be surprisingly low for some readers...
...and people love The Enemy! Half of the comments on my original post were about giving it a second chance (one person even noting it contained the best outro in history), but it still does not resonate with me today. I heard from others who really like Privately as well, so like always, experiencing music is an individual experience, and its great that we don't all like the same thing.
As a side note, the purpose of this blog is ultimately a way for me to parse through Robert Pollard's extensive catalog and create playlists based on what I like most. I hope it helps others whether just from an interest or entertainment perspective, or in helping them weave their way through the catalog, but there is just so much content I need a way to organize things. Hence, any reader is likely going to have a different opinion on any specific album.
Back to Isolation Drills. I find Chasing Heather Crazy and Twilight Campfighter to both be leaning too far down the pop-single-cheeze path. I used to really love both songs, and considered Twilight Campfighter part of GBV's ultimate ballad trilogy along with The Best of Jill Hives and The Official Ironmen Rally Song, but over time I have stopped considering it to be in such esteemed company. Nostalgia might be keeping them both in the "almost gem" category.
Isolation Drills does contain some classics in my view though. Fair Touching, How is My Drinking?, and Glad Girls are all single-worthy pop gems that still keep a GBV edge in my view, and Skills Like This and Pivotal Film are absolute rock anthems. Sister I Need Wine and The Brides Have Hit Glass are both unique and interesting tunes that need special mention as well, with the latter the closest track to be listed as "among Bob's best" on the album.
Isolation Drills is still a great album, but it will appeal to people differently. Going back to writing up these re:score posts, I found I struggled with grading songs on Isolation Drills the most so far. It is obviously an essential album in the GBV catalog, and it represents a band that got to make a big studio record on their own terms. Foreshadowing a bit here, but if Pollard replaced Privately and Fine to See You with North American Vampires and Isolation Drills (the song) from the Glad Girls single, I would have most likely ranked it higher. Here is the updated ranking:
Among Bob's Best
-- none
Gems
01 Fair Touching
02 Skills Like This
10 Glad Girls
13 How's My Drinking?
14 The Brides Have Hit Glass
Almost Gems
03 Chasing Heather Crazy
05 Twilight Campfighter
06 Sister I Need Wine
12 Pivotal Film
They're Good
07 Want One?
09 Unspirited
11 Run Wild
They're OK
08 The Enemy
Could Live Without
04 Frostman
15 Fine to See You
16 Privately
Toss-Offs & Throwaways
-- none
-- none
Given the scoring above, the album would get 49 points total (and an average of 3.06).
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