The Rock Robot's Guide to Guided By Voices

Robert Pollard: Coast to Coast Carpet of Love (2007)

2011-07-02T13:56:00.000-07:00

I have raved about Pollard's solo twosome from 2006 of From a Compound Eye and Normal Happiness, and claimed that they were amongst the best albums in the GBV-related catolog. 2007 saw the release of another combo, the edgy Standard Gargoyle Decisions, and the focus of this post, the mellow and pop-whimsical Coast to Coast Carpet of Love (which I'll abbreviate CTCCOL from here on out). The familiar recording process of Todd Tobias laying out all the instrumental tracks, and then Pollard mixing the vocals would be used here. Though the 2007 offerings do not quite meet the level of awesome of Pollard's 2006 albums, there is still stuff to like here, however, there is something wrong with how the guitar sounds on CTCCOL. I would like to hear other's comments on this, but the way guitar is recorded on CTCCOL prevents me from enjoying it more...

There likely isn't anything you won't like on CTCCOL, but there is a chance that nothing will really stand out either. Where FACE and Normal Happiness assaulted with rocking track after rocking track, with tons of variation thrown in, CTCCOL suffers a bit from sameness (similar to Kid Marine and Earthquake Glue). Part of this is the recording process where Tobias' recordings all have a very similar sound, which sometimes make the guitar sound a bit duller.

The standouts on CTCCOL are those tracks that stray from the overall sound of the album. The opener Our Gaze is an all-out rocker with great drums and driving bass, two components of a song I rarely refer to (or notice sometimes). Penumbra has an ethnic twist which makes it a bit of an original for Pollard, and it is my favorite on the album. Youth Leagues is also interesting with its altering drum and guitar beats, but even it suffers from portions where the song slows down to a crawl. Nicely Now is Pollard's best vocal performance on CTCCOL, and lastly, the choruses of I Clap for Strangers and Miles Under the Skin are too good to ignore, even if the guitar parts mute them a bit.

Rud Fins, Current Desperation, Dumb Lady, Slow Hamilton, Customer's Throat, and Count Us In are all nice songs and all, but they all have that similar dull guitar sound. It may just be me, but there is something about the way the guitar has been recorded that doesn't let the sound come out completely. It is hard to explain, but there is something there just draining the life out of the guitar, and subsequently the songs themselves. Shoo-ins otherwise, these tracks all just barely make the playlist.

Current Desperation is a great example. The opening riffs are exactly the sound I'm talking about. It sounds like a guitar and electric piano have been mixed together, and the effect is that it sounds programmed, and not so much like a human is playing the instrument. It is a beautiful song though, and I'm happy including it on the playlist.

If it weren't for the strong final part, Count Us In would not be on the playlist. Customer's Throat has great vocals and melody, and Dumb Lady has grown on me the more I listen to it. Rud Fins is straight-up pop, a fun ride from start to finish.

There is nothing really special about When We Were Slaves, but it might have stood out as the quiet track on a heavier album. Exactly What Words Mean is slightly disjointed, though the somewhat chorus is fun. Look is What You Have, like every other song on CTCCOL, has its moments but is not strong enough for the playlist. Last of the tracks not making the playlist is Life of a Wife. There is nothing particularly wrong with the song, it simply isn't among my favorites.

In general, CTCCOL is a softer album for Pollard, and is greatly contrasted from the same-time-released Standard Gargoyle Decisions. Overall, it is very good, but the recording process that Pollard and Tobias use shows its weaknesses more on this one than any other. As stated many times already in this post, the guitar is recorded in a way to prevent it from allowing the songs to pop. As an album, perhaps this helps create a theme, and the sum is definitely greater than its parts. However, put on a playlist with tracks from the Boston Spaceships or other solo efforts like FACE, the songs on CTCCOL are smaller, quieter, and generally less fun.

Tracklisting (songs in bold make the playlist):

01 Our Gaze
02 Count Us In
03 Exactly What Words Mean
04 Current Desperation (Angels Speak of Nothing)
05 Dumb Lady
06 Rud Fins
07 Customer's Throat
08 Miles Under the Skin
09 Penumbra
10 Slow Hamilton
11 Looks is What You Have
12 I Clap for Strangers
13 Life of a Wife
14 Youth Leagues
15 When We Were Slaves
16 Nicely Now

Boston Spaceships: The Planets Are Blasted (2009)

2011-06-25T13:18:00.000-07:00

One of my absolutely favorite Pollard songs was released in 2009, the incredible opener to Planets Are Blasted, Canned Food Demons. If I made a one-disc sampler of GBV-related tunes for a friend, this track would be on it for sure. The song serves as a perfect opening to Planets Are Blasted, the Boston Spaceships' follow-up to Brown Submarine. The trio of Pollard, Slusarenko, and Moen had a difficult task ahead of them when they set out to top their wonderful first offering, Brown Submarine, but they not only met that challenge, but managed to create one of the best albums in the entire Pollard-related catalog. This one is right up there with FACE/Normal Happiness and the best of the Guided By Voices records...

To be fair, Planets Are Blasted includes four recycled tracks from Pollard's back catalog, pumped up to Boston Spaceships level. This isn't new for the band, as Brown Submarine included the previously released Soggy Beavers re-recorded. For all I know, there may be more tracks that already existed in some form or another, but may not have seen the light of day until now.

Dorothy's A Planet, Headache Revolution, and Heavy Crown all first showed up on the Suitcase box sets as basically demos (already playlist worthy), and are left virtually unchanged except for the full band re-recording. Catherine From Mid-October was on Pollard's Zoom single, and is also basically a re-recording. The fact that they were chosen for Planets Are Blasted plays a big part on what makes this album so great.

Dorothy's A Planet may as well be this album's big single, with its soft verses, big chorus, and melody oozing from all parts. Pollard's vocals are spot on on this one as well. Catherine From Mid-October would have been right at home on FACE, as would Headache Revolution, as both show the band at their pop-rock best. Heavy Crown, however, may benefit the most from the full band re-issue. The album's closer finishes the album the same way it started, pure rock from a band having a great time. The outro, where Pollard sings "In this city there is nothing to cling to" is one of the best moments from the record.

Queen of Stormy Weather is not from a previous release, but it shares some of its melody from the chorus of The Naked Wall, from the side project Keene Brothers album (hat tip to John at My Impression Now for catching this). It also has the lyric "pee on my parade", so bonus marks there. It is just one more pop gem on this amazing album.

Continuing with the more pop-styled tracks on the album are Sylph, Lake of Fire, and The Town That's After Me. Sylph has some great lyrics ("Its not like her to strum so glum"), and is a bit of a soft-rock ballad. Lake of Fire is probably my least favorite track on the disc, but it is still good (note: every track on Planets Are Blasted is making the playlist), and it is the only song where the chorus is actually quieter than the verses. Finally, The Town That's After Me sounds like Isolation Drills-era GBV, but at a minute length it finishes just as its getting real good.

Tattoo Mission is a bit of an oddball on this album. Where most tracks follow the quiet-loud-quiet-loud-louder pattern, Tattoo Mission is more beat driven, and reminds me a bit of Led Zeppelin's Kashmir with the pulsing groove and musical layers that build throughout the song (and maybe because I heard Kashmir recently).

Keep Me Down and UFO Love Letters both start fast and heavy and never let it up throughout, utilizing fuzzed-out guitar and constant beats. They work separating the abundance of softer tunes on the album.

Now lets talk about Big 'O' Gets and Earful and Sight on Sight. Big 'O' is the anchor of the album, an epic sprawl with soft melodies leading to loud boosts of sound. After an amazing interlude, the song peaks as Pollard asks "will none of us be alive be alive when Big 'O' gets an earful?/one of us to survive when big 'o' gets an earful". Sight on Sight starts off sounding like a whimsical movie-musical, then quickly shifts to a brooding middle, before flipping to a rock opera.

Planets Are Blasted is the culmination of everyone being at their best. Pollard's vocals are as strong here as anything that he's put out since GBV, Moen's drums turn existing songs into full-fledged rockers, and the multiple instruments played by Slusarenko are top notch. Time will tell if Boston Spaceships is the new Guided By Voices, but so far, so good.

Tracklisting (songs in bold make the playlist):

01 Canned Food Demons
02 Dorothy's a Planet
03 Tattoo Mission
04 Keep Me Down
05 Big 'O' Gets an Earful
06 Catherine From Mid-October
07 Headache Revolution
08 Sylph
09 UFO Love Letters
10 Lake of Fire
11 Queen of Stormy Weather
12 The Town's That's After Me
13 Sight on Sight
14 Heavy Crown

Boston Spaceships: Brown Submarine (2008)

2011-06-23T16:43:00.000-07:00

In 2008, Robert Pollard put together his new band Boston Spaceships, who are named after the spaceships on the album covers of the band Boston. The band also includes Chris Slusarenko (most instruments) and The Decemberists' John Moen on drums, though the songs are all written by Pollard. Since then, Boston Spaceships have released four full albums, an EP, and have a fifth album due in August. Brown Submarine is the first album from what is likely Pollard's most exciting and consistently rocking post-GBV band (including the solo stuff)...

I remember putting this CD on the very first time, and how excited I was after hearing the opening track Winston's Atomic Bird. There was something about the track that embodied the GBV sound in the early 2000s, and was different than the solo Pollard releases that were put out after the final GBV show. It is a quick rocker that is followed by the somber title track, Brown Submarine. The multi-vocal ending of the title track (with violin!) is beautiful. Similarly, North 11 A.M. also sets a dark tone only to pick up a more positive tone near the finish.

Some of the tracks on Brown Submarine are incredibly catchy pop songs. You Satisfy Me has a catchy main riff, and Pollard's knack for melody is featured on Two Girl Area. Andy Playboy is one of my favorite songs on the album, and is closer to a radio-friendly hit as anything else on the album. Go For the Exit can be included in this list, as it starts out as an acoustic little pop nugget, but becomes even more amazing when the full band kicks in.

Zero Fix has Pollard's vocals on equal footing with driven guitar, and the result is a stadium rocker, with many opportunities for fist pumps and karate kicks. The outro question "How High Can You Go?" is the perfect ending, and the song is book-ended by some voice mail recordings (referencing Navigating Flood Regions no less).

Ate It Twice, Psych Threat, and Rat Trap are all great tunes as well. Ate It Twice is a bit of a blues-inspired rocker, and I picture it being performed in a dark bar on the bayou. Psych Threat and Rat Trap are punk-infused, and sound like a band having a lot of fun doing what they do.

We first heard Soggy Beavers on Suitcase 2 in a form that was little more than an idea. In many cases, these ideas leaves fans wondering what could have been if they received the full attention treatment. Without changing the song altogether, Boston Spaceships manage to take the idea and fill it out into a pretty decent tune.

Trumpets show up near the end of Ready to Pop, a track that is really on the border of making the playlist. Unlike Ready to Rome, where Pollard's brooding vocals worked so well on Zero Fix but seem a bit odd on this one, Ready to Pop is just too much fun to pass on.

I am going to possibly spoil something for you here, and let you know that Boston Spaceships' follow up Planet's Are Blasted is amazing! That being said, the framework is very much grounded on Brown Submarine. There is a mix of friendly pop tracks, all out rockers, and a little bit of weird (but only a little bit). Where many Pollard side projects tend to have their thing that makes them unique, Boston Spaceships is, and sounds more like, a band creating a consistently good record that could (and should) extend beyond fans of Robert Pollard. Slusarenko and Moen bring the extra oomph required to propel Boston Spaceships to a level above most other Pollard side projects.

Tracklisting (songs in bold make the playlist):

01 Winston's Atomic Bird
02 Brown Submarine
03 You Satisfy Me
04 Ate It Twice
05 Two Girl Area
06 North 11 A.M.
07 Zero Fix
08 Psych Threat
09 Andy Playboy
10 Rat Trap
11 Soggy Beavers
12 Ready to Pop
13 Still in Rome
14 Go for the Exi

Grand Reopening!

2011-06-22T16:57:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I have updated the site to the new Blogger templates, which I hope makes it easier to navigate, and should make it easier for me to update. Now, I just need to post a new review :-)

Soon Soon

2011-04-25T18:45:00.001-07:00

I let a whole year go by without a post, so sorry about that. However, this site is still ongoing as far as I'm concerned, and I hope to find some time to post some new reviews over the summer.

Robert Pollard: Fiction Man (2004)

2010-02-07T12:24:00.000-08:00

You will notice in my reviews for From a Compound Eye (FACE) and Normal Happiness that I mention that they are among my favorite Robert Pollard releases. Those albums perfected the method of Todd Tobias recording full band versions of Robert Pollard's demos, and Pollard recording the vocals afterword. Though this method was somewhat used with the Tobias brothers (Tim and Todd) and Pollard for the Circus Devils albums, the method truly got its start when Todd Tobias recorded the instrumentation for Fiction Man, based on the unused demos from Guided By Voices' album Earthquake Glue. I think I will just get it out of the way now that this album is not among my favorites, and that some of the issues I had with Earthquake Glue filter down to this album as well...

One thing I notice different between this album and FACE is that where FACE sounds like a full band recording all at once, Fiction Man sometimes has moments where the vocals and instrumentation seem slightly misaligned. The opening (and best) track Run Son Run highlights this the most at the beginning of the second verse ("Freeze me up from going down the stomach pump"); during this moment, the vocals and music seem to be running at different speeds. That being said, Run Son Run is a pop gem, and a killer opening.

I Expect a Kill would feel at home on a Circus Devils release, and is a track that has grown on me after repeated listenings. It has a good mix of distorted guitar and factory ambiance, and yet still sounds strangely melodic and epic. Sea of Dead is a dark acoustic track and a preview of the softer songs on FACE, and it is followed by the more upbeat ditty Children Come On, and the similarly upbeat and distortion filled The Louis Armstrong of Rock and Roll.

I give Paradise Style the number two spot on Fiction Man's best songs. I love songs that motor into the chorus in a way that the listener has to take a moment to register that the chorus has actually started. Pollard is great at this, and one of my favorite examples is Little Lines from Mag Earwhig. Keeping up with the pop-driven sound of Paradise Style are Conspiracy of Owls and It's Only Natural. Both are decent tracks, but the chorus of It's Only Natural really stands out.

Let's face it, many Pollard-related releases have toss-offs and throwaways, and I am putting Losing Usage in that category. I also wanted to note that along with Children Come On, Built to Improve and Trial of Affliction and Light Sleeping made the Crickets: Best of the Fading Captain Series album. I think this serves as some proof that Crickets is more of a sample or general representative album, and less of a "best of" offering. While Children Come On can be identified as a pretty decent song with its general pleasingness, Built to Improve is the type of epic Pollard has done better many times elsewhere, and Trial is a heavy Circus Devils-ish tune which probably would not have made my Circus Devils "Best of" if it actually were one.

The final three tracks of Fiction Man are all good songs, and all on the border of making the playlist. I'm taking Every Word in the World for having Pollard's best vocals on the album. The stadium-rocker Their Biggest Win is also getting on the list because the chorus is just too fun to leave it off.

I noted that Earthquake Glue was the later GBV album that I listened to the least, and that it "has a slightly more pop-mellow vibe, and reminds me of Kid Marine in its okay-ness. That is, there is not a bad track on the album, nor does it really ever shine through as spectacular". I think the same can be said about Fiction Man, in fact the opening and last paragraphs from my Earthquake Glue posting can almost entirely represent Fiction Man. Like Earthquake Glue, Fiction Man is the Robert Pollard "solo" album that I listen to the least during this era. I guess this makes perfect sense since it is comprised of the tracks that did not make Earthquake Glue in the first place.

Tracklisting (songs in bold make the playlist):

01 Run Son Run
02 I Expect a Kill
03 Sea of Dead
04 Children Come On
05 The Louis Armstrong of Rock and Roll
06 Losing Usage
07 Built to Improve
08 Paradise Style
09 Conspiracy of Owls
10 It's Only Natural
11 Trial of Affliction and Light Sleeping
12 Every Word in the World
13 Night of the Golden Underground
14 Their Biggest Win

Robert Pollard: Motel of Fools (2003)

2009-11-16T19:06:00.000-08:00

After getting Suitcase 3 in the mail, I realized that I once again let a fairly decent amount of time go between posts. I decided to go over an album I honestly do not spend too much time with, Robert Pollard's somewhat experimental Motel of Fools. I've heard somewhere that this album was meant to sound like a movie soundtrack, and from the album notes, a few regular Pollard contributors show up for this one (Jim Macpherson, Greg Demos, Chris Slusarenko, and Tobin Sprout included). What I tend to do, when planning to write up an album I do not know too well, is listen to it while driving for a little while. Songs seem to imprint themselves on my brain easier if I hear them while driving. Over the course of listening to Motel of Fools a few times, I went from having only 1 of the 7 songs making the playlist, to 4...

The album kicks off with Pollard, minus any other sounds, chanting for a minute, and then followed by a psychedelic and breezy tune called In the House of Queen Charles Augustus. I have a lot of trouble when deciding if songs like this (the ones that seem merely "ok") are a keeper or not. The problem is that I know there are tons of tracks I would rather listen too, however, it still bothers me that I will not get to hear it semi-regularly if it is not on the list. Breezy may also describe Captain Black, as Pollard goes for mood with Motel of Fools, an album which appears meant to be listened in full instead of having its parts plucked away onto a mix disc.

After a long trippy intro (basically, the song in reverse), the albums cuts into its "hit", Red Ink Superman. You can tell some songs mean business once the guitar kicks in, and Red Ink Superman is a wonderfully dour epic which finishes with a sudden explosion of noise and Pollard repeating "We'll even the score in World War IV!"

In The Vault of Moons, a lead guitar from what sounds like an entirely different song keeps intruding on a an acoustic ditty. Other effects are thrown in as well, but I find it is the weakest track of the bunch. Saga of the Elk continues the brooding atmosphere, and has grown on me each time I listen it. It also has some of the strangest lyrics, for example "Fort mold may feather / Personal grain in the heartache" and "Stain at calvary / Racehorse and deadness" are a sample of some of the seemlingly disassociated lines.

The Spanish Hammer is a four song musical consisting of She Drives Camaro, Lift, Love Set, and Wildlife Energy. Whereas She Drives Camaro, Lift, and Wildlife Energy are similar to effect-filled Circus Devils snippets (in sound and in title), Love Set is actually a beautiful piano tune which covers roughly a minute and a half. Both the melody and Pollard's vocals are perfect, and this is a great moment of clarity in an otherwise often fuzzed-out and psychedelic album.

Harrison Adams is the closer of this dark, weird, and short album, which ironically ends with a (relatively) up-beat pop song. Granted, it has the Motel of Fools minute or so of randomness, which is saved for the end of this particular track. That being said, the chorus of "You aren't happy with me / And I know it / And you are the world to me / But it's all gone now" slightly betrays its joyous sound.

Overall, I enjoyed the time I spent with Motel of Fools. Red Ink Superman does stand out on this album, which focuses more on overall theme and not individual success, and may not stand out so much on another GBV-related album. I feel that all of the other songs I picked for the playlist could have not made the list depending on when I wrote this entry, for example, if I waited a few months after the period I played it over and over again while driving around. This time, I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Tracklisting (songs in bold make the list):

01 In the House of Queen Charles Augustus
02 Captain Black
03 Red Ink Superman
04 The Vault of Moons
05 Saga of the Elk
06 The Spanish Hammer *
07 Harrison Adams

* The third part of The Spanish Hammer, Love Set, would make the list if parts of songs were allowed to.

Purpose

2009-07-11T14:02:00.000-07:00

Time to redefine the purpose of this blog. Originally, the following three items defined the purpose:

1) To create my ultimate GBV/Robert Pollard playlist
2) To create my ultimate GBV/Robert Pollard CD box set
3) To give those new to GBV/Robert Pollard a good starting reference

I'm scratching out point #2, as it has already gotten way to big for a CD box set...

Anyone who listens to GBV knows that there is a certain measure of separating the gems from the not-so-gems (maybe put too politely). I started this blog to do exactly this...get out all of the good songs from the massive catalog and make a playlist (at the time, WinAmp compatible - now geared towards iPod). As I move forward, the third point (being a place for newcomers to get some info) seems to have taken a higher priority.

Where does one start when they get into Guided By Voices? I strongly suggest a pattern similar to the one I took (note, I got into GBV in late 2005):

1) Get the GBV greatest hits album
2) Pick up Bee Thousand - if you love this, you will be a fan for life
3) Pick up the other major GBV releases (Propeller, Vampire, UTBUTS, Alien Lanes, etc.)
4) Grab the later GBV releases (Mag Earwhig and after)
5) Early Pollard solo stuff is next
6) Post-GBV Pollard to follow (especially FACE and Normal Happiness)
7) Begin moving into GBV EP's as you find them, The Box set of early material, and side project stuff like Circus Devils, Takeovers, etc.

Of course, a random approach may also be beneficial, across all GBV, solo Pollard, and side projects - scattered from late 80's to present.

A couple of things I have found since taking on this undertaking:

1) The more I listen to GBV-related music, the more gems I find. Tracks that I didn't original like start to catch on, and even tracks that I originally labelled as toss-offs even start to sound great.
2) My opinion is in no way concensus. For every song I leave off the playlist, there are many who would have it in their top 20.
3) I'm incredibly biased, because I generally like most of the music.
4) This is going to take forever.

Anyway, just some thoughts I wanted to pass along.

Later,
Dave

Robert Pollard: Normal Happiness (2006)

2009-07-11T12:26:00.000-07:00

In my write-up for From a Compound Eye, I mentioned that it, along with its sibling Normal Happiness, are the two Pollard albums I listen to the most. They are likely my favorite albums in the entire GBV-related catalog, so it probably wouldn't surprise you that all but one of the tracks from FACE made the playlist (and the majority of those on Normal Happiness are going to as well). That being said, the majority of the comments I received from my FACE post, either through email, the comments section, or that chat thing I have on the right of the screen, are focused on the exclusion of Payment for the Babies off the playlist. When this happens, I tend to spend some time with the song and see if I can figure out what I'm missing, and in this case, I can not. Payment for the Babies stays off the playlist, and once again we have proof that every single song of the GBV library has its supporters. Alright, now lets get to this great album...

I would consider Normal Happiness the little brother of FACE; safer, not nearly as epic, overall lower-fi, more controlled, smaller, but it looks and sounds quite like its older brother. Following the same recording technique as FACE, this collaboration with Todd Tobias also focuses on the more poppy sound of Pollard's.

Perhaps low key pop is a better description, as there is a duller edge to most of the tracks preventing them from sounding too radio-friendly (unlike I'm a Strong Lion from FACE). The opener Accidental Texas Who sets the mood right off the bat, with its upbeat riffs and carefree feel. Whispering Whip follows with an almost fantasy-inspired minute ("Whispering whip, your spirit is locked inside/but that's not how we died") which builds to a great finish.

Supernatural Car Lover seems to hold the same position of Dancing Girls and Dancing Men did for FACE, and I'm not just referring to them both being the third track on the album. Like Dancing Girls and Dancing Men, Supernatural Car Lover sounds like it is meant to be the album's big song...the lead single if Pollard's albums truly had singles. Its jangly pop, light lyrics ("And your proud man's blues/and your jumpshot too"), inclusion of the album's title in the lyrics, and wicked guitar solo all make it Normal Happiness' focus point.

Boxing About has a cutesy riff throughout, and is one of those tracks where you find there is much more going on after a few listens. Serious Bird Woman represents one of those common little annoyances (while also being a fairly cool thing) about Pollard's music...those songs where they are so-so except for about 5 to 10 seconds which are just totally amazing. In the case of this track, it is the short chorus when Pollard croons "serious birdwoman, your turn me on/in" and the few chords after it.

My favorite track on Normal Happiness may very well be Get A Faceful. The one-time chorus ("Do you lose control?/Get a faceful, keep it uptight/Do you risk parole with a convict's soul?/Get a faceful, wear it with pride") is my favorite moment on the album. Towers and Landslides continues the casual tone of the album, and I Feel Gone Again is the shortest song on the album, which by the way has the majority of the songs around or under two minutes long.

Gasoline Ragtime mixes psychodelic and bluesy-rock, and Rhoda Rhoda makes its own case for being the album's "hit", and can be described as The Beach Boys meet punk rock. Give Up the Grape is the heavy stand-out on Normal Happiness, and (along with Pegasus Glue Factory) have the highest play count on my iPod for this album. It inludes the awesome lines "I drink myself astray/from shadows of fantastic middle-earth/" and "I hide myself in dream/from Howdy Doody's terrorist regime". Pegasus Glue Factory almost seems like an odd continuation of Give Up the Grape, combined making one epic track. The two tracks, in my opinion, are the closest ties to the sound of FACE, with their shifts in tone and mix of heavy and softer sounds.

My interest in Normal Happiness starts to wane during the final act, where other than Robert Pollard's apparent channeling of Wayne Coyne on Join the Eagles, Tomorrow Will Not Be Another Day is the brightest spot. So for those giving me grief about leaving only one song from FACE off the playlist, a whole three tracks are being left off from Normal Happiness!

Normal Happiness is an excellent album. Though less ambitious than FACE, I like to see it as a continuation, or addendum to FACE, as I usually listen to the two albums together. These albums were one hell of an introduction to Pollard's post-GBV career!

Tracklisting (songs in bold...you know the drill):

01 Accidental Texas Who
02 Whispering Whip
03 Supernatural Car Lover
04 Boxing About
05 Serious Bird Woman (You Turn Me On)
06 Get a Faceful
07 Towers and Landslides
08 I Feel Gone Again
09 Gasoline Ragtime
10 Rhoda Rhoda
11 Give Up the Grape
12 Pegasus Glue Factory
13 Top of My Game
14 Tomorrow Will Not Be Another Day
15 Join the Eagles
16 Full Sun (Dig the Slowness)

new post coming this weekend...

2009-07-08T08:40:00.001-07:00

A New Post!

2009-04-19T12:22:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I finally posted after about 8 months of close to zero activity. I never intended it on going so long, but I must say I have been extremely busy. And like the last time this happened, I'll say again that I do not intend on letting such a long time go between posts ever again. There is a lot of exiting stuff happening in the world of Pollard (there is at least the same amount of Pollard solo material out there as GBV that I'm wondering about the title of this blog...) lately, and as always, it is an exiting time to be a fan.
I thought I'd provide some of my thoughts of some of the newer stuff that has been, and is soon to be released...

Sgt. Disco and Ataxia are my favorite Circus Devils albums, so I'm naturally excited about Gringo.
The pairing of Coast to Coast Carpet of Love and Standard Gargoyle Decisions was pretty decent, but does not reach the greatness of FACE/Normal Happiness. In fact, FACE/Normal Happiness is still the greatest post GBV material.
I'm still not entirely getting into Boston Spaceships. I'll still take the Takeovers over the Boston Spaceships any day.
Big fan of both Off to Business and The Crawling Distance.
This interview talks about a 3D-film musical about Cleopatra, directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Jim Greer, which will feature GBV music - wow.

Anyway, once again, sorry for the delay between posts. I should have the write-up for Normal Happiness up soon.

Robert Pollard: From a Compound Eye (2006)

2009-04-19T09:53:00.000-07:00

In 2006, the solo era of Robert Pollard truly began with two of the greatest albums of Pollard's; From a Compound Eye (which I'll refer to as FACE) and Normal Happiness. Both albums were done in collaboration with Todd Tobias (Pollard providing Tobias with the basic structure of the song, and Tobias recording most of the instruments), and both stand out as two of my personal favorites. There is not a bad song in the batch among these 26 tracks, and unlike some other Pollard solo albums that are full of recommended tracks (for example, Kid Marine or Coast to Coast Carpet of Love), the majority go beyond being simply good, and many are among the best in the entire Pollard catalog...

For me, quite a few tracks on FACE were instant classics on the first few listens, and a couple have since then also joined the ranks. FACE is generally a mix of pure pop songs and harder grunge rock, and it is the latter which make up the three epics which anchor the album together. Included among these are The Numbered Head, Love is Stronger than Witchcraft, and Conqueror of the Moon.

The Numbered Head is one of the heavier tracks of Pollard's, and the chorus of "Lets you go up/Lets you go up/Blurring your eyes/Lets you go up" is easily among my favorite moments in Pollard's music. The last half of the track is a long grunge outtro which may half been axed (or never created) if this was produced a few years prior. Love is Stronger than Witchcraft, the second single from the album, moves back and forth between cutesy guitar and heavy distorted riffs, with a bit of wonderful mayhem in the middle. The third epic, Conqueror of the Moon, feels a bit more like different songs pieced together to form a rock opera-like anthem, and is likely my second favorite track on the album.

Second favorite? As great as Conqueror of the Moon is, the honor of being the best song on FACE (and one Pollard's best ever) goes to Blessed in the Open Head. From its cut to the chase opening riff/verse riff, to its pure rock chorus ("Find a moment in your time/I say/Live the moment when you find/You'll blow your mind/You won't get dead/Is blessed in an open head"), this song is three minutes of awesome.

So what about some of the pop gems on FACE? Included in this group are Dancing Girls and Dancing Men, The Right Thing, I'm a Widow, I Surround You Naked, and the first single I'm a Strong Lion. I'm a Strong Lion took a while to grow on me, and the idea of having a lead off single that is only a minute long seemed a bit odd as well (but hey, wasn't the first single from Offspring's Ixnay on the Hombre the short and satisfying All I Want?). Like it or not, I guarantee you will not be able to get this song out of your head.

I've always felt that Dancing Girls and Dancing Men was meant to be the album's "hit" with its upbeat optimistic sound and lyrics ("Be thankful everyday/For everything and pray/For dancing girls and dancing men/to dance their lives away"). My personal favorite from this group has to be I'm a Widow (which has a main riff very similar to the track Kick Me and Cancel). Everything about this song screams radio single, even with its morbidly fun main line "I'm a widow and I'm hot to do you". I Surround You Naked follows a similar radio friendly pop mentality, and The Right Thing starts slow and builds to a powerful finish (with cow bell), also seemingly increasing studio polish as it builds as well.

A third type of track would be the weird songs. Four stand out as being in this category which always finds its way onto a Pollard album. The first, Field Jacket Blues, traps a possibly brilliant song (well, 25 seconds of one anyway) in between a fairly annoying guitar riff. Kensington Cradle, 50 Year Old Baby, and Denied first appear to be drowned out in overly-distorted vocals and guitar, a la Vampire in Titus, but there are good songs buried in there if you listen for it.

The last grouping of songs on FACE is the atmospheric ballads. Representing this group are the opener Gold, Fresh Threats..., Other Dogs Remain, and the amazing Cock of the Rainbow. Cock of the Rainbow is a beautiful song with eerie guitar and vocal melody with accompanying haunting backup "oooh's", and is one of my favorite tracks on the disc. Other Dogs Remain is similar in tone, and adds to the somewhat rock-opera feel of the album (even if unintentional).

I haven't went through every song individually, instead mentioning the highlights from the four groups of tracks (the heavy and epic, the pop gems, the slightly weird, and the atmosheric slow tracks). At 26 songs, there is not a bad song on the disc, though I can't really get into Payment for the Babies...

What really impresses me about FACE, is that the album does follow a theme musically, and truly feels like a concept album intended to be listened to as a whole. I am not sure if this was ever the intention, but it holds together just as well as, say, Under the Bushes Under the Stars. Along with its sister album Normal Happiness, the two albums are easily the ones I listen to more than any other Pollard-related offering. The two albums combined would likely (as of this writing - and if I was allowed to cheat a little) be listed as #1 as my favorite Robert Pollard release(s).

Tracklisting (songs in bold make the playlist):

01 Gold
02 Field Jacket Blues
03 Dancing Girls and Dancing Men
04 A Flowering Orphan
05 The Right Thing
06 U.S. Mustard Company
07 The Numbered Head
08 I'm a Widow
09 Fresh Threats, Salad Shooters and Zip Guns
10 Kick Me and Cancel
11 Other Dogs Remain
12 Kensington Cradle
13 Love is Stronger than Witchcraft
14 Hammer in your Eyes
15 50 Year Old Baby
16 I Surround You Naked
17 Cock of the Rainbow
18 Conqueror of the Moon
19 Blessed in an Open Head
20 A Boy in Motion
21 Denied
22 Lightshow
23 I'm a Strong Lion
24 Payment for the Babies
25 Kingdom Without
26 Recovering

Guided By Voices: Half Smiles Of The Decomposed (2004)

2008-07-22T17:17:00.000-07:00

In 2004, Robert Pollard announced that he was retiring Guided By Voices. Apparently he wanted to go out with an album that felt good as a final album, and Half Smiles of the Decomposed felt like that album. I have no doubts that any further GBV albums would have also been great to out on, based on the post-GBV solo work of Pollard's (in particular From a Compound Eye and Normal Happiness), but alas, this is it. Half Smiles is in many ways greater than the previous album, Earthquake Glue (more variety), though it is not nearly as rocking as Universal Truths and Cycles. That being said I feel it completes a trilogy somewhat which includes those other two albums. With songs such as Girls of Wild Strawberries, Gonna Never Have to Die, and Window of My World, we can also see a sort of bridge to the upcoming solo Pollard albums. But hey, as long as they end with a song related to aircrafts everything will be alright, right?...

The album kicks off with the closest thing Half Smiles has to a single, Everybody Thinks I'm A Raincloud (When I'm Not Looking). This is the last song GBV played live on television (on Conan), and it is also the heaviest track on this overall, mellower album. It is a very optimistic sounding tune which sets the stage for a great send off. The oddball Sleep Over Jack follows, and it is one of the more interesting tracks in the later GBV period. Dark, creepy, and strangely addicting, this is a Circus Devils song too good to be a Circus Devils song (with all respect to that wonderful band) and may be the true gem on Half Smiles.

Its all about melody with Girls of Wild Strawberries, an acoustic number with some beautiful lead guitar. This is probably a good time to note that Pollard is at the top of his game lyrically on Half Smiles; "In tribes I played/Survived and prayed to be free/And send my letters out/Delivered sermons to the sea/For the girls of wild strawberries". Gonna Never Have to Die is proof that this album was meant to be contained somewhat. This track could have been loud, fast, and a rocked out anthem, however, it is kept low-key with an awesome acoustic outro solo. It kind of reminds me of Pearl Jam in the way that Pearl Jam has all these great rockers, but they are tempered a bit and fleshed out, and more rewarding in the end.

Window Of My World is the closest thing GBV has to a song found in some movie musical. The deep reverb chorus sounds as though Pollard's singing in some dance hall, and I can't help but to picture the cheesy video shown at the beginning of GBV's final show in Chicago. Nonetheless, its another great pop ballad from Guided By Voices. If I heard it out of context, I would have guessed that Closets of Henry was straight from Do the Collapse. Though lacking the obvious polish of that album, the big stadium chorus ("Wings refer to the wedding cake/The glasses fall and hearts will break/The primal scream is hard to take, you know") almost makes you wonder if Pollard was making another attempt at mainstream success.

The best moment of Half Smiles belongs to the otherwise unnoticeable Tour Guide at the Winston Churchill Memorial. I'm referring to the first two times Pollard sings "Be on top of me now". Once again proof that Pollard has the ability to make you love a song because 2% of it is beautiful. Maybe the second greatest moment belongs to "Nothing could be finer, yeah/In Asia Minor, yeah/The devil in the china, yeah" from Asia Minor, a track with rolling verses and cutesy piano. Tying for longest song on the album (at four minutes) are the next two tracks, Sons of Apollo and Sing For Your Meat. Both of these tracks are buried on an album with more exciting songs...they're okay.

Asphyxiated Circle picks things up again with the wonderful line "Expand, explode, wrinkle up or blow away". Its a short and sweet straight-forward pop nugget. I never really liked this song for a while, but it has definitely grown on me on repeated listens. In fact, this entire album took a little longer in general to grow on me compared to other GBV albums. A Second Spurt of Growth is a quiet lullaby which features Pollard's best vocals on the album, and (S)mothering and Coaching is a bit all over. It starts out quiet, jarringly switching to haunting and angry, before settling into that classic Pollard pop tune.

Now lets talk about the finale, Huffman Prairie Flying Field, the album's arguably best track. Anyone who listens to GBV has noticed a tendency to have aircraft themed songs and albums...White Striped Jets, Everywhere With Helicopter, You're Not An Airplane, Man Called Aerodynamics, Static Airplane Jive, Isolation Drills, We've Got Airplanes, & Not Behind the Fighter Jet to name a few. It just seems so fitting to have this theme (even if it is mostly in the title only) as the concluding chapter in the GBV story. Along with Raincloud, these two tracks form a sort of bookends with their happy and optimistic sounding rock. Raincloud lets you know that GBV is sending you off with a gooder, and Huffman Prairie Flying Field leaves it on a high note. Half Smiles of the Decomposed may not be the best album, but it is a good album, by the greatest band.

Tracklisting (songs in bold make the playlist):

01 Everybody Thinks I'm A Raincloud (When I'm Not Looking)
02 Sleep Over Jack
03 Girls Of Wild Strawberries
04 Gonna Never Have To Die
05 Window Of My World
06 The Closets Of Henry
07 Tour Guide At The Winston Churchill Memorial
08 Asia Minor
09 Sons Of Apollo
10 Sing For Your Meat
11 Asphyxiated Circle
12 A Second Spurt Of Growth
13 (S)mothering And Coaching
14 Huffman Prairie Flying Field

The Takeovers: Little Green Onion Man (2008)

2008-04-09T17:17:00.000-07:00

The Takeovers are quickly becoming one of the best Pollard-related side-projects. The duo of Robert Pollard and Chris Slusarenko bring together much of what made early GBV so great; (as stated in my roundup of the first Takeover's album) "instant classics, thrown in half-finished ideas, total toss-offs, and decent tracks, all mixed together to form an album greater than the sum of its parts." So it doesn't really surprise me that my favorite Takeovers album is actually a four song EP. Not only does it only have four songs, but one of them is on the last Takeovers album (Bad Football), and another is a alternate version of a track from their first (Turn to Red). But the real treat is just how great the other two songs are...

The EP's title track, Little Green Onion Man was described on my entry of Bad Football as "wonderfully strange..., (it) a) gets its own EP, b) contains the words "bad football", c) has a great riff throughout the verses, and d) includes one of Pollard's stranger vocals. It is a standout, but not even among the album's three best tracks." However, in the context of this strange little EP, Little Green Onion Man seems more at home, and is a stronger track overall.

The other revisited track is Wig Stomper 07, a heavier version of the "toss-off" from Turn to Red. In fact, the original was a voice mail message. To hear a voice mail message fleshed out into an actual song is pretty cool.

The highlights of the EP are the other two tracks, Rich Man's Girl and Instigator. Rich Man's Girl starts off sounding like a lo-fi boombox recording, but then blends into a full out studio sounding track (well...that is a bit of a stretch...but check it out and you'll see what I mean). The simple chorus of "she's calling out" is just beautiful, and the overall tone of the track is dark. As for Instigator, I love this song! Everything from its fun bass beat to the cheap organ sound is brilliant. Pollard's melody is perfect, and I'm quite confident if I were somehow able to produce a single-disc "Best of Pollard", Instigator would be on it!

This EP is a must have, mostly because it includes one of my new favorite songs, Instigator. I find the disc is excellent to listen to on late night drives through the city, due in large part to its oddness and darkness. Its my favorite release from The Takeovers thus far, and I can't wait for the next one!

Tracklisting (songs in bold make the playlist):
01 Little Green Onion Man
02 Rich Man's Girl
03 Wig Stomper '07
04 Instigator

The Takeovers: Bad Football (2007)

2008-02-27T17:49:00.000-08:00

My conclusion of Turn to Red, the first Takeovers album, was that even though less than half of the tracks made the playlist, the album as a whole was pretty decent. For Robert Pollard and Chris Slusarenko's sophomore effort, there is less quirkiness and more rock n' roll. However, the real difference between Turn to Red and Bad Football is that Bad Football is front-stacked, and shelves the toss-offs together at the end of the disc, whereas Turn to Red mixed them in with the rest of the album. That being said, the percentage of tracks making the playlist this time around has increased...

You're At It starts things off. A solid intro, the track sets the tone for a more serious effort, and has the memorable line "This form of suicide's not quick enough, what else you got?" It is followed by the wonderfully strange Little Green Onion Man, which a) gets its own EP, b) contains the words "bad football", c) has a great riff throughout the verses, and d) includes one of Pollard's stranger vocals. It is a standout, but not even among the album's three best tracks.

Father's Favorite Temperature has a bit of a classic rock vibe (maybe even southern rock), and is proof that Pollard can be a outstanding singer when he wants to be. Molly & Zack slows things down, and is a bit of a throwback to the more acoustic Guided By Voices tracks, and I can't help but smile when I hear lyrics like "Space stationships arrive" or "Youmans bouncin' off one per other like eated up Molly-cues". The fifth track, Pretty Not Bad, may be the album's best song with its Elvis Costello's Pump It Up-like riff, and rock anthem chorus. Throw in some guitar solos and self-referentiality ("I wrote a song and I like it/called 'Pretty Not Bad'") and this one alone is worth the price of admission.

The jolly Smokestack Bellowing Stars has grown on me after repeated listens. The lyrics listed in the liner notes of the album simply say "Great lyrics", and the simple chorus of "Never hitch a ride with those guys baby" is incredibly catchy. The mellow pop tunes continue with I Can See My Dog. However, The Jester of Helpmeat can best be summed up as a messed up version of Pimple Zoo (replace "Sometimes I get the feeling that you don't want me around" with "The Jester of Helpmeat is not fucking around"). It is also the start of a string of odder tracks, with Kicks at the Gym having Pollard almost yelling over a heavy driven riff, and Music for Us featuring the return of Rich Turiel, the "narrator" of Turn to Red, and some strange singing.

The Year Nobody Died is generally forgettable, and when things look like Bad Football is going to end on a whimper, it is finished with the fuzz-rock My Will. Is Bad Football better than Turn to Red, I would say so. However, this is an album where after seven tracks I started thinking The Takeovers were going to complete a perfect album, but then four consecutive tracks sort of ruined it. Don't get me wrong, tracks Kicks at the Gym and Music for Us add tons of character to an album, but I almost wished this one included some more You're At It's and Pretty Not Bad's.

Tracklisting (songs in bold make the playlist):
01 You're At It
02 Little Green Onion Man
03 Father's Favorite Temperature
04 Molly & Zack
05 Pretty Not Bad
06 Smokestack Bellowing Stars
07 I Can See My Dog
08 The Jester of Helpmeat
09 Kicks at the Gym
10 Music for Us
11 The Year Nobody Died
12 My Will

The Takeovers: Turn To Red (2006)

2008-02-26T20:39:00.002-08:00

I'm changing things up a bit. No longer am I following a chronological order of posts, but mixing it up from here on in. This way, I get to choose what release I post next a little more randomly. That being said, I am loving the Takeovers EP Little Green Onion Man, so I decided to do their first effort, Turn To Red. The Takeovers are a collaboration between Robert Pollard and Chris Slusarenko. There are some guest musicians thrown into the mix as well...

After an intro from Rich Turiel, the album explodes into one of its best tracks, Insane/Cool It. This is an automatic inclusion on the playlist with its pure rock vibe, and its chorus ("A nameless hate/A nameless hate/Time gushes pain on my days/And I can't get away") reminds me of classic Rolling Stones. It is followed by the sombre First Spill Is Free, a track who's lyrics are (to me) some of Pollard's most baffling ("I want just to raw/I want head is the word").

Mojo Police has a great pulsing beat verse, followed by a Circus Devils-ish chaotic section, and is one of the weirder tracks on the disc. I can't help but love Scuffle With Nature. From its cutesy melody, off lyrics ("By a stuttering f-f-f-f-f"/Healthy does of the T-Ruth crippling me"), and even the crackling recording noise, this one sticks with you. Even Rich's intro comes back and sounds a little more at home in this song. The following Sweet Jelly can be filed under "toss-off" (and while we're at it, so is Wig Stomper - see the Little Green Onion Man EP for a non-phone message recorded version).

Competing with Insane/Cool It for the cut of the album is Fairly Blacking Out, an all-out rocker with a great riff, complete with "programming" from Charlie Campbell. I'm not too sure what I think about The Public Dance, and instrumental moving into Circus Devils country which builds nicely throughout its three minutes. Be It Not For The Serpentine Rain Dodger sounds like it comes straight from mid/late 80's GBV, and would have fit in nicely on the first Suitcase box set.

Bullfighter's Cut sounds like a preview of what to expect on a later Pollard release, Standard Gargoyle Decisions, a bit of brooding with the rock. With its pulsing baseline, this is the type of track that sounds great during a late night drive. I am not a big fan of Pollard's vocals on Jancy, the albums final track. I think Bullfighter's Cut would have made a better closer...oh well.

The five tracks on this disc that make my playlist do stand out from those that do not...quite a bit. The Takeovers' first effort follows the proven formula of instant classics, thrown in half-finished ideas, total toss-offs, and decent tracks, all mixed together to form an album greater than the sum of its parts. And it also looks like The Takeovers are here to stay, as they already have another album (Bad Football), and the great EP Little Green Onion Man.

Tracklisting (songs in bold make the playlist):
01 Do You Get Your Wish?
02 Insane/Cool It
03 First Spill Is Free
04 Mojo Police
05 Scuffle With Nature
06 Sweet Jelly
07 Fairly Blacking Out
08 Wig Stomper
09 The Public Dance
10 Be It Not For The Serpentine Rain Dodger
11 Bullfighter's Cut
12 Jancy

Not Dead...

2008-02-21T16:12:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, just a quick note to let you know that no, I have not abandoned this blog. In fact, I have made my order for the new Takeovers, Psycho & the Birds, & Robert Pollard, and am looking forward to checking them out (also picked up a bunch of t-shirts).

Anyway, I have been incredibly busy since September, and hope things will cool down soon. I also aim to have a post as early as tomorrow, and hopefully by the end of the weekend.

So thanks for all the comments over the last little while, and we'll get this blog into full swing soon!

Guided By Voices: Earthquake Glue (2003)

2007-09-15T15:28:00.000-07:00

Earthquake Glue is likely the new-era GBV disc that I listen to the least. After the rock-fest that was Universal Truths & Cycles, Earthquake Glue has a slightly more pop-mellow vibe, and reminds me of Kid Marine in its okay-ness. That is, there is not a bad track on the album, nor does it really ever shine through as spectacular. It has its fair share of hits (My Kind of Soldier, The Best of Jill Hives, and Useless Inventions are up there with GBV's best), but the album overall may take more listens than usual before other tracks begin standing out. That being said, the whole album is pretty much making the playlist...

My Kind Of Soldier kicks things off in a good way. I love the intro to this one, and the chorus ("My kind of soldier/You can ride on my shoulders when you've won") is extremely catchy. A definite hit on first listen, it is surprising this wasn't playing on modern rock radio all over the place.

The military-theme continues with My Son, My Secretary and My Country, which finishes with a genius charge of "rahhhhhh!" (which the liner notes attribute to the Model Prisoners of the 5 Sense Realm), blending nicely into my personal favorite of the album, I'll Replace You With Machines. There is a watery sound effect which continues throughout I'll Replace You With Machines. At first, this effect is extremely cool as part of the intro. However, I think it overstays its welcome, and it would have been nice if it faded out shortly after the song's beginning. Otherwise, this track kicks ass ("Ain't it funny how it gets there/And they say it never does/I'll replace you with machines/I can't face you").

She Goes Off At Night is the first of those slightly-better-than-okay tracks which will make the playlist due to having at least one part being pretty cool (in this case, the verses). It's a painless pop tune which Pollard can write in his sleep. Beat Your Wings is even closer to the cut-off which goes over the top with its stellar finish, guitar solo included.

Useless Inventions is among the realm of great GBV tunes. From its opening pulsing riff to Pollard's melody-oozing verses, this one is topped off with a killer chorus as well. The lyrical work is among Pollard's best ("Come on and purchase the new one/Be the first to strap it on/Lose antiquated fixations that you cannot be without/For a nice try change this model out").

Dirty Water has its moments, and its role of being the darker track on a mostly joyful album is a highlight. It is immediately followed by one of Pollard's most beautiful songs, The Best Of Jill Hives. This goose bump inducing pop-ballad is a candidate for the best song to introduce your friend to GBV with.

There is something going on with Pollard's vocals on Dead Cloud. This track is another on-the-fence decision for making the playlist. It is fairly repetitive, but the dueling vocal "She said to send the sunlight to me" part is quite nice. Mix Up The Satellite has a great title, and sounds like something from a dreamy early-70's prog-rock tune. The Main Street Wizards also follows the mood of Mix Up The Satellite, though once again Pollard's vocals sound a little different (higher?).

Wow is A Trophy Mule In Particular a cool track. The "...and earthquake glue" part is genius, and its continued build up to the line "for I am a soldier" nicely wraps up the album theme. This would have been a wonderful final track (come to think of it, a perfect opener as well). Apology In Advance has some great parts, including the line "been around the block, i even threw up one street over" and an interlude with some sweet lead guitar work. Finally, Secret Star is the epic of the album with three fairly distinctive parts, and Of Mites And Men (which starts off sounding like Club Molluska) is the closer, and probably the heaviest song on the album.

Don't let the fact that almost the entire album made the playlist fool you, Earthquake Glue is good, but is not among the best GBV albums. If I rated songs on a ten point scale with six being the minimum to make the playlist, there would be a bunch of sixes on here. But let's face it, when it comes to GBV-proper albums, there are rarely any songs that are duds since Propeller and onward. Is Earthquake Glue essential...of course it is, but so is every GBV full album.

Tracklisting (Songs in bold make my ultimate GBV/Pollard playlist/box set):

01 My Kind Of Soldier
02 My Son, My Secretary And My Country
03 I'll Replace You With Machines
04 She Goes Off At Night
05 Beat Your Wings
06 Useless Inventions
07 Dirty Water
08 The Best Of Jill Hives
09 Dead Cloud
10 Mix Up The Satellite
11 The Main Street Wizards
12 A Trophy Mule In Particular
13 Apology In Advance
14 Secret Star
15 Of Mites And Men

Guided By Voices: Hardcore UFOs - Revelations, Epiphanies and Fast Food in the Western Hemisphere (2003)

2007-09-07T17:27:00.000-07:00

Boxsets are the collector's dream. Guided By Voices boxsets are not so rare. With two editions of Suitcase, a collection of early out-of-print albums, and Hardcore UFOs, GBV has four boxsets collecting about a hundred songs each. Where the two Suitcase boxsets showcase only unreleased tracks, the Box boxset having four out-of-print albums and one album of unreleased material...Hardcore UFOs has six distinct discs; 1) a greatest hits package, 2) a documentary DVD, 3) A live album, 4) an out-of-print singles/EP collection, 5) an unreleased collection, and 6) an out-of-print EP...

I have not wrote an entry for Watch Me Jumpstart, the documentary DVD (with music videos), since I'm trying to concentrate on the albums (for now). However, please click on the links below for the individual entries for each disc:

Forever Since Breakfast
Live At the Wheelchair Races
Delicious Pie & Thank You For Calling
Demons & Painkillers
Human Amusements at Hourly Rates - The Best of Guided By Voices
Watch Me Jumpstart DVD - no entry yet

Guided By Voices: Hardcore UFOs: Human Amusements At Hourly Rates - The Best of Guided By Voices (2003)

2007-09-07T17:01:00.000-07:00

A Guided By Voices greatest hits package? How can a band with as many rocking songs as GBV have a single disc greatest hits? I think this needs to be put into some context before continuing. First off, this album is virtually meaningless for someone already a big fan. Because of this, its inclusion in Hardcore UFOs is an odd choice. Who other than those already owning every GBV album would buy Hardcore UFOs in the first place? Therefore, I must review this disc in its non-Hardcore UFOs stand-alone version aimed at the person who has not yet discovered Robert Pollard and GBV. This was the very first GBV album I ever purchased, and in the context of a primer for newcomers, this greatest hits package is perfect...

I honestly cannot argue with the tracklisting on this package, as it truly highlights all era's of GBV. Also, it is all GBV with no solo Robert Pollard, nor any GBV-related side-projects. And let's face it, isn't GBV the gateway drug to all things Pollard?

When I started listening to Human Amusements at Hourly Rates, I instantly fell in love with all the newer tracks; stuff from Isolation Drills, Universal Truths & Cycles, & Earthquake Glue. However, after more listens it was the lo-fi tracks that started grabbing my attention (Non-Absorbing, I Am A scientist, and Shocker in Gloomtown are great examples).

Quickly there was not a song I didn't love on this disc. I saw the mega-rock potential with I Am a Tree & Cut-Out Witch, and lo-fi minute-long weirdfest in Hot Freaks. I heard the pop rock gems Surgical Focus and Glad Girls, and I even felt that Official Ironmen Rally Song, Twilight Campfighter, and The Best of Jill Hives formed some sort of beautiful ballad trilogy.

I then started to look up GBV in earnest and started planning my next purchases. It was time to see if the regular albums had more to offer than the greatest hits package. I was floored by the amount of material it turned out GBV had out there with all the albums, EPs, singles, and boxsets. And then I realized that Robert Pollard had tons of solo material as well as side projects out there as well!

Based on what I can find on the internet, I decided to pick up Bee Thousand (which appeared to be known as their greatest), and Vampire on Titus (which was often described as their harshest and lowest of lo-fi, and "only for the fans" type of material). I figured if I couldn't get into their (by popular vote) greatest album ever, then I could probably just stick with the greatest hits. By contrast, if I could dig their least accessible, then this would be a great band to invest in.

Long story short, I have most of the Robert Pollard/GBV catalog in CD form (I don't own a record player, but I do have Bee Thousand: Director's Cut and the Love is Stronger than Witchcraft vinyls), and I started this blog, and I can easily say without a doubt that Pollard/GBV make up my favorite music. I like a lot of other bands with almost as much enthusiasm (I won't name them here, but maybe I'll write about them sometime), but none have captured my attention like GBV.

Basically what I am trying to say is that my entire path into the world of Guided By Voices started because of the perfect selection of Human Amusements. Though looking back at the GBV catalog, I would predict a fan selected greatest hits would be a lot more late 80's/early-mid 90's focused, whereas this album captures plenty of the newer stuff. Not including solo Pollard, any side projects, nor any fan mixes, this is the very best official Guided By Voices album. it truly is a studio greatest hits, unlike the new Fading Captain greatest hits compilation Crickets, which has more of a fan-based song selection feel.

And since I was so good at not making any suggestions as to what should have been included and what shouldn't (which I'm sure every GBV fan feels compelled to do with this album), I feel I deserve to make my one small suggestion; Where the hell is Weed King?

Tracklisting (Hardcore UFOs order - NOTE: Order of tracklist on Hardcore UFO's is chronological. The non-Hardcore UFOs version is a random order):
01 Captain's Dead
02 Drinker's Peace
03 Exit Flagger
04 14 Cheerleader Coldfront
05 Shocker in Gloomtown
06 Non-Absorbing
07 Tractor Rape Chain
08 Hot Freaks
09 Echos Myron
10 I Am a Scientist
11 A Salty Salute
12 Watch Me Jumpstart
13 Game of Pricks
14 Motor Away
15 Hit
16 My Valuable Hunting Knife
17 Cut-Out Witch
18 The Official Ironmen Rally Song
19 To Remake the Young Flyer
20 I Am a Tree
21 Bulldog Skin
22 Learning to Hunt
23 Teenage FBI
24 Things I Will Keep
25 Surgical Focus
26 Chasing Heather Crazy
27 Twilight Campfighter
28 Glad Girls
29 Back to the Lake
30 Everywhere With Helicopter
31 My Kind of Soldier
32 The Best of Jill Hives

Guided By Voices: Hardcore UFOs: Live At The Wheelchair Races (2003)

2007-07-25T18:53:00.000-07:00

Live At the Wheelchair Races is a stellar live album. It has a great mix of tracks, from the classics (A Salty Salute, Weed King, Game Of Pricks, Tractor Rape Chain), live staples (My Impression Now, Drinker's Peace, Johnny Appleseed, Over The Neptune), Robert Pollard solo album tracks (Quicksilver, Make Use, Town Of Mirrors, Far Out Crops), and some rare live tracks (Key Losers, How Loft Am I?, Look At Them, Shrine To The Dynamic Years, James Riot). I did not plan on actually putting any live tracks on the playlist, however, one particular cut is just too cool to ignore...

The live version of I Am Produced simply rocks, and I cannot leave it off the playlist. I absolutely love it when this one gets going, with its dueling vocals (the three main lines: "I Am Produced", "Produce Me!" & "Pressed, printed, stomped, tripped ,trapped, tricked, packaged, shipped")

I am not going to go into detail with all the other tracks, since there is tons of live material out there from GBV, and this is simply a collection of great performances to add to it.

Tracklisting (NOTE: I did not plan on putting live tracks on the playlist, but I'm making an exception for I Am Produced):

01 (Intro)
02 Little Lines
03 A Salty Salute
04 I Am Produced
05 Why Did You Land?
06 Zap
07 14 Cheerleader Coldfront
08 Everywhere With Helicopter
09 Quicksilver
10 James Riot
11 Pretty Bombs
12 Far Out Crops
13 My Impression Now
14 Look At Them
15 Melted Pat
16 How Loft Am I?
17 King And Caroline/Motor Away
18 Trap Door Soul
19 Cheyenne
20 Make Use
21 Burning Flag Birthday Suit
22 Weed King
23 Town Of Mirrors
24 Over The Neptune/Mesh Gear Fox
25 Dragon's Awake
26 Shrine To The Dynamic Years
27 Game Of Pricks
28 Tractor Rape Chain
29 Key Losers
30 Now To War
31 Johnny Appleseed
32 Drinker's Peace

Guided By Voices: Hardcore UFOs : Delicious Pie & Thank You For Calling (2003)

2007-07-25T16:42:00.000-07:00

I was listening to the new Fading Captain Series greatest hits collection Crickets in my car to and from work today, and it definitely got me in the mood to write a post today (and of course one is due). Continuing on with Hardcore UFOs, I am going to tackle the unreleased collection Delicious Pie & Thank You For Calling. Unlike the Suitcase collections, this particular unreleased collection has some order to it. Tracks 1-6 are early 8-track/boombox recordings (recorded late 80's), 7-11 are outtakes from Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia (1989), 15-18 are Do The Collapse demos, and 19-22 are Mag Earwhig! demos. How does this compilation stack up against, say, a Suitcase disc? Generally, I would have to say it is not quite up to par...

Let's start off with the Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia outtakes (the album where GBV really started to show their weirder side). 7 Strokes To Heaven's Edge is a charming acoustic ballad, while Fire 'Em Up, Abner is the exact opposite; a driven, repetitive rocker which generally overstays its welcome after three minutes.

Harboring Exiles is oozing punk with some catchy lyrics ("As such the dream up here is falling/I'll keep it close until the pattern breaks/And when it breaks the dream is over/The kind of thing that makes me sing"). Still Worth Nothing has a great chorus, and it shares the lyric "Speed up, slow down, go all around in the end" with Tractor Rape Chain from Bee Thousand. It is on the edge of making the playlist. Lastly, Never has something underlying its simple melody which might evolve after more listens, but I'll keep it off the list for now.

The Do The Collapse demos start off with I Invented The Moonwalk (And the Pencil Sharpener). This track is obviously the demo which became Whiskey Ships on Robert Pollard's 1998 solo album Waved Out, and as such does not even come close to capturing that track's greatness, but still provides an interesting take on its early stages. One has to wonder how Whiskey Ships would have sounded with the slick production of Do The Collapse.

The Fly Into Ashes demo is almost identical to the version on the Hold On Hope EP, however with a large dip in quality. The Various Vaults Of Convenience features Pollard coughing in the middle, and Trashed Aircraft (which is important in title alone) is not quite as heavy as the version of Suitcase, and I prefer the Suitcase version over this one.

Now for the Mag Earwhig! demos. This box set features both the demo of Running Off With The Fun City Girls (on this album) and the studio version on the Demons & Painkiller disc. Once again, I am going to have to side with the cleaner version (though I love the sound of the lead guitar on the demo). As for the Bulldog Skin demo, Pollard let's us know when the "kick ass part" is coming up, which of course sounds even more kick ass on the studio version. Demos of Portable Men's Society and Choking Tara also cannot be compared to their magnificent studio versions (or should I say the "creamy" version of Choking Tara?).

This compilation has its shares of throwaways as well. The first track I is almost annoying with Pollard yelping "I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I" repeatedly, and H-O-M-E starts off with a voicemail recording before breaking into an early-Ween-ish track. You're The Special is the same three second riff repeated continuously and features the lyric "Before she or he or me or you or them and us and them and you and knowin it". Lastly, Slave Your Beetle Brain is a complete song in reverse.

Not quite throwaways, but still fairly mediocre, are the reverb-ballads Perhaps We Were Swinging and Mother & Son, the dark and poetic They, and the Concert For Todd version of Man Called Aerodynamics (which is practically a demo version).

There are two more gems on this collection though. A track which shares a title and main lyric with Go Back Snowball's It Is Divine, but is otherwise a completely different tune. Pollard manages at least three separate melodies which are put together to create a fairly great tune (even though the quality is on the lower end). Also, likely the star on this disc is the full version of Back To Saturn X, which was previously known only as a snippet on Propeller's Back To Saturn X Radio Report. Easily, this is the most rocking track on the CD, and is a must have for GBV fans (though I will likely edit out the minute of laughing at the end).

Basically after Back To Saturn X and It Is Divine, there is nothing to spectacular on this album. The demos from Do The Collapse and Mag Earwhig! are interesting, but all suffer from all things demo-ish. The outtakes from Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia are pretty decent, and would for the most part fit in nicely with an extended version of that album. Overall, this is on the lower end of GBV-related albums.

Tracklisting (songs in bold make my ultimate Pollard/GBV playlist):

01 I
02 Back To Saturn X
03 H-O-M-E
04 You're The Special
05 Perhaps We Were Swinging
06 Mother & Son
07 7 Strokes To Heaven's Edge
08 Fire 'Em Up, Abner
09 Harboring Exiles
10 Still Worth Nothing
11 Never
12 Slave Your Beetle Brain
13 It Is Divine (Different Version)
14 They
15 I Invented The Moonwalk (And The Pencil Sharpener)
16 Fly Into Ashes (Demo)
17 The Various Vaults Of Convenience
18 Trashed Aircraft
19 Running Off With The Fun City Girls (Demo)
20 Bulldog Skin (Demo)
21 Portable Men's Society (Demo)
22 Choking Tara (Demo)
23 Man Called Aerodynamics (Concert For Todd Version)

Guided By Voices: Hardcore UFOs : Demons & Painkillers (2003)

2007-06-10T08:06:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd start my 2003-era GBV coverage with the Hardcore UFOs boxset. More specifically, with Demons & Painkillers; a collection of Matador out-of-print singles, B-sides, and tunes from compilations. Albums like this are so important to fans like me who get into a band late in the game (or who do not have a record player), and missed out on grabbing some of these singles when they originally came out. This may be the best reason to pick up Hardcore UFOs, since Demons & Painkillers is a fairly decent album all on its own...

I have already covered some of these tracks in other entries, so I'll simply quote those reviews and interlace them with the new ones.

Motor Away 7" (1995)
From my entry here: "What made the Motor Away 7" single special was (like the My Valuable Hunting Knife single) the alternate take on the title track. The original from Alien Lanes is an anthem for the lo-fi movement. The version on this single sounds slightly more polished, and yet emptier. I choose the Alien Lanes version over the slick 7" every time, but there really is not much of a difference. I'm guessing finding this single is close to impossible now, but you can find its contents on the Demons & Painkillers disc in Hardcore UFOs...

The b-side Color Of My Blade is a special treat as well, and I would have loved to hear this song on Alien Lanes. It is a heavier, consistent rock track which keeps a nice pace and often sounds like it is straight out of the late 60's."

I actually left off the 7" version of Motor Away off the playlist, which I have since changed my mind about.

Tigerbomb 7" EP (1995)
From my entry here: "Tigerbomb is likely best known for its inclusion of two 7" alternate takes on GBV hits from the Alien Lanes era; My Valuable Hunting Knife and Game Of Pricks. Whereas this version of My Valuable Hunting Knife fails to capture the magic of what made the original from Alien Lanes so excellent, the slick production and added intro make Tigerbomb's Game Of Pricks the ultimate version...

The 7" version of My Valuable Hunting Knife adds effects on Pollard's vocals with more of a dance beat, and has a nice loud finish which is slightly similar to the original. Since the original is one of my favorite GBV songs of all time, this version is different enough to also be included in my playlist. As stated earlier, the new intro on Game Of Pricks is absolutely beautiful, and really gets me pumped for the song. I could see it as a great intro at a concert.

As for the rest of the EP, it consists of what I would mostly consider throwaways, except for Tobin Sprout's Dodging Invisible Rays. Mice Feel Nice (In My Room) had potential, maybe if there some chords being played over the main riff? Overall it comes off as a duller track which at over two minutes overstays its welcome. Not Good For The Mechanism has some of the grungiest and heaviest guitar in the GBV catalog, but is missing that trademark Pollard melody. Kiss Only The Important Ones is okay, but still does not stand out enough to make the playlist. It is a short little acoustic ditty with some feedback effects.

Dodging Invisible Rays does not explore any new territory for Sprout, but delivers that satisfactory pop injection we have come to expect from him. It also stands out quality-wise from this group, since the previous three tracks are recorded with poor quality (of course, sound quality is not a category in which one should be judging GBV).

Tigerbomb is mostly a gift to fans, with its alternate takes of GBV classics, a few tracks not good enough to make a proper album, and a hidden gem of a Tobin song. Just remember that you can get these songs on Demons and Painkillers from the Hardcore UFOs box set."

Holy crap, how did I leave Kiss Only The Important Ones of the playlist?! This song is beautiful, and it definately makes the list.

The Official Ironmen Rally Song 7" (1996)
From my review here: "Deaf Ears has Pollard singing through what sounds at first like a megaphone from far away, over a repeated riff. The song suddenly switches gears and has Pollard singing "My final words have fallen upon deaf ears/My last few words have fallen upon deaf ears" over and over until the fade out finish. I really like the finish to this track, as it saves an otherwise so-so cut. There is also a Same Place The Fly Got Smashed outtake version on the first Suitcase box set, though it has nothing on the newer version.

Why Did You Land? starts out sounding like Sloan's Lemonzinger (and if you are not Canadian, you likely have no idea what I'm talking about). The chorus is great, and the track provides that nice shot of rock n' roll which GBV is known for. There is a slow version on Suitcase which removes everything that is great about this heavier version. June Salutes You! is another rocking track on what is truly a great single.

Guided By Voices treat their fans well. Instead of putting pure b-sides on their singles and EP's, they include tracks which for the most part are just as good as those on the full album of the same era. Like the single I Am A Scientist, The Official Ironmen Rally Song single is a couple of minutes of pop genius."

Under The Bushes Under The Stars Bonus Tracks (Europe 1996 & Japan 1997)
From my entry here: "If you were lucky enough to find either a European or Japanese version of Under The Bushes Under The Stars, you would have been treated to a few bonus tracks. In fact the European release also contained the Tigerbomb EP and the split with Superchunk (another great band). I thought I'd go through some of these tracks since it appears that I'll get through Demons & Painkillers one release at a time...

Delayed Reaction Brats is swimming in fuzz and noise, but there is a fine song hiding underneath. I must say that is balancing on the fence when it comes to adding it to my playlist, and at just over a minute, I'll add it to the playlist for now. He's The Uncle is another short track which is oozing melody, mixed with some sound effects. It is surprising this didn't find its way to a proper album, as it would have sounded nice on Under The Bushes Under The Stars. The Key Losers is practically the same version as on Tonics & Twisted Chasers except with better sound quality.

As for the Japanese version of Under The Bushes Under The Stars, the version of The Finest Joke Upon Us is the same as on Mag Earwhig! Finks was apparently set to be on Pollard's solo album Not In My Airforce. It would make for a great car tune, and reminds me of a stroll through the park. It is a happy sounding little tune with a great riff."

Various Compilations (1996 - 1999)
The version of Postal Blowfish that made the soundtrack to the movie Brain Candy (made by Canadian sketch comedy group The Kids in the Hall) is a tuned up, slicker version then what was originally planned for Bee Thousand (and what eventually ended up on King Shit and the Golden Boys). There is a version of My Thoughts Are A Gas on Tonics And Twisted Chasers which I called a downright throwaway. The version here (and from the compilation album What's Up Matador) shares little resemblance. In fact, this a fairly rocking tune. Lastly, from the compilation Everything Is Nice comes Choking Tara (Creamy Version). The version that made Mag Earwhig! stands out on being one of the worst quality (production, that is) tracks on the album. The version here is cleaned up quite a bit, and sounds wonderful.

Cut Out Witch 7" (1996)
The Cut Out Witch single included two live tracks of Propeller tunes, Some Drilling Implied, and Unleased! The Large-Hearted Boy. Basically, I am trying to refrain from putting live tracks on the playlist. However, I should note that these two live tracks rock hard, especially Unleased! which rivals the album version.

Plantations Of Pale Pink 7" EP (1996)
From my entry here: "Systems Crash is a short fuzz-rock anthem, which I admit I did not quite like when first hearing it. However, the track has grown on me considerably. I now see it as a companion to My Valuable Hunting Knife, as both are similar musically. Catfood On The Earwig is a longer (over two minutes anyway) track which sounds like a few different songs tied together. Parts of the track are decent, but the disjointed feel to it put me off slightly.

The Who Vs. Porky Pig suffers a tad due to recording quality, but the straight out rock comes through loud and clear anyway. I'm sure there are fans of A Life In Finer Clothing, especially with the nice lead guitar at the end of the track. However, the song doesn't stand out for me at all and is the least interesting song on Plantations Of The Pale Pink.

The Worryin' Song is a minute of beautiful melody layered with sonic noise (like most of the more poorly recorded songs), and has also grown on me lately. The final track, Subtle Gear Shifting, contains the album title lyric and is epic at almost four minutes long. There is not very much variation in the four minutes, as the track follows a pulsing guitar rhythm throughout.

Plantations Of Pale Pink does not contain anything that could be considered a Guided By Voices hit in any way, yet it still manages to be a satisfying treat. Is it a reason in itself to buy the Hardcore UFOs boxset? Likely not, but it still manages to be a huge check in the plus column when weighing the decision to spend the 70 bucks."

Bulldog Skin 7" (1997)
I did not actually review the Mag Earwhig! singles separately as I did for Under The Bushes Under The Stars. Luckily, this entry for Demons & Painkillers provides a forum for doing so. Bulldog Skin is a single which I called underwhelming in my entry for Mag Earwhig!, but I know just as much as the next guy that it rocks.

As for The Singing Razorblade, I have trouble deciding if I like it or not. It has quite the catchy beat, and a remixed Pollard chant which is actually quite cool. The acoustic Now To War from Mag Earwhig! is given the heavy treatment on this version, and Mannequin's Complaint (Wax Dummy Meltdown) is a bizarre, rolling, rock opera tune that would likely fit nicely on a Circus Devil's album (or maybe it is just to jolly).

I Am A Tree 7" (1997)
I Am A Tree is one hell of a song. It is definitely among the rockiest, and best of GBV's entire catalog, and should have propelled them into rock n' roll stardom. How do the b-sides fair?

Do They Teach You The Chase? is a short, moody track. (I'll Name You) The Flame That Cries follows suit for the first minute, and sound quite similar to the prior track. However, at about the minute and a half mark, GBV kicks into gear and turns the track into something worthy of an I Am A Tree b-side. Lastly, The Ascended Master's Grogshop is a half-minute ballad.

Mag Earwhig! Japanese Bonus Tracks (1998)
Running Off With The Fun City Girls surely sounds like it comes from the Mag Earwhig! sessions, and has a nice punky-edge to it. None Of Them Any Good is another rocker that is decent enough to be included on Mag Earwhig!

As you can see from all the bolded tracks on this disc, as an album, Demons & Painkillers is pretty decent. Part of this is because Pollard chose to put softer versions of some tracks on the albums, and left the heavier versions for the b-sides. Another reason of course, is the re-recording of the Alien Lanes singles. And the last reason, GBV just has so many damn good songs, a bunch of them are bound to pushed to b-side status.

Tracklisting (songs in bold make my ultimate GBV/Pollard playlist):

01 Motor Away [7" Version]
02 Color Of My Blade
03 My Valuable Hunting Knife [7" Version]
04 Game Of Pricks [7" Version]
05 Mice Feel Nice (In My Room)
06 Not Good For The Mechanism
07 Kiss Only The Important Ones
08 Dodging Invisible Rays
09 Deaf Ears
10 Why Did You Land?
11 June Salutes You!
12 Delayed Reaction Brats
13 He's The Uncle
14 Key Losers
15 Postal Blowfish
16 Unleashed! The Large-Hearted Boy [Live]
17 Some Drilling Implied [Live]
18 Systems Crash
19 Catfood On The Earwhig
20 The Who Vs. Porky Pig
21 A Life In Finer Clothing
22 The Worryin' Song
23 Subtle Gear Shifting
24 Finks
25 The Finest Joke Is Upon Us
26 The Singing Razorblade
27 Now To War (Electric Version)
28 Mannequin's Complaint (Wax Dummy Meltdown)
29 Do They Teach You The Chase?
30 (I'll Name You) The Flame That Cries
31 The Ascended Master's Grogshop
32 My Thoughts Are A Gas
33 Running Off With The Fun City Girls
34 None Of Them Any Good
35 Choking Tara (Creamy Version)

Site News, or Boring Post Title

2007-06-05T20:30:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

I supposed most of you have been as excited as I to find out about all the upcoming releases (new Pollard albums - two of 'em!, new Circus Devils, Crickets, Austin City Limits, The Takeovers...), and you also likely noticed a great distance of time passing between my latest posts.

I have been extremely busy lately, but I do not have any plans other than keeping up with this project and going through every Pollard release! I posted Go Back Snowball earlier today, and look forward to writing about 2003 releases (Earthquake Glue, Pinball Mars, Hardcore UFOs, Lifeguards, & Phantom Tollbooth) in the very near future.

I also updated my links recently (and was excited to see a blog with the goal of writing about every Pollard song -> see links on sidebar). I also listed some more non-GBV related links (thank you to those nice people who linked this site).

Anyway, I just wanted to provide an update, and make sure you all know that I am still 100% dedicated to this site. I also plan to update its look and feel sometime in the future (did you know that you can reach this site through www.rock-robot.com?).

Lastly, please do not click on the 'click here to read the rest of this article...' link on the bottom of this post. This is the whole post. I don't know how to NOT have it on every post...so hopefully I saved you a mouse-click.

Thanks,
Dave (The Rock Robot)

Go Back Snowball: Calling Zero (2002)

2007-06-05T18:38:00.001-07:00

Go Back Snowball is made up of two indie-rock giants: Robert Pollard, and Superchunk's Mac McCaughan. McCaughan lays down all the music and Pollard adds vocals. I should start off by saying that I have been growing into quite the Superchunk fan (after finding all their tunes on eMusic), especially Foolish, that is a good album. Therefore, the expectations are high. Does Go Back Snowball reach the great heights expected by this dynamic duo? Maybe not. Is it a good album? Sure. Will it grow on you after repeated listens? Oh, definately! The music is interesting (a mix of fuzzed-out guitar, piano, and acoustic rhythm), and did I mention one of Pollard's best vocal performances...

The album starts off with the best track, Radical Girl. This song is a great example of Pollard's ability to throw tons of melody over anything, with McCaughan's off-kilter organ which sounds like the most mellow Rob Zombie tune never made. Following is the acoustic title track, Calling Zero. This one has been growing on me, and perhaps more for the catchy strumming work of McCaughan and less for Pollards (though still great) vocals.

If you asked me if I would include either Calling Zero, or the next track (Never Forget Where You Get Them) on my ultimate playlist a month ago, I would likely say no. After listening to this album on my way to and back from work a few times I have changed my mind. McCaughan's sonic grooves in Never Forget Where You Get Them are a perfect background to Pollard's vocals. On a side note, I find Pollard's singing on this album sounds as good as on any GBV-related album.

Red Hot Halos is a mix of beating guitar pulses and cutesy piano, and a somewhat letdown of a chorus. It does contain some of my favorite lyrics on the album; ("And sometimes when its 'look out below', the people move too slow"). Again the Waterloo is a static-radio rocker which reminds me a bit of Earthling-era Bowie (think Little Wonder). I'm on the wall on this one as for its inclusion on the playlist, though I'm leaning on keeping it since there is really nothing else like it from Pollard.

The sonic guitar continues into Climb, a short and simple track. Go Gold has a constant acoustic rhythm chased by a slow bass lead, and is another great example of Pollard's word-smithing ("Preconceived in half allegiance/Ideas of the wicked/Who remove you from your sickness/Young and old/Go gold", and "We will march one-half a million/From the tents to the pavillion/Where the drinks are being sold/Go gold").

Lifetime for the Mavericks and Throat of Throats continues McCaughan's melding of fuzzed-out sonic guitar with either acoustic guitar or piano. At just under two minutes, Lifetime for the Mavericks is another quick jolt of pop. Throat of Throats is a pretty tune, and it is at about this time I realize that this album would be cool soundtrack for some weird futuristic spaghetti western.

Ironrose Worm sounds like a carnival ride song, and It Is Divine is truly divine (yes, I had to do it no matter how corny it was). The chorus of "It is divine my child, and it only lasts a second" is possibly the most beautiful moment on the album. I should note that there is track with the same title (and some of the same lyrics) on Hardcore UFO's, but there is not any real similarity. Finally, Dumbluck Systems Stormfront finishes off the album with a gentle release.

I have to admit I did not get into this album the first time I heard it. It has definitely grown on me over time, and now more than half the tracks make my playlist. It is quite original within the GBV catalog, and I love the mix of acoustic elements and the psychedelic, sonic guitar. It does not reach the heavy riff-driven Superchunk awesomeness, but the overall mellow vibe is a great backdrop for Pollard to shine through on vocals.

Tracklisting (songs in bold make my ultimate GBV/Pollard playlist):
01 Radical Girl
02 Calling Zero
03 Never Forget Where Get Them
04 Red Hot Halos
05 Again the Waterloo
06 Climb
07 Go Gold
08 Lifetime for the Mavericks
09 Throat of Throats
10 Ironrose Worm
11 It Is Divine
12 Dumbluck Systems Stormfront

Circus Devils: The Harold Pig Memorial (2002)

2007-03-28T17:39:00.000-07:00

When reviewing the first Circus Devils release (Ringworm Interiors), I found it hard to convey how much I enjoyed the album while only selecting 8 out of 28 of the tracks for my ultimate GBV-related playlist. The problem was that the disc was great as a cohesive album, yet individual tracks were just too "out there" to sound in place on a GBV/Pollard mix. Well, the dynamic trio of Robert Pollard (vocals) and the Tobias' (Tim and Todd - all the guitar licks and weird noises) are back with The Harold Pig Memorial. This album is toned down quite a bit compared to Ringworm Interiors, and is generally a rather fine rock album...

Alaska To Burning Men starts things off with an intro which sounds a lot like the theme to Lost, then blends into a Metallica-ish ballad riff with Pollard's more haunting style of vocals. Saved Herself, Shaved Herself continues the mellow tone for about a minute until picking up to a decent beat with Pollard repeating the title lyrics. A fairly decent start which is not even remotely close to the strangeness of Ringworm Interiors.

Soldiers of June is extremely poppy/catchy, for a Circus Devil's release anyway. Once again, like on Ringworm Interiors (and Pinball Mars), Pollard does some Eddie Vedder impressions ("Counting holes in the moon/In thee moon"). Following is a wonderful minute and a half in I Guess I Needed That. The only thing this track is missing is another minute and a half. Things slow down again for Festival of Death, a mild folk ballad.

Five songs in, and there really isn't anything strange to mark this as a Circus Devil's release. In fact, it is so far a fairly decent rock album. This trend continues into Dirty World News which has an echoing Pollard talking over a juicy riff. May We See the Hostage? is the first track with a distinct Circus Devil's feel.This beautiful ballad is invaded by intermittent pounding of feedback, and then completely taken over by a sonic guitar solo. Do You Feel Legal? may be the closest thing Pollard has done which would fit nicely in a broadway musical, and A Birdcage Until Further Notice is proof that the atmosphere of Ringworm Interiors hasn't completely disappeared, though the song does not stray to far off of this album's more pop-like approach.

Injured? is a calm ride, and one of the more forgettable ones on this disc. In contrast Foxhead Delivery cranks the rock n' roll ("Its easy unless it rains/The night eats us alive"). Last Punk Standing is another straight forward rock tune (which Pollard always turns into something not so straight forward). It has three distinct parts which have it moving into rock opera territory.

And then there is Bull Spears. Likely among your journey finding out about the Circus Devils you have come across this song. Also, you likely have only read great wonderful things about it. There is a good reason for this...the track rocks! Perhaps the greatest Circus Devils song, Bull Spears starts off with a rocket of a riff, and quickly mellows to a grooving bass line, before exploding again for the grand finish. There is something purely addictive about this track, perhaps the same something that gives Shocker In Gloomtown its edge.

Discussions In The Cave is fairly weird, as is Recirculating Hearse. The latter continues the dark rock opera style of music, and even has some fuzzy distortion which sounds like bees. The strangeness continues into Pigs Can't Hide (On Their Night Off) which ends with some high-pitched squealing feedback. Haunting rock n' roll comes back with Exoskeleton Motorcade. This track features a grooving riff and some noises which I can only describe as chipmunk rap.

The top half of this album is fairly straight-away rock, whereas the bottom half finds the Circus Devils in Ringworm Interiors territory. After the interlude which is Real Trip No. 3, the Circus Devils throw in another minute or so of brilliance with Vegas ("Vegas, oooohhh"). The Pilot's Crucifixion/Indian Oil has some funky riffs during the Indian Oil portion of the song, and Tulip Review features the sounds of bottles clashing. Finally, the title track finishes the album. The Harold Pig Memorial moves into Nine Inch Nails territory with its haunting piano in front of ambient noise.

Is The Harold Pig Memorial better than Ringworm Interiors? The quick answer is no. However, it is far more accessible. 10 out of 22 tracks make my playlist, compared to 8 out of 28 from Ringworm Interiors. However, The Harold Pig Memorial toned down some of the more exciting aspects of its predecessor and took a more straight forward approach, generally creating a slightly strange rock album. Overall I would say Ringworm Interiors is more exciting, but it has a few tracks which border on the unlistenable, preventing it from being as instantly accessible as The Harold Pig Memorial.

Tracklisting (songs in bold make my ultimate GBV/Pollard playlist/box set):

01 Alaska To Burning Men
02 Saved Herself, Shaved Herself
03 Soldiers Of June
04 I Guess I Needed That
05 Festival Of Death
06 Dirty World News
07 May We See The Hostage?
08 Do You Feel Legal?
09 A Birdcage Until Further Notice
10 Injured?
11 Foxhead Delivery
12 Last Punk Standing
13 Bull Spears
14 Discussions In The Cave
15 Recirculating Hearse
16 Pigs Can't Hid (On Their Night Off)
17 Exoskeleton Motorcade
18 Real Trip No. 3
19 Vegas
20 The Pilot's Crucifixion/Indian Oil
21 Tulip Review
22 The Harold Pig Memorial

Richard Meltzer, Robert Pollard, Smegma, Antler & Vom: The Completed Soundtrack For The Tropic Of Nipples (2002)

2007-03-28T16:33:00.000-07:00

In 2002 Robert Pollard teamed up with Richard Meltzer (former music critic), and noise bands Smegma and Antler to create a truly psychedelic vinyl only EP release. This CD version was expanded to include nine more tracks, as well as the addition of Vom (6 tracks). I am hard pressed to write a full entry for this disc, which I would have to say is one of the least important albums in the GBV catalog (or is it one of the most important ones, considering that only die-hard fans are going to bother to pick it up?) That being said, The Complete Soundtrack for the Tropic of Nipples is interesting with its mix of spoken word over noise, instrumentals, and some old school punk...

First off, I am going to focus on Pollard's contribution's to the album. The Vom tracks (Electricute Your Cock, Too Animalistic, Punkmobile, God Save The Wales, I Live With The Roaches, and I'm In Love With Your Mom) don't really have anything to do with Pollard, so they are not up for the playlist. If 70's era punk is your thing you may want to check these tracks out.

The Smegma tracks are generally spoken word over noise, and almost act like intros to the Antler tracks, which in return sound more like full fledged songs. The Smegma bits serve a purpose on this album which taken out of context would be completely lost, which is not so much true for the Antler songs.

More specifically, Industry Standard may be the most fully realized track on the album, or at least on the original EP. The best track on the entire album is the instrumental World's Coolest Rock Star (Antler), which was not even included on the original EP. It is kind of like a psychedelic spaghetti western intro. Aside from these, the somewhat compelling Ovarian Angel Architect (Antler), and the Vom tracks, I cannot really recommend this album to anyone. Of course if you need every GBV-related album out there...

Tracklisting (songs in bold make my ultimate GBV/Robert Pollard playlist/box set - in this case, none):

01 The Valium Restaurant
02 Ovarian Angel Architect
03 Kerouac Never Drove, So He Never Drove Alone
04 Industry Standard
05 Corduroy
06 Mosquitoes Dropped Their Javelins
07 Pressurized
08 Chowder, Anyone?
09 All For Sex and Better Whiskey
10 The Sonny Liston Fan Club
11 Tykie Love (Text Book Memorial Hemmingway)
12 Tropic of Nipples
13 Electricute Your Cock
14 Tropic of Labia
15 World's Coolest Rock Star
16 Too Animalistic
17 Revolver Tricks
18 Gotta
19 Punkmobile
20 God Save The Whales (Live at Rhino 12/77)
21 I Live With The Roaches
22 I'm In Love With Your Mom

New Robert Pollard Album...

2007-03-11T10:33:00.000-07:00

This is probably old news for most fans, but Robert Pollard is releasing a new mini-LP called Silverfish Trivia on April 17th! On another note, I was hoping to do another post this weekend (Circus Devils) and did not get a chance. Please be patient as I'm finding less and less time to write these posts...However, I am still dedicated to this site and will get a new post up soon.

Guided By Voices: The Pipe Dreams Of Instant Prince Whippet (2002)

2007-01-08T18:38:00.000-08:00

Two months later and I'm back with a new entry into what has now been a year-long project; creating the ultimate Robert Pollard/GBV guide. My absence has been quite necessary as I have been a) doing the whole Christmas /New Year thing, and b) I moved into a new house. With the new house I have picked up a killer sound system to enjoy my GBV-related tunes on, so I'm pretty excited about that. So the first post of the new year, in the new house, and on the new sound system is Universal Truth's and Cycle's companion EP, The Pipe Dreams of Instant Prince Whippet. Whereas the Hold On Hope EP was generally better than its companion album (Do The Collapse), Prince Whippet is definitely more of an extension of Universal Truths and Cycles...

Visit This Place starts thing off right with steady guitar riffs and classic Pollard vocals ("Crawl from the holes that hold your eyes/Feel the importance of crying"). Swooping Energies reminds me a bit of Whiskey Ships from Waved Out, with its bar lounge atmosphere (crowd chanting and reverbed vocals). Two songs in, and Prince Whippet is already catchy and addictive.

Things slow down for Keep It Coming, a track that would have sounded right at home on Suitcase (in a good way), or some tracks from Mag Earwhig!; a throwback to the lower quality sound of old. The verses in this track are gorgeous, and I started to pick up some of the more complex guitar parts after hearing the track on a good stereo.

I'm a bit split on Action Speaks Volumes. Mainly, its repetitiveness keeps it from being a no-brainer for the list. However, for now, I'm going to add it to the playlist. The pumping, driving guitar beat is cool in itself and almost epic in its doomsday sound. Stronger Lizards (aside from a great title) starts off with great promise, and builds to one of the most wonderful pop gems, and then stops suddenly at the 55 second mark. What the? This could have been one of the greatest GBV songs ever! The hint those 55 seconds leave me wishing to hear more! Oh well, isn't it kind of a GBV staple to have a few songs that end just as they are really getting going?

Similar to Stronger Lizards, I was hoping the title track of The Pipe Dreams of Instant Prince Whippet would last a little longer than a minute and a half. A little silly, this song is extremely catchy, and Pollard's ah-ah-ahh-ahhhh-ahh-ah finishing off the track is superb.

Similar to Action Speaks Volumes, Request Pharmaceuticals is a darker, fuzz-filled cut. For some reason, the vocals at the beginning somewhat remind me of that Underworld song on Trainspotting (or was that Orbital? Who cares, my electronica phase was over ten years ago). The guitar on this track kicks ass, and its brooding sound fit into this short album perfectly.

Is any song on Prince Whippet not going to make my ultimate playlist? Likely not, as For Liberty makes the playlist just for that little guitar ditty that gets played twice during its 53 seconds. Now on to Dig Through My Window. How is this song not on Universal Truths and Cycles? It is the definite hit on this EP, the hidden gem, the Bunco Men if you will. It is a beautiful ballad that provides a bit of a preview of where GBV is heading towards in Half Smiles of the Decomposed.

The EP is finished with the perfect closer Beg For A Wheelbarrow. A punk-ish marching tune ("But by and large/blood of the vine/fruit of the womb/sweat of the brow..."). This is another track that would have sounded great on Universal Truths and Cycles.

100% of Prince Whippet makes my playlist (though there were a couple of close ones). This EP is more of a mini-album. It is extremely cohesive and every song sounds related to the rest of the disc. If all of these tracks made Universal Truths and Cycles, then that album would have made a killer double-album. However, they have their own character, and that is what makes Prince Whippet such a treat. It may be an EP, but it plays like an album.

Tracklisting (songs in bold make my ultimate GBV/Robert Pollard playlist/box set):

01 Visit This Place
02 Swooping Energies
03 Keep It Coming
04 Action Speaks Volumes
05 Stronger Lizards
06 The Pip Dreams Of Instant Prince Whippet
07 Request Pharmaceuticals
08 For Liberty
09 Dig Through My Window
10 Beg For A Wheelbarrow

Happy Holidays

2006-12-19T11:03:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! Just a quick note that I will not likely be posting until after the new year. With Christmas and New Years activities, as well as myself moving into a new house first thing in January, I will likely not find the time to post until after settling in.

I will be back to posting first thing in 2007!

Guided By Voices: Universal Truths and Cycles (2002)

2006-11-04T08:42:00.000-08:00

It's been a while, but I'm back. I woke up this morning and thought that it was about time to get another entry up. Let me start off my saying that for quite a while, this was the GBV album that I listened to the least. It had the least impact on first listen, and took the longest to grow on me. That being said, I now find myself in a 'new era' GBV phase, and Universal Truths and Cycles is getting a lot of plays. It is unique in the GBV catalog with its mix of slick production and heavier rock, somewhat in the vein of Choreographed Man of War. I can tell you right off the bat that there are going to be a lot of bolded tracks on this one...

Universal Truths and Cycles starts off with the absolute best GBV song to clock in under forty seconds, Wire Greyhounds. From the opening lines of "My tongue that moves slow a minute before the evil street...", this album never lets up. One of the heaviest, loudest, and grungiest GBV songs is offered next, as Skin Parade marches through three minutes pure rock bliss. I like to listen to this track on my drive to work to both help me wake up, and get pumped up for the day.

Zap brings us back to that warm, familiar, Pollard-acoustic one-minute ditty, before leading into Christian Animation Torch Carriers. Universal Truths and Cycles has a couple of "epic" sounding tracks, and this cut is one of them. It is a constant climb, a buildup of sounds and intensity, which peaks during the final minute ("However will you try to hide/Within their eyes?/Within them in life?"). Cheyenne is an incredibly catchy pop tune which gets stuck in that part of your brain that kicks in when you are brushing your teeth. Cheyenne is in no way near my favorite tracks on this album, though it may be the one that I have playing in my head the most.

The Weeping Bogeyman is the first track from UT&C to get passed by for the playlist, as it may best be seen as an intro to the great Back to the Lake. I've seen a video (I believe a fan-made video) for this track on You-Tube that was just unbelievable. Back to the Lake is probably the best candidate for a single on the album (which it was), as it highlights Pollard's melodic genius, as well as Gillard's amazing guitar work (and how about that gorgeous piano). Love 1 brings back the heavy in a minute-long adrenaline drive which I enjoy more and more with each listen.

Storm Vibrations is epic #2 on UT&C. The chorus is just beautiful ("Confusing emotions - deliberately/Does it hurt you?/To love, I mean?"), and the song's five minute length also lends a hand to the epic feel of the track. Factory of Raw Essentials slows things down a bit, and truly sounds like something that would be found on one of Pollard's solo albums. And of course, there is Everywhere With Helicopter. Along with Back to the Lake, they were the only two tracks on the GBV's greatest hits album to represent UT&C. Everywhere With Helicopter doesn't slow down for one bit as it cruises through great guitar solo's and a perfect driven rhythm.

Pretty Bombs is another single-sounding almost-ballad (it even has violins). This is my favorite track on UT&C rated on Pollard's vocals alone. It never seems to reach the peak it promises throughout, instead going for a disjointed back-and-forth sound with shifts from the rock n' roll to the orchestra, finally blending them in the final moments. Eureka Signs is what I consider the finale in the trilogy of epic-sounding tunes on UT&C. It even has a hint of Everyone Thinks I'm a Raincloud-style guitar.

Other than having a wicked intro, Wings of Thorn has an incredible constant rhythm. At just under five minutes, Car Language seems to drag on a bit. The main riff is dark, and the song feels like something that should be at the end of the album. I am putting it on the list, though it is the closest track on UT&C to make the list, yet be so close to not making it. From a Voice Plantation has a bit of a Circus Devils thing going, and the last few moments of this track are spectacular.

I'm passing on the folksy The Ids Are Alright, and just loving the title track Universal Truths and Cycles. I love the rhythm guitar in this track, and the bittersweet pop feel (and yet, there is something about this track which sounds downright depressing). Father Sgt. Christmas Card finishes things off in a hauntingly send off ("for the la la la la la").

Universal Truths and Cycles is rock brilliance. Looking back I can't believe it took so long for this album to set in the way it finally has. There is not a bad track on it, and it will surely rank among GBV's finest to anyone who enjoys the heavier, more produced sound.

Tracklisting (songs in bold make my ultimate Pollard/GBV playlist/box set):
01 Wire Greyhounds
02 Skin Parade
03 Zap
04 Christian Animation Torch Carriers
05 Cheyenne
06 The Weeping Bogeyman
07 Back to the Lake
08 Love 1
09 Storm Vibrations
10 Factory of Raw Essentials
11 Everywhere With Helicopter
12 Pretty Bombs
13 Eureka Signs
14 Wings of Thorn
15 Car Language
16 From a Voice Plantation
17 The Ids Are Alright
18 Universal Truths and Cycles
19 Father Sgt. Christmas Card

Airport 5: Life Starts Here (2002)

2006-09-06T15:42:00.000-07:00

After the excellent Tower in the Fountain of Sparks, Airport 5 (the duo of Tobin Sprout and Robert Pollard) returned in 2002 with Life Starts Here. Whereas Tower in the Fountain of Sparks was consistent in its low key and beautiful ballads, Life Starts Here is more or less all over the place. It has Yellow Wife No. 5 so you must own it if you are a GBV fan, but generally it does not come close to it predecessor's brilliance. This album received some fairly negative reviews on its release, which put it near the end of my GBV related purchases. However, though it is not in any way among Pollard's best work, it does still have its charms...

The Intro sounds like it would be at home on a Circus Devils album, which is a far reach for Airport 5. It is also the first sign that things just aren't quite right. Following the Intro, and hidden behind the bland production, is a nice song in We're In the Business. However, it just does not reach the potential which is within grasping distance.

Luckily, we are treated to an excellent tune with Yellow Knife No. 5. At this point, the album is worth it since this track rocks. From the addictive guitar riff, to Pollard's megaphone poetry verses, and the beautiful chorus ("Save yourself/Stay alive/Yellow Wife No. 5"), this is definately the album's hit. It is followed by another catchy tune (though partially annoying), Wrong Drama Addiction. This track contains the title lyric ("and life starts here") repeated throughout its seven minutes. Well, that isn't exactly true since the final few minutes are nothing but distortion.

However Young They Are may the best argument that Airport 5 still has some of that magic left over from Tower in the Fountain of Sparks. The chorus of "And lead your people/However Young They Are" almost has an epic quality to it. It would not be out of place on Airport 5's previous effort. All is once again lost with the ultimate in Pollard cheese, The Dawntrust Guarantee, an interlude from the future as represented in the Twilight Zone. Forever Since is one of the better songs on Life Starts Here, which is more of a testament to the album's mediocrety within the GBV related discography than a compliment.

Impressions of a Leg brings to mind the new wave era of rock, or even early REM, and finalizes the point that Sprout and Pollard were trying to do something completely different here than with Towers in the Fountain of Sparks (and even Tonics & Twisted Chasers). Not a bad song, and fairly upbeat, yet it fails to cement itself in my head. How Brown? manages to have a wonderful title, and is a fine attempt at an epic ballad. However, it is extremely repetitive and is hurt by the general feel of "lacking" this album has.

Natives Approach Our Plane has the title line repeated throughout, with some Pollard spoken-word vocals layered on top. At times I enjoy hearing this song, and I have put it on various playlists in the past. I think it will find itself on my ultimate playlist sometime in the future, but for now I have it on the "re-visit" list. I Can't Freeze Anymore starts out with some great potential with a layered guitar riffs intro. The riff is instantly memorable, as this is one of the stand-out tracks on Life Starts Here. This track is probably also Pollard's best vocal performance on the album. Finally, Airport 5 end the album with Out in the World, which is part Marchers in Orange, and part [insert song from Mag Earwhig! here]. I think the song would be better without the odd repeated sounds, and simply with more of the heavy guitar.

Overall, Life Starts Here is a disapointment as far as Pollard related releases go. Tower in the Fountain of Sparks may have set the bar simply to high, and perhaps Pollard and Sprout simply wanted to make something a little more off the wall and exciting. A fan may find more to enjoy here than I did, in fact, I know that this album has to be at least a few fans' favorite. It is on the odder side of the track, yet it still manages to be fairly listenable. Perhaps that is the problem; Life Starts Here just does not have the focus which its predecessor's had.

Tracklisting (songs in bold make my ultimate Pollard/GBV playlist/box set):

01 Intro
02 We're In The Business
03 Yellow Wife No. 5
04 Wrong Drama Addiction (...And Life Starts Here...)
05 However Young They Are
06 The Dawntrust Guarantee
07 Forever Since
08 Impressions of a Leg
09 How Brown?
10 Natives Approach Our Plane
11 I Can't Freeze Anymore
12 Out in the World

Airport 5: Tower In The Fountain Of Sparks (2001)

2006-09-06T14:35:00.000-07:00

To create what may be the most beautiful album in the GBV catalog, the dynamic duo of Tobin Sprout and Robert Pollard got back together in 2001 to follow up on 1996's Tonics and Twisted Chasers. However this time around, the two decided not to fly under the banner of Guided By Voices, but as Airport 5. Airport 5 (and of course GBV's Tonics and Twisted Chasers) is characterized as having softer, beatier, and keyboard-based grooves, which strays from the rock of GBV quite a bit. With two "hit" singles already released (Total Exposure and Stifled Man Casino), Airport 5 was starting to look less like a side-project, and more like a new band. However, with a release one year later (Life Starts Here), Airport 5 would only see two releases to date...

The album starts off with Burns Carpenter, Man of Science. Right off the bat, you get the feeling that this is truly Airport 5, with its low key intro riff, and that atmosphere straight out of Tonics and Twisted Chasers. The chorus of "This kind of love will destroy the ozone" is a beautiful contrast to the plain-talking verses from Pollard. It is immediately followed by the single Total Exposure, which continues the ballad into of the album. Another gorgeous song, Total Exposure highlights the great melodies Pollard and Sprout can create together.

Subatomic Rain almost sounds like it comes straight out of the 80's, with its driving guitar effects, and Pollard's high-pitched vocals during the chorus. It kind of reminds me of U2 (which in general, is a good thing). One More starts off with some Pollard screaming, and is the first break from slow, Airport 5 ballads. It is more of a straight-forward rocker which has been growing on me more with every listen. However, things slow right down again with Mission Experiences. These minute and a half interludes are plentiful within the GBV catalog, which really makes it hard for certain songs (such as Mission Experiences) to stand out from the pack.

The Cost of Shipping Cattle finds Pollard back into his reading poetry style singing/talking, which I generally do not like as much as when he sings (however, it works great on Airport 5's Yellow Wife No. 5 on their next release Life Starts Here). A few minutes of pretty music follow the introduction, and Pollard returns to talk over what may be one of the most gorgeous riffs in the GBV-related canon. It is simple, and beautiful.

Circle of Trim sounds very Tobin, and you almost expect him to start singing, but it is actually Pollard which takes vocal duties once again. By this time, it is becoming quite obvious that Airport 5's goal is to make a damn beautiful record, with simple yet lovely riffs, and eerie atmosphere. Pollard oozes melody when he sings "Find a fine citizen in the Circle of Trim", and Tower in the Fountain of Sparks is quickly becoming something special in the GBV catalog.

War & Wedding has the synthesizer in full swing, and continues the albums theme. It is a short, but sweet ditty, which is followed by the almost out of place rocker (and single) Stifled Man Casino. I cannot say enough good things about Stifled Man Casino, as it would have fit perfectly on any rock radio station. I would love to hear a more polished version of this track, and it appears to have been played live a few times in 2001. Up the Nails slows things down again, and it definately has a singer/songwriter quality to it (you know, like something from John Cougar Mellancamp).

Tomorrow You May Rise contains the album title lyric, and has some heavy effect on Pollard's vocals, which adds substance to the one-minute long track. Feathering Clueless (The Exotic Freebird) almost gets hidden behind all the great tracks on Tower in the Fountain of Sparks, but after a few listens, its constant riff's beauty shows through (similar to that of The Cost of Shipping Cattle). Even the cheesy "ta ta-ta taa" at the end doesn't distract from it too much.

Mansfield on the Sky is bordering on making the playlist. Like most songs on Tower in the Fountain of Sparks, it has required many listens to capture me fully. I enjoy the ending of the song when Pollard sings "better go/oh, no/better stay/hey, hey/better go/better stay", and the song just fits so perfectly on the album. It is followed by the minute long White Car Creek, which is drowned in (phaser?) effect. The album concludes with Remain Lodging (At Airport 5), which might be the worst (though not terrible) track on the otherwise excellent album.

Tower in the Fountain of Sparks is even better than Tonics and Twisted Chasers, and might find itself in my top ten GBV-related releases. It is probably the prettiest release, with a bunch of soft and low-key ballads (and two rockers in Stifled Man Casino and One More). Pollard and Sprout definately stuck to a theme on this album, and therefore, created something that was cohesive as an album, and filled a particular niche within the GBV world.

Tracklisting (Songs in bold make my ultimate Pollard/GBV playlist/box set):

01 Burns Carpenter, Man of Science
02 Total Exposure
03 Subatomic Rain
04 One More
05 Mission Experiences
06 The Cost of Shipping Cattle
07 Circle of Trim
08 War & Wedding
09 Stifled Man Casino
10 Up the Nails
11 Tomorrow You May Rise
12 Feathering Clueless (The Exotic Freebird)
13 Mansfield on the Sky
14 White Car Creek
15 Remain Lodging (At Airport 5)

Guided By Voices/Airport 5: Selective Service (2001)

2006-09-06T13:00:00.000-07:00

Selective Service is simply a collection of three previous vinyl-only singles from GBV and Airport 5. Those singles being Dayton, Ohio - 19 Something and 5, Total Exposure, and Stifled Man Casino. The latter two available also on Tower in the Fountain of Sparks. Also included as a bonus track is the Airport 5 track In the Brain, which I have not been able to get into very much. I currently have it on my list of songs to re-visit for my ultimate playlist. Should someone who actually owns Airport 5's Tower in the Fountain of Sparks pick up this EP? I would answer yes due to the live version of Dayton, Ohio - 19 Something and 5, as well as the two excellent b-sides to Total Exposure. To get my take on the individual releases that make up Selective Service, see the following links:
Guided By Voices: Dayton, Ohio - 19 Something and 5 (2000)
Airport 5: Total Exposure (2001)
Airport 5: Stifled Man Casino (2001) ...

Tracklisting (Songs in bold make my ultimate Pollard/GBV playlist/box set):

01 Guided By Voices - Dayton, Ohio - 19 Something and 5
02 Guided By Voices - Travels
03 Guided By Voices - No Welcome Wagons
04 Guided By Voices - Selective Service
05 Airport 5 - Total Exposure
06 Airport 5 - Cold War Water Sports
07 Airport 5 - The Wheel Hits the Path (Quite Soon)
08 Airport 5 - Stifled Man Casino
09 Airport 5 - Peroxide
10 Airport 5 - Eskimo Clockwork
11 Airport 5 - In the Brain

Airport 5: Stifled Man Casino (2001)

2006-09-06T11:24:00.000-07:00

Once again, I must apologize for the lack of posts lately. It has slowed down to about one per month, which is definately not what am aiming for. This is mainly due to me spending a few weeks job hunting/interviewing, and that taking the majority of my attention. The good news is that I now have a new job, and perhaps can post a bit more often (no guarantees though). Now that that's out of the way, let's get to business. Stifled Man Casino rocks. It is such a great song, and has a chorus that is just begging for radio-play. It contains one of my favorite GBV-related lines with "Up go the stakes in Stifled Man Casino/No one gets the brakes/That's the breaks, baby". But how are the b-sides?...

Peroxide is a great idea killed by an incredibly slow fade-out, and is over far to soon. It is actually one of the most rocking Airport 5 tracks, until it begins fading out forty seconds in, and continues to fade out for the next forty seconds. Eskimo Clockwork is a keyboard-driven instrumental which does not really go anywhere.

Oh well, they can't all be winners. However, Stifled Man Casino is so good, that you must have this song. Luckily, it is also available on Tower in the Fountain of Sparks.

Tracklisting (Songs in bold make my ultimate Pollard/GBV box set/playlist):

01 Stifled Man Casino
02 Peroxide
03 Eskimo Clockwork

Airport 5: Total Exposure (2001)

2006-08-10T11:13:00.000-07:00

I am pretty excited, since I just ordered the new Psycho and the Birds EP a week ago (and it should arrive fairly soon). It got me thinking about how my posts have been lacking in frequency lately. I am just finishing my final few days of post-secondary, and will be starting my life as a career-man, so this blog has been pushed back on the priority list lately. So if it is a month since my last post, please do not think that I have abandoned the site...I am likely just really busy. Hopefully I will get to post more frequently soon. With that out of the way, lets talk about the vinyl only single, Total Exposure...

In 2001, Airport 5 (Tobin Sprout and Robert Pollard) did not treat us to just one great single, but two. When it comes to GBV-related side-bands, Airport 5 may just be the greatest, giving us two full-length albums (well, three if we count Tonics and Twisted Chasers), as it combines the two main songwriters of the GBV canon.

Total Exposure, from Tower In The Fountain Of Sparks, is a beautiful song, and definately worthy of a single. The chorus of "Listen to the way the children play as the day slips away/and the light comes on/total exposure" is among my favorite GBV (related) moments.

The single is followed by two great b-sides which have fit nicely on the album. Cold War Water Sports has a groovy guitar riff playing throughout, which might get boring if it wasn't for Pollard's great vocals ("He's increasing the Frankenstein"). The Wheel Hits The Path (Quite Soon) his hurt by being cut off way too soon. I could see this being a rocking hit live, given a heavier treatment.

I don't actually own this single, though I do have the cuts from Selective Service. However, with three solid tracks, it makes for a truly decent single.

Tracklisting (songs in bold make my ultimate Pollard/GBV playlist/box set):

01 Total Exposure
02 Cold War Water Sports
03 The Wheel Hits The Path (Quite Soon)

Guided By Voices: Dayton, Ohio - 19 Something And 5 (2000)

2006-07-11T19:26:00.000-07:00

GBV embraces vinyl, which is probably one of the most annoying things about the band, for someone like me living in a city in Canada which has maybe one store which actually sells the stuff. I own exactly two vinyl records, of which I do not have the record player to listen to them on: Robert Pollard's Love is Strong Than Witchcraft, and GBV"s Bee Thousand - The Director's Cut. Since I can't actually play them, I have never heard the live version of Dolphin's Of Color which is sitting on the desk next to me. Luckily, Scat Records was cool enough to include the extra tracks of the Bee Thousand album on a CD so I could actually hear them. This particular single/EP was a vinyl only release so I will likely never own it. Of course, all the songs were released a year later on Selective Service, so I can still post an entry...

When writing my entry for Tonics And Twisted Chasers, I wrote "...the nostalgic and beautiful Dayton Ohio - 19 Something And 5. There is a live version of this track on Selective Service which I find myself playing more often, yet this one sounds more depressing which I think is partly the point...". I still mostly agree with this statement, where this live version skims away some of the gloom from the studio version, and ends up more upbeat. Also, the term "live" is surprising, because this version sounds just a good as a studio take. It is not too often a single comes out four years or so after the original, but this version of Dayton, Ohio - 19 Something And 5 is an excellent update/cleanup of the original.

Travels is what I would consider a bad GBV song. Not unlistenable mind you, just not very good, and not special in any way. It is just Pollard and his guitar with some short lyrics at the very beginning followed by repetitive guitar. Songs like this serve well on a longer album as they just sit around in the background, often bridging two incredible tunes. However, on an EP, it is far easier to pick off these songs because they are out there on the tip of your attention. On the same front, No Welcome Wagons blends right in with Travels, and pretty much sounds like the same song. The third track in this batch (all Pollard alone with his guitar), Selective Service, manages to stand out from the other two just by being different (and including some Velvet Underground-ish random static).

This is near the bottom of GBV related releases, though when included on the GBV/Airport 5 split Selective Service, is strengthened by the better Airport 5 tunes. And of course, as with even the worst of GBV's offerings, there is at least the one gem. That gem in this case is the title track, Dayton, Ohio - 19 Something And 5
Tracklisting (Songs in bold make my ultimate GBV/Pollard playlist/box set):

01 Dayton, Ohio - 19 Something And 5 (Live)
02 Travels
03 No Welcome Wagons
04 Selective Service

Robert Pollard and His Soft Rock Renegades: Choreographed Man of War (2001)

2006-07-05T18:53:00.000-07:00

What's this? Is it Pollard's first solo EP? At only 10 tracks, the usual GBV fan likely expects a full 10 to 15 minutes of music. But not this time folks, as Robert Pollard and His Soft Rock Renegades (Jim Macpherson and Greg Demos) are here to rock you like Lexo and The Leapers did back in 1999! Thought this time, the fun lasts over a half-hour and the guitar is just a bit heavier. Its like an album full of Skin Parade (okay, maybe an exaggeration, but still pretty close). This is definately among Pollard's heavier albums, and there is not a single dud on the entire thing. Pick this one up as soon as you possibly can, you will not be disappointed...

I Drove A Tank is the first track on Choreographed Man Of War, and like many opening GBV tracks, shows promise that the album is going to be another killer. It is a three minute rock-fest which takes its cues from stadium rock (and there goes the Soft Rock Renegades moniker).

With the length of GBV-related songs averaging at under two minutes, we have come to expect songs to end suddenly, often when they appear to be going to the next level. She Saw The Shadow is one of those tracks that could have been a classic with a little something special added near the end, a moment of genius that comes straight from left field. However, it ends with a whimper after a brilliant middle where the track begins to pick up.

Edison's Memos sounds like something straight off of Earthquake Glue, which leads me to another point of this album: it has the feel of a later GBV EP (such as Prince Whippet). At about this point, it is already apparent the album's goal is to be a straight forward rock album, minus some of the "weirdness" of other Pollard albums. This track does not have any real stand out aspects, but it is still probably my favorite track on the disc, which I enjoy more every time I hear it. At nearly five minutes in length, it almost has an epic feel to it.

7th Level Shutdown has a great title, and some strange effect on the guitar, and may be the closest thing to "soft rock" on the album. It is a good example of a song that just isn't great enough, different enough, or even bad enough, to be visible among the thousands of Pollard's songs, and has pretty much gone unnoticed on my GBV radar. It will likely continue to do so.

Alright, there may be a bit of weird on Choreographed Man Of War...welcome 40 Yards to the Burning Bush, a song which at two minutes in length still feels like it was partially constructed with more than one song. Just when you are fairly sure the track is an instrumental, Pollard kicks into some rock with a smoking finish. How many times have I thought, "this track ain't gonna make the list", until something wonderful happens in the last twenty seconds?

Aeriel is smothered in reverb (or is that chorus effect?), and has a two minute intro until Pollard sings during the last minute transforming the song into something completely different. I'm reminded a bit of Pink Floyd during this last part, which generally speaking is always a good thing. Citizen Fighter gets the album back on the fast/heavy track ("Hands off and no more touching permitted/When she explodes she could strip you to skeleton").

Kickboxer Lightning puts me in a bit of a dilemma. It is a fine song, but I think about some of the future posts (Universal Truths and Cycles, Earthquake Glue, Half Smiles of the Decomposed, & Prince Whippet to name a few), and the song has nothing on those album's tracks. Therefore, it is truly riding the fence on making my playlist, but it is another full-on rocker in the style of "Everywhere With Helicopter" which would be a single on a lesser band's album. Hmmmm, it makes the list...for now.

Bally Hoo continues the rock n' roll wonderland which is Choreographed Man of War, where Pollard gives us his best stadium "Baby hold on, hoooooo". The song also acts as a somewhat conclusion with its reference to the first track, I Drove A Tank. I Drove A Tank's line "I drove a tank in a running war / I didn't know what the shit was for" is concluded here with "So now you know what the deal is for / You'll never know who to break it to / I'm really out there, but I like the view". Maybe I'm just reading more into this than really exists, but this part of the song even sounds like I Drove A Tank.

And that concludes the album. Oh wait, there is one more song, even though Bally Hoo was the perfect conclusion! Instrument Beetle, a sprawling seven minutes of driven guitar, sneaks onto the album. This track has never really hit me like the rest of the album does, though I must credit the attempt at epic-ness. I also admit the part where Pollard mopes "I'm nobody to play with" is slightly creepy. Maybe it'll grow on me in time.

This might be Pollard's heaviest album, with heavily driven guitars around every corner, and a focus on stadium rock. I would also say it is highly accessible to the new fan. It is consistently good, without any true stand-out tracks , nor any which feel out of place. Rock on.

Tracklisting (songs in bold make my ultimate Pollard/GBV playlist/box set):

01 I Drove A Tank
02 She Saw The Shadow
03 Edison's Memos
04 7th Level Shutdown
05 40 Yards To The Burning Bush
06 Aeriel
07 Citizen Fighter
08 Kickboxer Lightning
09 Bally Hoo
10 Instrument Beetle

Guided By Voices: Glad Girls (2001)

2006-06-15T12:03:00.000-07:00

The incredible catchy and upbeat Glad Girls was an obvious single from Isolation Drills. Packaged with this song is three cuts from the album, one of which shares its title with the album it was left off of. Generally speaking, GBV tends to leave off some prime cuts for such events (singles, EP's, etc.) in what I suspect is a concious effort to make sure these types of releases are a special treat for devoted fans. If you want to see what I said about Glad Girls, the song, just check out my entry for Isolation Drills here. This particular entry will concentrate on the three b-sides...

North American Vampires is a minute long track with some fairly cryptic lyrics ("Sensitive Einsteins/A crusty new waver/North American vampires/replacing a savior"). Though not in any way a special track, I see it is a great album intro.

On With The Show is a prog-rock tease of a better song. It really does not have a particular structure, and seems like it was put together using various bits. It has some great riffs during certain parts, but generally seems like it doesn't know what type of song to be. As with most GBV albums, there is a b-side which shares its name, and Isolation Drills is no exception. There is something about this song that makes me wonder how it was left off the album. Maybe it is that riff that plays throughout, or the sort-of chorus in the middle, which blends once again with that repeated riff. I just can't put my finger on it, but I really dig this track.

It is always a good feeling to find that gem of a b-side. Singles are for some bands, a way to sell cd's when they are only good for one or two songs per album. For GBV (and some other bands), singles are a treat for the fans who just couldn't get enough of the last album. B-sides do not necessarily mean the songs are not as good as the album tracks, but just may have been left off for not fitting in. I actually suspect that Pollard leaves off good songs from certain albums in the goal to treat his fans with a special EP or single. To me, North American Vampires and Isolation Drills are two such songs.

Tracklisting (songs in bold make my ultimate Pollard/GBV playlist/box set):

01 Glad Girls
02 North American Vampires
03 On With The Show
04 Isolation Drills

Guided By Voices: Isolation Drills (2001)

2006-06-15T11:35:00.000-07:00

Not quite the production of Do The Collapse, yet cleaner than Mag Earwhig!, comes their second TVT release, Isolation Drills. If any of GBV's albums could be considered accessible by all, it would be this one. Pop "hits" are scattered all over this beauty (Fair Touching, Chasing Heather Crazy, Twilight Campfighter, Glad Girls...), and it is often considered the best of latter day GBV by their fans. Almost the entire album makes my playlist (which is probably not a surprise for most of you). From its GBV trademark aviation imagery on the cover, to its many throwbacks to 60's/70's stadium rock, Isolation Drills is pure GBV...

The album kicks off with a re-versioning of Fair Touching, which was orginally found on the Lexo and the Leapers album. It is practically the same song, except now with sparkling production. This is a beautiful song which comes to life with the cleaner sound. Skills Like This was showcased on some extreme sports soundtrack (or something like that), and it is a wonderful throwback to the rock of the late 60's, with its driving guitar and layered vocals.

Pop magic oozes out of Chasing Heather Crazy, a track which at first drove me insane with its catchiness, ringing in my head all day while I'm in classes. It is songs like this which make you ponder why GBV never hit it big. It is followed by the lo-fi Frostman, a track which almost seems out of place on such a slick album. After the short lo-fi break, GBV breaks into one of their most gorgeous rock ballads ever with Twilight Campfighter ("Could I have seen a sight much greater than your twilight eyes, that penetrate your silent lives"). I love the finish to this track, when the extra guitar kicks in just a little bit...perfect.

At a minute and forty seconds, Sister I Need Wine is just one of three tracks on Isolation Drills that does not make the two minute mark. It is a hauntingly beautiful acoustic track with a neat effect on Pollard's vocals. Equally short is Want One, which is part british invasion, and part Robert Plant howling. The Enemy starts out with a clip from the track Broadcaster House (from Clown Prince of the Menthol Trailer), and other than having a great riff during the verses, and a fine outro, manages to be one of the least interesting tracks on Isolation Drills (and one of the longest). Maybe I'll put this one on the re-visit list for now.

Unspirited is another ballad-type of track, and this time with cello and violin, a great chorus, and Pollard dueling vocals with himself. It is followed by the joyous, uplifting, and overall incredibly happy Glad Girls. This song is extremely catchy, and you may find yourself singing it out loud throughout all hours of the day (especially in the shower). Run Wild is a great track too, with Pollard yelling "...and run wild!" over and over again. This track, along with the next (Pivotal Film) simply continue the album's prime directive, which is to rock.

How's My Drinking? slows thing down a bit, and has Pollard reflecting on his not giving a crap about sobriety ("Hows my drinking?/I don't care about being sober/But I sure get around in this town/To hell with my church bells/And leave me die with you/I won't change"). This song get's prettier every time I listen to it, another great ballad.

The Brides Have Hit Glass is a fun little tune, with a consistent rhythm, which originally did not make my playlist. It has grown on me over time like many GBV songs do. Fine To See You is a ballad-type of track which does not really stand out at all, and Privately has the same effect on me as The Enemy, as being a good track on a great album.

12 of the 16 tracks on this exceptional album have made my playlist. I read on a review somewhere that this album sounded like the album Guided By Voices always wanted to make. This may very well be true, as it is just begging to be played in front of a stadium audience. It is not in any way GBV's best album, though it does challenge for the title among the latter era GBV releases.

Tracklisting (songs in bold make my ultimate Pollard/GBV playlist/box set):

01 Fair Touching
02 Skills Like This
03 Chasing Heather Crazy
04 Frostman
05 Twilight Campfighter
06 Sister I Need Wine
07 Want One?
08 The Enemy
09 Unspirited
10 Glad Girls
11 Run Wild
12 Pivotal Film
13 How's My Drinking?
14 The Brides Have Hit Glass
15 Fine To See You
16 Privately

Circus Devils: Ringworm Interiors (2001)

2006-06-14T16:27:00.000-07:00

Released on Halloween 2001 was the first album by the Circus Devils. The band consists of Robert Pollard's vocals over Tim Tobias' guitar, and Todd Tobias' "Instrumentation & Noises". Picking individual tracks for my ultimate Pollard/GBV playlist/box set is extremely difficult with Circus Devils releases, mainly because these songs are often so different than Pollard's other work. I've decided to keep anything too "out there" off my playlist. However, Ringworm Interiors is meant to be listened to (and experienced) as an album, so even though many songs would be out of place on a mix, they add to the overall texture of the album. This album rocks overall, as it is like being at a rock concert on Mars...on Halloween...

The first track, Devilspeak, is probably the best clue that this album is going to different, and special. It is an instrumental which would fit nicely as an intro to any scary movie, and also helps explain the Halloween release date. And then the guitars kick in on Feel Try Fury, a song in which rocks as good as anything in the GBV catalog (for about thirty seconds anyway). The song's lyrics in their entirety: "Feel try fury/Try it, man/Blow up head/Feel try fury/Do it, man/Say it/What can be said?/Feel it". Two songs in and you know we are in darker territory than usual.

Buffalo Spiders is full of odd noises, and what sounds like a child singing halfway through (eerie). It starts off good enough, and maybe the experimentation gets in the way a bit here. This may be a good place to point out how I will choose Circus Devils tracks for my ultimate GBV/Pollard playlist; songs like Buffalo Spiders which are fairly decent, yet are simply way out there (jarring noises that will scare the shit out of me while I'm driving, for example) are not going to make the playlist.

World 3 is an instrumental which reminds me of the cheap sci-fi movies of the 80's. Blanks is balls-out rock n' roll from Mars, as is Ringworm Interiors, which may be the best track on the disc. The two songs are separated on the disc by North Morning Silver Trip, a sixteen second horror interlude. Spectacle continues the trend of jarring, heavy noise and experimentation, and You First slows things down as it is the first breather moment on the disc. This is one of those tracks that gets better with every listen, and can easily exist on its own, or as part of the album, so I'm putting it on the list.

Knifesong is a decent little ditty which highlights some screeching static, and a cool, pumping base riff. Kingdom of Teeth manages to be mostly unlistenable with its high pitched noise (though c'mon, what a cool title). Oil Birds is straight-out creepy, with haunting piano (I can almost hear the "one-two he's coming for you" kids singing in the background). Lizard Food sounds like the sequel to Devilspeak, except with Robert Pollard screaming "this is a test!" amongst the insanity.

After another trippy interlude (Not So Fast), things slow down again with Apparent The Red Angus. I read somewhere (an Amazon review?) saying that Circus Devils is like "The Who on Halloween" or something to that effect. This may be most evident in Apparent The Red Angus, a brutally good tune. By the way, does anything else think that Pollard does his best Eddie Vedder on many Circus Devil's tracks? I find this to be the case especially on Pinball Mars' Are You Out With Me. Moving on, Playhouse Hostage provides forty more seconds of relaxation before the heavy begins again with Straps Hold Up The Jaw. This is another surprisingly rocking track with surreal lyrics ("it's earwhigs in the carpets waving at the astronauts").

On an album like Ringworm Interiors, its hard to stand out, so plainer tracks like Correcto simply extend the album's theme and never expand it. These types of songs are just bridges between the highlights (the Feel Try Fury and Apparent The Red Angus types). Star Peppered Wheatgerm is in the same category; a song that would stand out on any other album, but is forgettable on Ringworm Interiors. It does, however, pick up a little during the last half of the track. Silver Eyeballs has been getting better after every listen, and I really like Pollard's lyrical work on this one ("win some & lose some/stick with the stun gun").

After another interesting interlude (Decathalon), one of my least favorite Pollard songs, Peace Needle, makes its appearance. I really can not stand whatever that "music" is playing in the background. Though I appreciate the spaciness aspect of the tune, and Pollard's admirable attempt to sing a beautiful melody on top of the music, I just can not in any way get past the background music. It really is too bad, because Pollard has layered a gorgeous song on top of Tobias' annoying tune.

Drill Sgt. Soul is a continuation of the horror movie instrumentals which began with Devilspeak, though it is far more disjointed and dissonant, and plain hard to listen to. You see, I must admit, I do most of my GBV-related listening while driving in my car. Therefore, songs like this really stand-out as unlistenable during morning rush-hour traffic. Protect Thy Interests sounds like an experiment in sound performed on the n-th layer of hell. Let's Go Back To Bed is the longest track on Ringworm Interiors (clocking in at just over a whopping 3 minutes!). It is also one of the weirdest, and would be a great closer for one of my GBV mix CDs.
Other than having a wicked title, Sterility Megaplant is simply unlistenable noise for an entire minute and a half. New You (I Can See and Believe) is another heavy track which I have not been warming up to, even with its imitation live stadium sound (with cheering fans and everything). Last (but in no way least) is the wonderful Circus Devils Theme which for some reasons brings to mind a fake movie title "Christmas With the Gremlins".

Ringworm Interiors is a great album overall, as long as it is listened to the whole way through. There are a couple of completely unlistenable moments, but a personal edit of this disc would make for a great album. The disc is arranged so that every third or fourth song is extremely rocking, and the middle parts are part of the journy to the "landmarks". Don't let the fact that I only selected 8 out of the 28 tracks for my playlist throw you off, it is just that Circus Devil's is a completely different animal than GBV...a really big animal, likely with horns all over it, and eating a bear for breakfast.

Tracklisting (songs in bold make my ultimate Pollard/GBV playlist/box set):

01 Devilspeak
02 Feel Try Fury
03 Buffalo Spiders
04 World 3
05 Blanks
06 North Morning Silver Trip
07 Ringworm Interiors
08 Spectacle
09 You First
10 Knife Song
11 Kingdom of Teeth
12 Oil Birds
13 Lizard Food
14 Not So Fast
15 Apparent the Red Angus
16 Playhouse Hostage
17 Straps Hold Up the Jaw
18 Correcto
19 Star Peppered Wheatgerm
20 Silver Eyeballs
21 Decathalon
22 Peace Needle
23 Drill Sgt. Soul
24 Protect Thy Interests
25 Let's Go Back to Bed
26 Sterility Megaplant
27 New You (You Can See and Believe)
28 Circus Devils Theme

Guided By Voices: Suitcase - Failed Experiments and Trashed Aircraft (2000)

2006-06-09T16:28:00.000-07:00

38 of the 100 tracks found on Suitcase made my ultimate Pollard/GBV playlist/box set. On top of that, I would say that about 80% of Suitcase is not just listenable, but decent as well. Any personal Suitcase "best of" compliation would fit perfectly well amongst GBV's albums, and the quality of these rarities is surprisingly good. I reviewed all the discs separately and hope that I have set aside any fears of those who wonder if the box set is worth the $50 bucks or so to purchase it...

The box set focuses on 80's tracks, aborted album cuts, and outtakes from (mostly) Bee Thousand, Same Place the Fly Got Smashed, and Do The Collapse. The quality of the 80's tracks is most surprising, as many of them rival what is found on the five GBV 80's releases. Other highlights include the great Bunco Men, a song which should find itself among GBV's greatest, and alternate versions of Ha Ha Man and Wondering Boy Poet. Those aside, there are tons of great tracks on Suitcase, and I have had plenty of time to get to know it, and I enjoy it more every time I listen to it. Listed below are the links to each disc's separate entry:

Disc One
Disc Two
Disc Three
Disc Four

Guided By Voices: Suitcase - Failed Experiments and Trashed Aircraft: DISC FOUR (2000)

2006-06-09T16:02:00.000-07:00

Whereas the focus of the previous three discs in Suitcase was with aborted album tracks (and some album cuts), the focus of the fourth disc is late 80's tunes...and boy were GBV on a roll during this era. On top of the five 80's releases (Forever Since Breakfast, Devil Between My Toes, Sandbox, Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia, and Same Place The Fly Got Smashed), GBV had more than enough material to release a sixth album, and a damn good album at that. Disc Four continues the trend of surprising quality, rounding out what truly is a great box set...

Trying To Make It Work Again is an oldie (1981) which at just over a minute, fails to leave any real lasting impression, and is followed by a huge riff intro in Turbo Boy. However, that great intro is just teaser to a completely unrelated song which does not follow through until an inspired chorus midway (Also, Pollard manages to sound like Neil Young during bits of this track). Chain Wallet Bitch is a 30-seconder toss-off from '93.

Little Head is a nice tune from '87 which has grown on me with repeated listens, and should have found itself on one of GBV's 1987 albums. UTBUTS castaway Why Did You Land? was a high-octane balls-out rocker, and it gets the slow/creepy treatment here (as a Bee Thousand outtake). It is unbelievable how different tempos can change a song so drastically. Though I like the faster version more, I find myself enjoying this slower version the more I listen to it.

I am a sucker for the late 80's GBV, and Time Machines (no relation to the Lexo and Leapers song of the same title) is no exception. You can tell one of these tracks by the similarity in recording dynamics, and listening to a bunch in a row can actually sound a bit monotonous. However, they are consistently good, and scattered throughout later era tracks, have an opportunity to stand out. Of course, both Turbo Boy and Little Head (mentioned already above) fall into this category as well. As does United, another melody monster.

Let's get through these late 80's tracks now, instead of the usual song-by-song routine. '88's Go For the Answers is in the spirit of a campfire sing-a-long, and Excellent Things is simply more trademark 80's GBV. Static Airplane Jive (other than sharing a title with a GBV EP) sounds like it was meant for Same Place The Fly Got Smashed, and relatively speaking, was also meant to be an outtake. Where I Came From shares more in common with the Forever Since Breakfast EP than all the 80's albums. Deaf Ears shares little with the UTBUTS outtake of the same name, but would have sounded right at home on Same Place The Fly Got Smashed, though like Static Airplane Jive, was probably best left off the album. Last of the late 80's tracks is Oh, Blinky, which may just be the best of the late 80's tracks on Suitcase, and a taste of things to come from GBV.

I'm pretty sure I earlier stated that Big Trouble was my favorite Hazzard Hotrods track. Well, move over Big Trouble, and welcome Farewell to Arms to the front of the pack! This song completely blew over my radar the first few times I heard it, but now I find it dancing in my head all the time. I think it is in the way Pollard sings the track that makes it stand out, but the lead guitar work is wonderful as well. I would love to hear a crisper version of this song, or a studio version.

As well as Chain Wallet Bitch, I would consider Best Thing Goin' Round, and Sickly Sweet as the albums throwaways (c'mon, its a GBV rarities disc, there are going to be throwaways). Sickly Sweet is simply abrasive to the ears, with unhearable lyrics.

Unshaven Bird is one of many underdeveloped ideas from Mr.Pollard, which for most of it's minute is completely forgettable, until a last second moment of greatness. Black Ghost Pie is awesome. 50 seconds of pure rock, and one of the best song titles ever make this one a keeper. It doesn't take long to hear that Rocking Now is a version of Do The Collapse's Wrecking Now. It is virtually a stripped down version of the superior album version.

Try To Find You is an oldie from 1984 which was recorded live, and is filled with a conversation between two women (which may or may not have been added to the track?). I find the voices extremely irritating, especially given that the song is fairly decent. After nearly a minute of cymbal introduction, Good For A Few Laughs begins. It is a brooding and short acoustic track which really never goes anywhere. Raphael is one of those longer GBV songs (a whole three minutes!) which would have actually worked better as a minute-long ditty, since it pretty much repeats itself for the entire length of the song.

My Feet's Trustworthy Existance is a fairly straightforward acoustic track, which does not in any way stand out among the GBV canon. For those people (like me) who love The Future Is In Eggs, you will find something to like in the instrumental version, simply titled Eggs.

On first glance, the GBV fan who is considering buying Suitcase may notice that there is a version of Wondering Boy Poet on this disc, and wonder what relation it has to the original. Generally, it is an extremely clean piano version, which may also be one of GBV's more "beautiful" moments. Not worth the $50 bucks by itself, but still a real treat for fans.

I took ten songs from this disc for my playlist, and perhaps would have took more/less depending on when going through it. Its highlights are definately the piano version of Wondering Boy Poet, and all the late 80's tracks. The overall quality of Suitcase as a whole really surprised me, and generally, there are far more good songs than there are bad ones. Therefore, go buy it. Now.

Tracklisting (songs in bold make my ultimate GBV/Pollard playlist/box set):

01 Trying To Make It Work Again
02 Turbo Boy
03 Chain Wallet Bitch
04 Little Head
05 Why Did You Land?
06 Time Machines
07 A Farewell To Arms
08 Best Thing Goin' Round
09 Sickly Sweet
10 United
11 Unshaven Bird
12 Black Ghost Pie
13 Go For The Answers
14 Rocking Now
15 Excellent Things
16 Static Airplane Jive
17 Where I Come From
18 Try To Find You
19 Deaf Ears
20 Good For A Few Laughs
21 Raphael
22 My Feet's Trustworthy Existance
23 Eggs
24 Wondering Boy Poet
25 Oh, Blinky

Guided By Voices: Suitcase - Failed Experiments and Trashed Aircraft: DISC THREE (2000)

2006-05-18T10:32:00.000-07:00

Overall, Disc Three is probably better than Disc Two. After a few listens, some songs really started to mesh with me, and I really began enjoying the disc as an album in its own right. The quality here is surprisingly good (not sound quality mind you...song quality), and hidden among the hiss are some nice melodies. Scattered throughout Disc Three are the usual suspects for the Suitcase box set; aborted album tracks from Learning to Hunt, Power of Suck, A Concert for Todd, and The Corpse Like Sleep of Stupidity, outtakes from Bee Thousand and Same Place the Fly Got Smashed, and a bunch of 80's tunes...

Long Way To Run, a track from 1987, kicks things off. This could have been put on Sandbox and been the first single (or on Devil Between My Toes, and been the fifth single). Mr. Media is a track that gets more interesting on repeated listenings, but can be summed up as Pollard and his guitar creating a demo for what will one day be a better song.

The Learning to Hunt track Settlement Down has a wicked and rocking intro, and would have sounded great on Same Place The Fly Got Smashed. Unfortunately, the rest of the song does not live up to that great guitar riff at the beginning and scattered throughout. I will put Settlement Down on the maybe list for now. Mr. Japan is a leaned back jam track with signature Pollard vocals ("Indirect Corinthians step to the rocket/Coming back to the world with cash in his pocket"). The beautiful 1984 live track A Kind of Love follows, and I must ask if anyone knows if there is a studio version of this? Everything from the soft opening, and the song picking up in the middle is perfect.

Meddle is dark and gloomy, and definately has the feel of Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia era songs. It is on the revisit list for now, and I am still slightly undecided. The Hazzard Hotrods are next with Big Trouble, and eight minute (almost) jam session, and likely my favorite Hazzard Hotrods track. A Good Circuitry Soldier starts out with Robert Pollard saying "I do not know what will happen with this...", which partly reveals his recording style of just making music without having a defined destination for the song. It is a fairly decent acoustic ditty. Devil Doll is a Same Place the Fly Got Smashed outtake, and was likely left off because the album was weird enough as it was.

Pantherz is from GBV's most popular album never to be released, The Power of Suck. Put the distortion to the max, and add a layer of Pollard melody, and you have yourself a fairly rocking cut. From 1980 is Cocaine Jane, a minute of acoustic greatness. Exploding Anthills has some vocal effect (tremolo?) which makes it sound like Pollard is singing underwater. Disc Three is filled with these tracks which are in no way spectacular, but so original that I don't want to leave them off the box set. However, there are better songs which I have left off the playlist...

Perch Warble is such a great song, I cannot believe it did not find itself on a regular album. However, this version is plagued by poor sound quality. The good news is that there is an unbelievably rocking version on Suitcase 2! Medley is of course, a medley of three songs. I'd rather have three different tracks, but in this case, they fit together fairly decently. What Are We Coming Up To? sounds like the fourth part of the previous medley. It is a brooding acoustic track which probably wouldn't have fit that well with its originally destined album, Bee Thousand. Scissors and the Clay On(In) is a happy little song, which is also an outtake from Bee Thousand.

Cody's Antler is an instrumental that would sound great on a gritty spaghetti western. Once in a While is an oldie from 1986, and other than being a fairly ordinary slower track, contains a great finish ("Now I know it's not so impossible/Now I know we can go/Back to where we were/We're back to where we'll be"). Oh my, the version of Buzzards and Dreadful Crows on Disc Three does not even compare to its Bee Thousand brother. I might enjoy putting it on a disc which contains the Bee Thousand version too...maybe one at track one, and the other the last track.

I was waiting for Carnival at the Morning Star School to pick up. It seemed that it was building to something, but never got there. But still, it fits enough melody into its minute long length to earn inclusion to my playlist. Cruise is a fuzz-filled gloomer of a song, with a constant beat throughout, and is one of GBV's darker tracks. A nice guitar solo near the end is the perfect touch. Gayle (along with Gift) may be the closest thing to a throwaway on this disc. However, this song sounds exactly like Deathtrot and Warlock Riding a Rooster, except with less casio keyboard, and more hiss. The Flying Party is another minuter, and may be the creepiest song on the disc. The last track, Trashed Aircraft, is begging for a re-recording.

I think Disc Three now has the most songs on my playlist from the three Suitcase discs I've went through so far. It is definately the most consistently good disc in the box set (so far), but I would still go with Disc One if I could only choose one (mostly because of Bunco Men). Overall, Suitcase is looking like it is well worth your hard earned cash.

Tracklisting (songs in bold make my ultimate GBV/Pollard playlist/box set):

01 Long Way To Run
02 Mr. Media
03 Settlement Down
04 Mr. Japan
05 A Kind Of Love
06 Meddle
07 Big Trouble
08 A Good Circuitry Soldier
09 Devil Doll
10 Pantherz
11 Cocaine Jane
12 Exploding Anthills
13 Perch Warble *
14 Medley: This View/True Sensation/On The Wall
15 What Are We Coming Up To?
16 Scissors And The Clay Ox(In)
17 Cody's Antler
18 Once In A While
19 Buzzards And Dreadful Crows
20 Carnival At The Morning Star School
21 Cruise
22 Gayle
23 Gift
24 The Flying Party
25 Trashed Aircraft

* I'll take the version from Suitcase 2

Life Is Beautiful

2006-04-19T19:58:00.000-07:00

I added Life Is Beautiful from Speak Kindly of Your Volunteer Fire Department to the playlist/box set. I've been playing it a bit lately, and that beautiful guitar riff won't leave my head.

Guided By Voices: Suitcase - Failed Experiments and Trashed Aircraft: DISC TWO (2000)

2006-04-19T16:01:00.000-07:00

After being dazzled by some prime cuts in Disc One, I was a little disappointed with Disc Two. Though it still follows the pattern of focusing on outtakes from Bee Thousand, Same Place The Fly Got Smashed, and Do The Collapse, as well as grabbing songs from aborted albums Power Of Suck, Back To Saturn X, and Learning To Hunt, Disc One appears to have a better collection. The highlights of Disc Two include the beautiful Supermarket The Moon, which actually had a case for itself for inclusion in Bee Thousand, a wonderful version of Ha Ha Man, and another gem in Our Value Of Luxury. Hey, and it has the Back To Saturn X version of Damn Good Mr. Jam, so it is not without its charms...

Just as Disc One started excellent, as does Disc Two. Supermarket The Moon is a hauntingly beautiful acoustic track that was left off of Bee Thousand. Perhaps it was an issue with pace, as this slow song may have interrupted Bee Thousand's flow. However, I think it would have made a nice finisher. I am not a fan of Hold On To Yesterday, which is likely due to me not really liking Mitch Mitchell's vocals. However, the fans of GBV are in for another early treat with an excellent version of Ha Ha Man, which is even more rockin' than the one on Tonics and Twisted Chasers.

Our Value Of Luxury is from the aborted album Back To Saturn X, and it has one of the nicest choruses of those songs from the Suitcase box set. It also contains the lyric "we've got airplanes", so bonus. It is followed by a Power Of Suck cut, Bughouse. There are actually two versions in one track of Bughouse, the second being mainly a psychedelic version of the first. Another Bee Thousand outtake, Rainbow Billy, is an acoustic ditty which sounds like it becomes a joke during the last half. Since we are talking about Bee Thousand outtakes, lets also mention Tabacco's Last Stand and Shit Midas. I guess the most efficient way of explaining what I think of these tracks is that only Supermarket The Moon had any real chance of making Bee Thousand.

Shrine to the Dynamic Years is a Do The Collapse outtake, and would challenge most songs on the album for inclusion. After hearing the Do The Collapse outtakes from Disc One, and of course those B-sides from Hold On Hope, it is becoming clearer just how on the ball GBV was in 1998.

The Concert For Todd track On Short Wave fails to really stand out at all, and the aborted Learning To Hunt song I Can See It In Your Eyes would blend in perfectly in Sandbox. I can not say I am a big fan of Shifting Swift Is A Lift, though I like the title. It is an odd multipal vocals experiment from Pollard. Sing It Out, which was recorded in 1992, is also non-spectacular, but it looks like GBV played it live a lot in 2001, so maybe this is a fairly decent find for some fans who caught those shows.

I really like Messenger, an oldie from 1985, where Pollard sounds more like Roy Orbison, and less like Michael Stipe. GBV really was a different beast before Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia came out in 1989, but they did know how to rock right from the beginning. The Fool Ticket is one of those songs which I can see myself getting into the more I listen to it. It is a brooding 90's grunge anti-ballad which manages to sound far more complex than one would expect its four continuous chords and repeated chorus to sound. Mallard Smoke is a distortion filled punk romp with quite possibly Pollard's worst lyrics ever, and Mr. Mc Caslin Will Sell No More Flowers sounds like an answering machine greeting.

Another Learning To Hunt track makes an appearance, Blue Gil, and I am starting to think that Learning To Hunt could have been called Sandbox II. Maybe I'm missing something, and maybe someone could clue me in, but was Learning To Hunt a turning point in GBV's career? Is this where Pollard made the drastic shift from Sandbox to Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia? Did he just stand up and say, "Enough of this! We're cancelling this album and going to go somewhere completely different! And we're going to start if off with a song about eggs!" Just wondering.

Invest In British Steel is an instrumental from 1985, and Spinning Around is an even older track from 1983. It sounds like this is when Pollard first learned about the tremolo effect. Let's Go! (To War) is another minute infusion of punk, and Grasshopper Rap is an outtake from Same Place The Fly Got Smashed which was properly left off. I'm Cold is from '87, and would have fit nicely on Devil Between My Toes as GBV's sound is quite distinctive during that era. In Walked The Moon starts out sounding like Pink Floyd, continues with the prog rock style throughout.

I have only picked five songs for my setlist so far, and must say that the bottom half of Disc Two is generally so so. Is there something I left off, something that deserves its own paragraph? Well, I see that I have not yet covered this version of Damn Good Mr. Jam. This is a psychedelic take meant for the aborted album Back To Saturn X, and is simply not as good as the Static Airplane Jive version...but still important enough to get its own paragraph, because, hey, its Damn Good Mr. Jam. There is some crazy guitar wailing near the end that you should definately check out.

I took ten tracks from Disc One of Suitcase, 10 really decent tracks. Disc Two only gets five picks from me (and I'm still undecided about The Fool Ticket...oh hell, let's put it on)...so make that six tracks. Still, Six tracks out of twenty-five does not make a great album, though I am beginning to see the potential of a stellar personal best of Suitcase mix...

Tracklisting (songs in bold make my ultimate GBV/Pollard playlist/box set):

01 Supermarket The Moon
02 Hold On To Yesterday
03 Ha Ha Man
04 Our Value Of Luxury
05 Bughouse (2 Versions)
06 Rainbow Billy
07 Shrine To The Dynamic Years (Athens Time Change Riots)
08 On Short Wave
09 I Can See It In Your Eyes
10 Tobacco's Last Stand
11 Shifting Swift Is A Lift
12 Sing It Out
13 Messenger
14 The Fool Ticket
15 Mallard Smoke
16 Mr. Mc Caslin Will Sell No More Flowers
17 Shit Midas
18 Blue Gil
19 Invest In British Steel
20 Spinning Around
21 Let's Go! (To War)
22 Grasshopper Rap
23 I'm Cold
24 Damn Good Mr. Jam
25 In Walked The Moon

Guided By Voices: Suitcase - Failed Experiments and Trashed Aircraft: DISC ONE (2000)

2006-04-19T14:24:00.000-07:00

Disc One of Suitcase's greatest claim to fame is the inclusion of the incredible Bunco Men, a song which has no right being on a rarities collection. This should have been on Under The Bushes Under The Stars, and made a spectacular album even greater. Overall, Disc One is a decent album in itself, especially if you trimmed it of some of the fat. Hey, its better than some of the EPs, and way better than Sandbox! It turns out that 10 of these 25 tracks have made my playlist, which will hopefully shed some of the fears that some of you may have when considering investing in this box set. You need this boxset for at least Bunco Men, as no GBV collection is complete with that track. How about a fast version of Spring Tiger? Or how about some tracks form aborted albums Concert For Todd, Power Of Suck, Back To Saturn X, Learning To Hunt, and The Corpse Like Sleep Of Stupidy? All this and outtakes from Bee Thousand and Do The Collapse make up Disc One of Suitcase...

The Terrible Two starts Suitcase off, a track from '93 which hints at the great possibilities for this rarities boxset. It is not as fuzzed-up as tracks on Vampire On Titus, though it definately has the edge. Bloodbeast sounds like it could have been recorded at the same time, and continues Suitcase's surprising good start.

A newer track (a Do The Collapse outtake) is next, called The Kissing Life. You can definately hear how the track fits in with those on Do The Collapse, however stripped down it is compared to its album counterparts. James Riot is another Do The Collapse outtake. It is a rocking tune which sounds more like something from Alien Lanes. It makes you wonder what Do The Collapse would sound like if given the sound treatment these two tracks have. Bottoms Up! is apparently from an alborted album called The Corpse Like Sleep Of Stupidity (1992), and Tear It Out is an oldie from '88. Both rightly belong on a rarities disc, as well as the thirty-second throwaway Cinnamon Flavored Skulls.

The most unbelievable song on the entire Suitcase box set (and one of the greatest GBV songs ever) is Bunco Men. This song is just wonderful, with a great chorus ("I've got a thing or two/I wanna give to you again/I see a real baby blue/Not yet glued to you again"). This is one of those low-key rockers that gets better after every listen, and it is extremely surprising to see a track of this quality not on a regular album (even if it was recorded in '95, a time when GBV was just piling on great tunes for Under the Bushes Under the Stars).

Bad and Rare may be the most bluegrass song GBV ever pulled off. Dorothy's A Planet definately shows potential, but mostly comes off sounding like a demo for a heavier song. The gbvdb also states that it supposed to be on an aborted album called Concert For Todd. Pluto The Skate has a decent chorus of Pollard screaming "Is everybody happy now?" over and over, but the rest of the track is disjointed and almost jarring with its switches in noise level.

Let's Go Vike is the first track on Suitcase (there will be more) from the aborted album Learning to Hunt (1989). It definately has the feel of the earlier GBV sound, and would have sounded great on (and improved) Sandbox. Sabotage is also on the Hazzard Hotrods CD, which is pretty much GBV playing a bunch of songs live in a video store (MC Video). I am still undecided on what I think about this track, as I do like its jazzy slow groove, so I'll put it on the re-visit list for now.

The first track on Suitcase from the aborted album Power Of Suck (1995) is Pink Drink. It is a fun little tune from one of GBV's most spectacular eras. The fans over at Disarm the Settlers are sort of getting a campaign going to have this aborted album released, which makes sense considering just how good GBV was during this time period. It's Easy is an oldie from '84 which is not overly interesting. It is less than a minute long, as is the final track Ding Dong Daddy, which borders being a throwaway and a tiny bit of bizarre genius.

Dank Star Ground Control is an outtake of Bee Thousand, and I surely cannot imagine a world where a single track from Bee Thousand was replaced by it. However, it may grow on me, so I'll put it in the re-visit list (even if for some reason it reminds me of Darth Vader). Spring Tigers is the first Suitcase track from the aborted album Back To Saturn X (1991), and is essentially a heavier, faster, rock version of Spring Tiger (from Get Out Of My Stations).

Born On Seaweed is a newer (2000) track which fails to be exiting in any way. Flesh Ears From June almost sounds like a pop tune from the 50's, and is one of GBV's more happier tunes. Driving in the U.S. of A. is a couple minutes of noise, essentially a throwaway.

And then there is not one, but three versions of My Big Day in one track. The first is an outtake from Same Place The Fly Got Smashed, and boy does it sound like it. It could have been swapped with Airshow '88 as the opening track, and many wouldn't even notice. The third version is from the aborted album Back To Saturn X, and it is the best of the three and utilizes the full band.

Have It Again is a short acoustic ditty from '91, and the liner notes say Little Jimmy The Giant is from 1974! It is actually a pretty decent song from a young Pollard. Taco, Buffalo, Birddog And Jesus is another Learning To Hunt track, and it is another fairly decent track.

You will notice ten out of the twenty-five songs on this disc are bolded below, so right there is proof that the songs on Suitcase are batting pretty good. I was surprised with just how decent the first disc of Suitcase was, and completely blown away by Bunco Men. Will the other discs be as good? I can't wait to get to the next one.

Tracklisting (songs in bold make my ultimate GBV/Pollard playlist/box set):

01 The Terrible Two
02 Bloodbeast
03 The Kissing Life
04 Bottoms Up! (You Fantastic Bastard)
05 Tear It Out
06 Cinnamon Flavored Skulls
07 Bunco Men
08 Bad And Rare
09 Dorothy's A Planet
10 Pluto The Skate
11 Let's Go Vike
12 Sabotage
13 Pink Drink
14 James Riot
15 It's Easy
16 Dank Star Ground Control
17 Spring Tigers
18 Born On Seaweed
19 Flesh Ears From June
20 Driving In The U.S. of A.
21 My Big Day (3 Versions)
22 Have It Again
23 Little Jimmy The Giant
24 Taco, Buffalo, Birddog And Jesus
25 Ding Dong Daddy (Is Back From The Bank)

Demons Are Real

2006-04-19T12:47:00.000-07:00

I added Demons Are Real from Bee Thousand to the playlist/box set. How could I have left this off the playlist!? Well, back to my work on Suitcase...

Guided By Voices: Hold On Hope (2000)

2006-04-06T15:54:00.000-07:00

I've said it once, and I'll say it again, Hold On Hope is my favorite Guided By Voices' EP. Take the over-production away from Do The Collapse, and what you have left over is a more true to GBV sound, and an overall better product. I should note there are other versions of this EP which include a song called Perfect This Time, which I do not have. If you have this track, please leave a comment and let me know what it is like. Either way, the 9-track version of the EP is spectacular, and at the cheap price there is no reason why anyone who considers themselves even remotely a fan of GBV should not have it...

Underground Initiations starts things off with a bang. All songs on this EP are under three minutes (except for the title track), and are mostly of the quick shot of rock variety. Underground Initiations definately falls in this category, as does the next song, Interest Position. However, Interest Position almost has a Blue Oyster Cult kind of thing going on. It is also bookended by a rocking riff.

Fly Into Ashes is the stand-out gem on Hold on Hope, and if there is one song to pick out and say, "why didn't they Do The Collapse-a-size this song?", it would be it. It is a happy tune, which I always include in my GBV-related playlists.

Tropical Robots is a beautiful little acoustic ditty which doesn't even make the minute-mark, though it is followed by a similar (though more campfire-singalong-ish), A Crick Uphill. This song really picks up near the end, adding sonic guitar and a heavier drum track which takes it to a completely different place.

Idiot Princess reminds me of some tunes on Pipe Dreams of Instant Prince Whippet (which to me, is Hold on Hope's EP brother - they kind of go well together). It is a heavy track which sounds as if Pollard is singing through a walkie-talkie (it even includes the words "Over and out").

Avalanche Aminos is another obvious inclusion in my ultimate GBV playlist. Though maybe slightly repetitive, the constant guitar riff is extremely catchy, and the chorus that appears near the end is excellent. Do The Collapse is an instrumental begging for lyrics, and I've wrote about Hold on Hope on my entry for the album Do The Collapse. So for those who are confused, there is a song called Hold on Hope on Do the Collapse, and a song called Do the Collapse on Hold on Hope.

This EP is perfect, except for maybe the title track which many people seem to have a problem with. In fact, it is probably more out of place on this EP than on Do the Collapse. I would definately consider this EP essential for the GBV collection, and maybe even a good entry point to a new fan.

Tracklisting (songs in bold make my ultimate Pollard/GBV playlist/box set):
01 Underground Initiations
02 Interest Position
03 Fly Into Ashes
04 Tropical Robots
05 A Crick Uphill
06 Idiot Princess
07 Avalanche Aminos
08 Do The Collapse
09 Hold On Hope

Robert Pollard And Doug Gillard: Speak Kindly Of Your Volunteer Fire Department (1999)

2006-03-23T18:18:00.000-08:00

When I was first getting into GBV, and researching what order to buy their related albums, Speak Kindly Of Your Volunteer Fire Department was often mentioned as one of the best non-GBV releases, if not the best. In particular, the song Pop Zeus kept showing up on various best-of lists by GBV fans. It turned out to be one of my later purchases simply due to the fact that I tried finding it in Canada first (and not for some ridiculous price), and then ended up picking it up from Luna. Is it all its cracked up to be? Did it live up to the hype? The short answer is yes. Is Pop Zeus an awesome track? Once again, the answer is yes. Is it Pollard's best non-GBV album? Well, no. I do not believe it reaches the greatness of either Not In My Airforce or Waved Out (not to mention that Lexo and the Leapers album which is climbing my personal charts after every listen), though it still rocks hard and deserves respect in the GBV world, as it is full of songs begging to be played for a stadium crowd...

At first I though Fly Into Ashes was coming on when I first listened to this disc, but no, the first track is called Frequent Weaver Who Burns, and it is a fairly decent start to things. Just check out the opening lyrics, "Pagan shutters described at shrine/Dark stems large elephantine/Serpent seasnake zebra/Up love and deliver your good speech", and you can see that this is going to be an interesting album lyrically. The track is extremely catchy.

Soul Train College Policemen is a slightly odd track, meshing brooding verses and flashes of stadium rock. The highlight on this album is easily Pop Zeus. With what may be one of the greatest little guitar riffs of all time playing throughout (I'm guessing Gillard's work), and some great lyrics (my personal favorite "Call him Max/Send him a fax"), Pop Zeus is two and a half minutes of pure pop rock genius.

Slick As Snails is my personal favorite on the disc, as something about it is just beautiful. It is another example of how a simple song can be turned into something far greater by Pollard's knack for lyrical melody. It gets the solo guitar treatment near the end which is a nice additional touch for the track. Do Something Real rounds up what I like to consider the brilliant first third of Speak Kindly. Its a grungy tune with some great guitar near the end.

Port Authority slows things down and is a pointed transition in the album. At the half way point of the song, a buildup starts which sounds promising for a great finish, but decides to end in a low key fashion. I am not quite sure where I sit with this song, as it a nice relaxing tune. However, for now I'm putting it on the playlist since it is a fairly original track within the GBV catalog.

Soft Smoke is the only song on Speak Kindly which does not make the minute long mark, though it can be seen as an intro to Same Things since it blends perfectly. Same Things has a ghostly quality to it, mainly due to the haunting echo which follows Pollard's vocals around, and since I love the part where Pollard sings "dadadada", it is on the playlist. And I Don't (So Now I Do) is a little shot of pop bliss, and takes me back to the lighter side of the 90's alternative scene.

Tight Globes must be the next most popular (behind Pop Zeus) track on Speak Kindly. It is another of those tracks screaming to be played loud for those people just out to have a good time. It follows the apparent goal of the album: the perfect fusion of pop and rock (it even has some of that alien guitar sounding soloing going on), and Speak Kindly may succeed on that account greater than, say, Do The Collapse.

I find that generally, the bottom third of Speak Kindly does not live up to the spectacular opening, and decent middle. Though the prog rock feel of I Get Rid Of You is growing on me every time I listen to it. Life Is Beautiful is a low-fi acoustic track which I'll have to revisit again later on, since it isn't grabbing my attention right now. [EDIT - Apr.19 2006 - Changed my mind on Life Is Beautiful. That guitar riff is just beautiful.]I am also not a big fan of Messiahs, as the constant guitar riff gets annoying after repeated listens.

Larger Massachusetts has a fairly pretty chorus, though I have trouble getting into the rest of the song. I'll put it on the revisit list for now. The final track, And My Unit Moves sounds like something that would have fit nicely on Not In My Airforce. It is a decent keyboard-based track, though I see it mostly as the end of a string of the least interesting songs from the album.

The biggest problem with picking songs for the playlist from an album like Speak Kindly Of Your Volunteer Fire Department, is that there are no bad songs, but quite a few which do not stand out in any way. These same tracks would stand out on a lesser album, and therefore I likely included worse songs in my playlist from albums not as good as Speak Kindly. I had a similar problem with Kid Marine, where there was not any bad songs, but a lot of okay ones. At least with this album, there are some outstanding tracks like Pop Zeus and Slick As Snails, which was not really the case with Kid Marine.

Tracklisting (songs in bold make my ultimate Pollard/GBV playlist/box set):
01 Frequent Weaver Who Burns
02 Soul Train College Policemen
03 Pop Zeus
04 Slick As Snails
05 Do Something Real
06 Port Authority
07 Soft Smoke
08 Same Things
09 And I Don't (So Now I Do)
10 Tight Globes
11 I Get Rid Of You
12 Life Is Beautiful
13 Messiahs
14 Larger Massachusetts
15 And My Unit Moves

Nightwalker: In Shop We Build Electrical Chairs - Professional Music By Nightwalker 1984-93 (1999)

2006-03-15T14:12:00.000-08:00

How big of a Robert Pollard/GBV fan are you? Perhaps this album (#3 in the Fading Captain Series) is the ultimate test. From the spelling on the side of the case ("in shop wwe build electrical chairs") to the music within, this Nightwalker album is as far away from another 1999 release, Do the Collapse, as you can get. I personally picked up this disc even after hearing from others how terrible it is, just so I could fill a gap in my Pollard collection, and of course review it for you on this site. I will tell you right off the bat that this disc is in no way essential for the fan, and should be among the absolute last of your Pollard-related purchases...

I personally do not know the specifics of what this disc represents timewise, though a visit to gbvdb reveals that it is mostly a Robert Pollard, Jim Pollard, and Mitch Mitchell collaboration. Perhaps it is a collection of their worst demos? After a drum solo which includes some haunting, reverb, and distant vocals near the end, The Fink Swan (Swims Away) is the first true track. The recording quality will test your personal listening limits, as echo-filled Pollard vocals are sung over a single guitar riff.

Kenneth Ray begins sounding like something from Vampire On Titus, but then the distortion fuzz continues on for over a minute and a half until Pollard begins talking, then screaming, over the same constant beat. Dogwood Grains is a minute-long acoustic track which is somewhat similar to Drinker's Peace, though without nearly as many redeemable features. Amazed is a droning poem recited in front of what sounds like hospital equipment beeping, and Signifying UFO (as well as U235) is a throw-away even on this disc.

Ceramic Cock Einstein may be the most interesting track on the CD, given how it starts out like something you would expect on a Circus Devils release, or as a soundtrack to a Bela Lugosi horror flick. It goes on sounding like backing music for an old black and white fright film until with just over two minutes left, an actual song emerges, but not a good one.

The best song on the entire album is Weird Rivers & Sapphire Sun, and I'm tempted to put it on the playlist just so something from this Nightwalker album will be on it. However, for now, I'll put it on the re-visit list. Trashed Canned Goods may have a better song hiding behind the fuzz, though the bass line is actually pretty cool. And finally, the eleven minute long experimental Those Little Bastards Will Bite is a fitting conclusion for an album that goes absolutely nowhere.

Perhaps there is a point to this album which I completely did not pick up on. I would love to hear from those who listen to Nightwalker regularly, and the reasons for their fondness of it. I might not ever listen to it again, except for maybe Weird Rivers & Sapphire Sun which is the only real bright light here, if there is one. This is among the worst of Pollard's releases, and I'm sure I am not the only fan of his who thinks so. There is so much good stuff out there from GBV, Pollard solo, and side projects like Lexo and the Leepers that make this album unnecessary.

Tracklisting (none make the playlist):
01 Drum Solo
02 The Fink Swan (Swims Away)
03 Kenneth Ray
04 Dogwood Grains
05 Amazed
06 Signifying UFO
07 Ceramic Cock Einstein
08 U235
09 Weird Rivers & Sapphire Sun
10 Trashed Canned Goods
11 Those Little Bastards Will Bite

Robert Pollard: Kid Marine (1999)

2006-03-06T14:45:00.000-08:00

Kid Marine's main role in the history of Guided By Voices is being the first release under the Fading Captain Series. Personally, I consider this album to be among Pollard's least interesting, though there are a few tracks that stand out among the rest. However, any visit to Disarm the Settlers will reveal that Kid Marine is often a fan favorite, and sometimes even considered Pollard's best solo effort. I however, simply cannot agree with that, especially considering the greatness of both Waved Out and Not In My Airforce. Us GBV fans for the most part run all over the spectrum when considering what is Pollard's greatest music, and what should be included in, say, a greatest hits package. If I were making a single disc of my favorite GBV/Pollard songs, however, I doubt anything from Kid Marine would make the cut...

The album starts off with an epic length-wise for Pollard in Submarine Teams, which almost makes the five minute mark. It is a fragmented odd-ball of a rock tune, with a constant echo effect throughout, and is also one of the better tracks on the album. The track finishes off with an acoustic outro, and is followed by the acoustic Flings Of The Waistcoat Crowd, which features layered vocals and a campire sing-a-long mentality, and uses the word "insectrocutioner".

The Big Make-Over features one of my least favorite GBV related guitar riffs, though I'm sure that there are many who disagree with me. Riff-aside though, the track is worthy of inclusion in my ultimate playlist for its general catchiness. I guess for the most part, Kid Marine to me is an album full of those songs that round out a better album. They are not bad, but they are in no way spectacular either.

The next track, Men Who Create Fright, is the gem of Kid Marine. Hands down, this is the albums best track (though White Gloves Come Off is pretty cool too). It starts out sounding like it may be one of the more experimental toss-offs, and all of a suddenly turns into an in-your-face rockathon, which may be a bit repetitive, though still rockin'.

As of now, Television Prison is not on the playlist, though it is on my re-visit list. It is a heavier track which ends with about a minute of guitar wailing. Strictly Comedy has a neat intro; the way the songs simply kicks in. It sounds as if we have entered the song midway through, and like Television Prison it is on the edge for making the playlist (and in this case, is currently being included).

Far-Out Crops makes the list. After a slow start, the song kicks into a groovable riff and far away vocals . It definately hits its greatest moment when Pollard sings out "far-off crops" repeatedly. So at this point, six of seven of the first tracks have all made the playlist. This may seem against what I was saying about the album earlier. It may be a bit deceiving, granted that these songs did make the list (and Television Prison almost did too), but I should still stress that the majority of them are on the border on making the playlist.

Living Upside Down is split into two parts, the second a more interesting instrumental. Snatch Candy fails to stand out in any way, though it does for about half a second sound like Chance To Buy An Island at the beginning. White Gloves Come Off is a fairly original and decent song, with a beautiful chorus, and I would classify it as one of the best reasons to own Kid Marine.

Enjoy Jerusalem! has a repeating riff throughout, and it never really goes anywhere. It may be my least favorite track on Kid Marine. You Can't Hold Your Women explodes into a distorted ballad halfway through for a couple of seconds and then ends with some fizzled-out lead. For now I'm putting it on the re-visit list, since I need to hear it a few more times before making a judgement. Town Of Mirrors has an extremely non-exciting first half, but then turns into a completely different animal half way through where it becomes one of the best moments on Kid Marine. The guitars kick in and Pollard sings "Oh, alright" and "mutilation" over and over again until the fade-out.

Powerblessings is an acoustic track with multi-layered vocals, and also reminds me of a campfire-singalong type of track. It is a pretty little tune which would have made for a nice closer. However, Island Crimes gets that spot instead, and it teases you until the very end with what sounds like an oncoming rock and roll storm. However, the storm never comes, and it finishes the album fittingly; by being simply "okay".

I picked more than half of the tracks on Kid Marine to make the playlist, though many of them could have went either way. It is an album full of okay songs, without anything truly great. This has been the hardest album for me to review thus far, as most of its songs seem to be hinting at great moments, but end up never really reaching their full potential. I definately need to listen to it more often, and maybe some of the hidden moments will become more apparent. As for Pollard releases, Kid Marine is nowhere near my favorites and I don't see it being there anytime soon. However, take my word for it that there are many fans of this album, and that maybe it might also be an okay starting point for a new fan.

Tracklisting (songs in bold make my ultimate GBV/Pollard playlist/box set):
01 Submarine Teams
02 Flings Of The Waistcoat Crowd
03 The Big Make-Over
04 Men Who Create Fright
05 Television Prison
06 Strictly Comedy
07 Far-Out Crops
08 Living Upside Down
09 Snatch Candy
10 White Gloves Come Off
11 Enjoy Jerusalem!
12 You Can't Hold Your Women
13 Town Of Mirrors
14 Powerblessings
15 Island Crimes

Hey Hey Spaceman

2006-03-03T12:35:00.000-08:00

I added Hey Hey Spaceman from Devil Between My Toes to the playlist/box set. I orginally left this off when I did the entry, but since then have grown to like the song more.

Guided By Voices: Clown Prince Of The Menthol Trailer (1994)

2006-03-03T10:44:00.000-08:00

I finally received my copy of Clown Prince. It turns out that I got it from Amazon, as a pre-order where you set up how much you are willing to pay for something, and the moment someone posts selling the album at a price under your max, Amazon automaticaly purchases the disc for you. Therefore, it came as a complete surprise when I got an email from Amazon saying, "thank you for your purchase of Guided By Voices - Clown Prince of the Menthol Trailer EP". After a couple of listens, I am under the impression that Clown Prince is the worst of GBV's stunning EP's, though it does have its charms...

Quite possibly the most popular track from Clown Prince is the first one, Matter Eater Lad. This song is actually available for free off of GBV's homepage. It is a fun little minute long punk-infused track (kind of reminds me of The Clash). The chorus of "Yeah he's mad, he's matter eater lad" is pure genius. It may be the greatest minute on this ten-minute EP.

The other real keeper here is Johnny Appleseed, another often played live track. I would love to hear this particular song re-done with a more studio sound, because it truly does have a great melody. The verses are beautiful ("You're a breath of insulation in my draftic attic brain/You're sweeter than the sweet cream buzzed on sugar cane"), and the chorus of "you're so cherry" has Tobin Sprout helping out Pollard on vocals. Though picking this song for the playlist is a no-brainer, I am also thinking about adding the live version on Live at the Wheelchair Races, which includes some distorted guitar starting at the second verse.

Those two tracks are definately the highlights of the EP. The rest of the EP does not come even close to reaching those two. [Note: After writing that last line, I popped in The Electrifying Conclusion DVD in order to check out Pink Gun, Johnny Appleseed, and Matter Eater Lad, and ended up watching the whole damn thing. So now, the conclusion of this entry...]

Single simple guitar riffs which have a rustic sound to them are the focus on Broadcaster House, Hunter Complex, and even the way-to-short Pink Gun (which I'm guessing was a surprising inclusion at the final show). Hunter Complex's vocals are extremely hard to hear, though the riff is fairly neat. Scalping the Guru (which was also the title to an aborted album) sounds more like an intro to an album than an actual track on its own. Lastly, Grandfather Westinghouse (which has a cool title), is also follows the simple single guitar riff structure, except for twice the length, a whole two and a half minutes.

This is the worst (or least good) GBV EP. However, the inclusion of Matter Eater Lad and Johnny Appleseed make it worth the purchase (assuming you can find it for about $15 like I did). It may be possible for the other tracks to grow on me some more, since I did this review after listening to the EP maybe only three or four times. However, for now only the two tracks make the playlist.

Tracklisting (songs in bold make my ultimate GBV/Pollard playlist/box set):
01 Matter Eater Lad
02 Broadcaster House
03 Hunter Complex
04 Pink Gun
05 Scalping The Guru
06 Grandfather Westinghouse
07 Johnny Appleseed

Lexo and the Leapers: Ask Them (1999)

2006-02-22T11:15:00.000-08:00

This is the first Robert Pollard side-project which I get to write about. Lexo and the Leapers consists of Robert Pollard being backed by the Tasties. It is a six-track EP filled with heavy rock straight from the 60's and 70's, which has a focus on the fun side of rock. When it comes to Pollard side-projects, there seems to be about three types. The first, is the phone-in lyrics type. These are albums where someone writes music, and separately, Pollard lays down some vocals over the tracks (see Circus Devils). The second is the "I can't believe you bought this" toss-off type stuff, such as Nightwalker. The third type is actual collaborations where the album actually sounds like a full band is performing together. That is the case with Lexo and the Leapers...

As the opening chords are played in Time Machines, you know that Ask Them is going to be a special treat. Pollard sings a great chorus which changes lyrically each time through in this all-out rocker which shares plenty in common with Exit Flagger. It appears that this Time Machines is in no way related to the song of the same title on Suitcase.

Alone, Stinking and Unafraid is a live GBV staple, and boy does this song get going at about a minute and a half into it. When Pollard yells out "Stinking and unafraid!", I feel proud to be a GBV fan. The effect on the vocals really adds to the track as well.

I really like the acoustic intro to Plainskin, however, this part is abandoned for another grungy-rock tune like the first two. Overall, Plainskin is not an overly exciting tune, though it does fit well with the rest of the EP. Will You Show Me Your Gold? is extremely similar to Plainskin, except it has a chorus, and a nice one at that.

Fair Touching, from Isolation Drills, is a beautiful song. The version on this EP has simply been Lexo and the Leaper-ized. It is virtually the same song, except with the grungy guitar sound, and the radio-transmission effect on Pollard's vocals. Circling Motorhead Mountain is a minute and forty-four seconds of rock straight-up.

I am a big fan of EP's, as they always seem to contain something a little special. Lexo and the Leapers is more than worthy of a side-project EP (in fact, I would have loved it if this particular collaboration released a full album of these sweet little rock gems). It is a fun 18 minutes or so, and should be added to any GBV collection.

Tracklisting (songs in bold make my ultimate Pollard/GBV playlist/boxset):
01 Time Machines
02 Alone, Stinking And Unafraid
03 Plainskin
04 Will You Show Me Your Gold?
05 Fair Touching (Original Version)
06 Circling Motorhead Mountain

Guided By Voices: Do The Collapse (1999)

2006-02-21T10:18:00.000-08:00

1999 was another huge year for Robert Pollard, and is important for three reasons: 1) It was the year Do The Collapse was released on TVT Records, Guided By Voices' most produced sounding album ever, and considered by some as Pollard's "sell out" record (more on that later), 2) this was the year that the Pollard side-projects truly began coming out (three this year alone with Lexo and the Leepers, Nightwalker, and a collaboration with Doug Gillard), and 3) the sheer output provided. Other than Do The Collapse and the three side-projects mentioned, 1999 saw the release of Robert Pollard's solo album Kid Marine and a GBV EP, Plugs For the Program, as well. After 1998, which had only a solo album released, the next couple years looked fairly positive for fans of Pollard. As for Do The Collapse, this is no sell-out record, simply a glimpse of what GBV could sound like with a polished studio sound...

You can hear it right away with Teenage FBI. Sound effects infused with Pollard's pop create something which sounds both truly GBV, yet completely different at the same time. You can hear this playing on the radio with the rest of the top 40 hits, but it still screams GBV. The orginal, non-commercialized version (which can be heard on the Human Amusements album) stays more true to what many of us have come to love about GBV. The Do The Collapse version, produced by Ric Ocasek, creates something completely different, yet still enjoyable and better than most stuff on the radio.

Zoo Pie is my personal favorite from the album, and partly due to the additional sound created by Ocesek's production (and by the way, this will be the last time I address the slick production on this album). The fuzzy vocals are perfect, especially during Pollard's scream of "...was to be a man", and the gorgeous chorus ("Come on baby do it/To me you can do it/Come on baby do it/I know that you can"). The additional chorus vocals during the second chorus are another nice touch.

The is something odd about Things I Will Keep. Can this be one of GBV's, I don't know, wimpier songs? This is as close as GBV can get to Matchbox 20-ish crap, yet still be fairly rocking. It is nowhere near my favorite GBV tunes, though it did make the best of collection Human Amusements.

Hold On Hope may be the most controversial song among fans of Guided By Voices. Is it the ultimate sappy sell-out song, or a fairly decent ballad? I'm happy with just considering it a decent ballad, though I do see how releasing it as a single could have gave people who were not familiar with GBV the wrong impression, and perhaps make fans of GBV question the decision.

In Stitches starts off with a pounding guitar riff, and follows with parts which would sound at home on a Circus Devil's album. This just may be one of my least favorite songs by GBV. It never builds out of its lull, other than some nice guitar soloing near the end.

Dragons Awake! is closer to what I consider a true GBV ballad, with its simple acoustic guitar and excellent lyrics ("Grand Peter/Might it be the pipes of Pan?/Softer tits will greet you/But they have been tapped/by suckers of the sap"). Dragons Awake! is a wonderful song which might have even found its way onto a one-disc greatest hits album if I were to actually make one.

Surgical Focus, from its opening riff, is begging to be on the radio. A fully realized rock tune with some great guitar work, and wonderful vocals. If songs such as this and Teenage FBI were the focus instead of Hold On Hope, maybe GBV would have got the breakthrough they were hoping for.

Optical Hopscotch continues the trend for Do The Collapse, of big choruses over mellow verses, or a radio hit formula. The chorus of "Now we are over here/Sketching the field of the spies" sounds big, and is geared towards arena rock. Mushroom Art follows, with its catchy main riff. At just under two minutes, this one finishes too soon. What is too soon for a GBV song? On an album of fully realized rock songs, finishing a song the way Mushroom Art is finished sounds out of place. On any other GBV album, well...

By now you may see that the argument of whether the slick production is a sell-out tactic is not important. The fact is, Do The Collapse rocks hard on its own merits. Much Better Mr. Buckles is blessed with an excellent chorus, and Wormhole has an incredible guitar riff following its chorus. Strumpet Eye is another one for the radio, a pop gem with great guitar and Pollard's knack for making a catchy tune.

Liquid Indian may have the most beautiful chorus among the GBV catalog. The great thing about this track is how the chorus feels so disassociated with the rest of the song, and comes right out of left field withs its beauty, as the verses are jagged and secretive. Does anyone else hear how Pollard sounds like Eddie Vedder on this track during the verses (and also on Circus Devils tracks like Are You Out With Me?).

Wrecking Now is a track which if I never heard before, would never guess it was GBV. The cutesy guitar is just out there, and the overall track sounds like something someone would find on one of those Singer/Songwriters collections. This is soft rock GBV style.

At four minutes, Picture Me Big Time is the longest track on Do The Collapse. The song hits a peak when Pollard sings "I will deliver to you, yeah, I will deliver to you", and it is the most epic feeling track on the album. The final track, An Unmarketed Product, has a bit of a pop-punk thing going for it, and may be the most fun-filled minute on the album.

I don't care what others say, I love the heavily produced GBV sound. If this type of production was given to their other albums, GBV would have been huge, though they would also not have the cult-like fans they do now. It is a definate trade-off. My personal thought on the matter is that GBV, or Robert Pollard in specific, is the perfect type of celebrity. He has legions of dedicated fans that can't wait to see what he does next, he is extremely successfull, is free artistically, and at the same time can be a regular human being without the fan frenzy crap that comes with being someone like Bono. Do The Collapse rocks just as hard as other GBV albums, though it is special. It is one of a kind in GBV's catalog.

Tracklisting (songs in bold make my ultimate GBV/Pollard playlist/box set):
01 Teenage FBI
02 Zoo Pie
03 Things I Will Keep
04 Hold On Hope
05 In Stitches
06 Dragons Awake!
07 Surgical Focus
08 Optical Hopscotch
09 Mushroom Art
10 Much Better Mr. Buckles
11 Wormhole
12 Strumpet Eye
13 Liquid Indian
14 Wrecking Now
15 Picture Me Big Time
16 An Unmarketed Product

Robert Pollard: Waved Out (1998)

2006-02-13T14:38:00.000-08:00

1998 saw the release of Robert Pollard's second solo album, Waved Out. In my opinion, Waved Out is the best of Pollard's solo work (just slightly higher than Not In My Airforce), and one of the best albums in his catalog including GBV titles. For starters, it includes two of the greatest tracks of Pollard's entire career, Make Use and Subspace Biographies. Second, the rest of the album is damn good too, without too much filler (we'll get to Showbiz Opera Walrus later). The album is a variety of sound quality, though after a few listens sounds like a cohesive album. I also find that it reminds me of earlier era GBV, say Propeller or even Alien Lanes...

Waved Out was the first solo Pollard album which I got a chance to listen to. I had read some reviews of Waved Out from various places, and the impression I got from the various reviews was that there were a couple of stellar tracks, and the rest was crap. So I put the disc in, and Make Use started playing. I immediately loved this song and couldn't care less what the rest of the album sounded like since Make Use itself is worth the purchase. It contains one of my favorite choruses ("Make use of the bold proposition/Make use the vast fashions/The passion is soon to burn out/Make use of the boring young heroes/Their efforts not wasted/Reward them for what they turn out"). The song is not only catchy, but quite possibly one of Pollard's most original tunes.

I also knew going in, that Subspace Biographies is often considered, if not one of Pollard's best songs, then perhaps his overall best. Therefore, after listening to Make Use, I immediately skipped to this wonderful track. I saw it described (I think on Amazon) as the best verse/chorus/chorus/chorus track ever recorded. I could not agree more with the description, as Subspace Biographies does have only one verse (maybe it should be called an intro?) and is followed by a repeated chorus which adds vocal layers each time through. There is some catchy lead guitar and I love the way Pollard sings "captain, are you sure they're coming in?" There is no way for me to prepare you for the awesomeness of this song, it is absolutely perfect.

I then skipped to the title track, Waved Out, since I heard a live version on GBV's old website and thought it sounded great. This song is a minute of psychedelic pop which strangely sounds like a grunged-out version of My Sharona by The Knack (well, the music anyway).

So after I got those three great tracks over with, I started to listen to the album as a whole, and I will admit that it didn't totally hit with me right away. However, now it is among my Pollard favorites. Whiskey Ships is just as good as the previously mentioned tracks, with a beautiful chorus and some odd effect throughout the verse along and some drunken cheering. There is a track on Hardcore UFO's Delicious Pie And Than You For Calling called I Invented The Moonwalk (And The Pencil Sharpener), which is a demo-sounding version of Whiskey Ships.

Wrinkled Ghost has a definate Tobin Sprout influence (gbvdb says he played piano on this one). It is a pop-infused happy-fest. Just Say The Word is a dark, low-fi, and brooding cut, as is the haunting Caught Waves Again. These two tracks are perfect examples of how the lower sound recording quality can actually add to the song instead of taking away from it. It may take a couple of listens to catch on with the two songs, however they do fit in with Waved Out nicely. Vibrations in the Woods has more of the grungy-fuzz guitar which ties the album together. Not in any way a spectular song, it also simply feels as though it belongs on this album (and it is probably the most Alien Lanes-ish track on the album).

I find that the there is a definate split point on Waved Out, after the 8th track, Wrinkled Ghost. I'm not sure where the split is on the vinyl, but on the CD I find that starting at Artificial Light there is a slight mood shift. Artificial Light itself can be seen as the transition. It is a slow minute long ballad.

People Are Leaving has dueling vocals, similar to Modest Mouse's Whenever You See Fit (except, both vocals are Pollard). The way the two separate vocals are layered together is done extremely well, as together they make the melody interesting. Steeple of Knives is the all-out rocker on the album, with a stadium style finale; a quick loud chorus and a fizzle-out guitar outro.

Rumbling Joker is one of the longer tracks at just under three minutes. It is similar to the earlier dark and slow tracks, Just Say The Word and Caught Waves Again, except with an even better melody. Pollard's vocals are on display on this song, as well as his knack for great lyrics.

Showbiz Opera Walrus is the throwaway on Waved Out. It is a phaser effect-driven polka type song. Other than a killer title, it is mostly a novelty song. Don't get me wrong though, I know there are fans of this track, however, I like it less and less the more I listen to it. It can be forgiven however since the rest of the album is just so great. Pick Seeds From My Skull is another weird one which has an effect which makes it sound like some kid (or Ween) is singing along with Pollard. Lastly, Second Step Language finishes the album off, with its nearly five minute length. It is mostly ambient guitar-driven noise which is a fitting conclusion.

I've heard reviewers say that Pollard gets more experimental on his solo albums. I don't hear that at all. As far as I'm concerned, there is no real difference between a solo Pollard album, and a Guided By Voices album. This is especially true with Not In My Airforce and Waved Out, which rate among the best of Pollard's catalog, as well as Speak Kindly Of Your Volunteer Fire Department if we can count that as a solo Pollard. As far as being an essential part of a GBV collection, Waved Out may be the most important non-GBV album, as it is even greater than many GBV-proper releases.

Tracklisting (songs in bold make my ultimate Pollard/GBV playlist/box set):
01 Make Use
02 Vibrations In The Woods
03 Just Say The Word
04 Subspace Biographies
05 Caught Waves Again
06 Waved Out
07 Whiskey Ships
08 Wrinkled Ghost
09 Artificial Light
10 People Are Leaving
11 Steeple Of Knives
12 Rumbling Joker
13 Showbiz Opera Walrus
14 Pick Seeds From My Skull
15 Second Step Next Language

Guided By Voices: Under The Bushes Under The Stars - Bonus Tracks (1996)

2006-02-08T16:42:00.000-08:00

If you were lucky enough to find either a European or Japanese version of Under The Bushes Under The Stars, you would have been treated to a few bonus tracks. In fact the European release also contained the Tigerbomb EP and the split with Superchunk (another great band). I thought I'd go through some of these tracks since it appears that I'll get through Demons & Painkillers one release at a time...

Delayed Reaction Brats is swimming in fuzz and noise, but there is a fine song hiding underneath. I must say that is balancing on the fence when it comes to adding it to my playlist, and at just over a minute, I'll add it to the playlist for now. He's The Uncle is another short track which is oozing melody, mixed with some sound effects. It is surprising this didn't find its way to a proper album, as it would have sounded nice on Under The Bushes Under The Stars. The Key Losers is practically the same version as on Tonics & Twisted Chasers except with better sound quality.

As for the Japanese version of Under The Bushes Under The Stars, the version of The Finest Joke Upon Us is the same as on Mag Earwhig! Finks was apparently set to be on Pollard's solo album Not In My Airforce. It would make for a great car tune, and reminds me of a stroll through the park. It is a happy sounding little tune with a great riff.

Tracklisting (songs in bold make my ultimate Pollard/GBV playlist/box set):

- Bonus tracks from the European version of Under The Bushes Under The Stars AND the split with Superchunk:

01 Delayed Reaction Brats
02 He's The Uncle
03 The Key Losers

- Bonus tracks from the Japanese version of Under The Bushes Under The Stars:

25 Finks
26 The Finest Joke Is Upon Us (same as on Mag Earwhig!)

Guided By Voices: The Official Ironmen Rally Song (1996)

2006-02-08T16:11:00.000-08:00

This single comprises of tracks which were up for some version of what would become Under The Version Under The Stars, such as would-be albums The Flying Party Is Here and The Power Of Suck (which as of now is seeing a huge campaign from GBV fans to get released). The Official Ironmen Rally Song may have been Guided By Voices' first real shot at a huge single with its beautiful melody and great vocals/lyrics. It is a no-brainer for the best of playlist and I have already added it when going through Under The Bushes Under The Stars...

Deaf Ears has Pollard singing through what sounds at first like a megaphone from far away, over a repeated riff. The song suddenly switches gears and has Pollard singing "My final words have fallen upon deaf ears/My last few words have fallen upon deaf ears" over and over until the fade out finish. I really like the finish to this track, as it saves an otherwise so-so cut. There is also a Same Place The Fly Got Smashed outtake version on the first Suitcase box set, though it has nothing on the newer version.

Why Did You Land? starts out sounding like Sloan's Lemonzinger (and if you are not Canadian, you likely have no idea what I'm talking about). The chorus is great, and the track provides that nice shot of rock n' roll which GBV is known for. There is a slow version on Suitcase which removes everything that is great about this heavier version. June Salutes You! is another rocking track on what is truly a great single.

Guided By Voices treat their fans well. Instead of putting pure b-sides on their singles and EP's, they include tracks which for the most part are just as good as those on the full album of the same era. Like the single I Am A Scientist, The Official Ironmen Rally Song single is a couple of minutes of pop genius.

Tracklisting (songs in bold make my ultimate Pollard/GBV playlist/box set):
01 The Official Ironmen Rally Song
02 Deaf Ears
03 Why Did You Land?
04 June Salutes You!

Guided By Voices: Motor Away (1995)

2006-02-08T15:55:00.000-08:00

What made the Motor Away 7" single special was (like the My Valuable Hunting Knife single) the alternate take on the title track. The original from Alien Lanes is an anthem for the lo-fi movement. The version on this single sounds slightly more polished, and yet emptier. I choose the Alien Lanes version over the slick 7" every time, but there really is not much of a difference. I'm guessing finding this single is close to impossible now, but you can find its contents on the Demons & Painkillers disc in Hardcore UFOs...

The b-side Color Of My Blade is a special treat as well, and I would have loved to hear this song on Alien Lanes. It is a heavier, consistent rock track which keeps a nice pace and often sounds like it is straight out of the late 60's.

Tracklisting (songs in bold make my ultimate Pollard/GBV playlist/box set):
01 Motor Away (7" Version)
02 Color Of My Blade