GBV OCD

[auto-da-fey]

I think I expected a little more out of Elephant Jokes, based on the reviews I'd read. When he was doing this caliber of work with, say, Fiction Man, the consensus opinion was "fuckin' Bob, writing and recording some shit album with a few gems over the course of a weekend," now it seems to be "Pollard resurgent!"

Obviously I'm partial to these albums anyway and appreciate them for what they are, but I still don't get it.

[sashwap]

yeah, true...but whatcha gonna do?

in any event "accident hero" is such a wonderful song. i think elephant jokes is better than most of what he's released since GBV, lowered standards or no.

(do i say that every time? i mean it this time)

[auto-da-fey]

yeah, nothing to do about it, just odd to me. I think my pick of the elephant litter might be "(All You Need) to Know," which sounds a bit like the forgotten second single by some mid-80s one-hit-wonder synthpop band. I also love how he refuses to conclude with that ideal closer but instead tacks on some Circus Devils outtakey thing; gestures that that reinforce my belief that there is an aesthetic master plan at play here, though I guess that's sort of in the same way that LaRouchites probably see Obama wearing a blue tie on Tuesday as proof of an Illuminati conspiracy.

[sashwap]

haha. you gotta love him, though...."maybe i could squeeze one more song this thing. i NEEDMORE SONGS dammit"

elephant jokes has three closing tracks

[Black Amnesia of Heaven]

Prindle just reviewed the entire Guided by Voices catalog.

[kyle]

Just came across this:


A compilation of (mostly) brazilian bands covering gbv.

thought of this thread.

Also I'm not at home so I'm posting this to remind myself to download it when I am home. Let me know how it is!

[auto-da-fey]

I liked this a lot, kyle--great song selection and ordering (beginning with "Surgical Focus": excellent call!), and some inventive interpretations. The only thing that stood out as not working for me was the "Huffman Prairie Flying Field"--just not soaring enough at the end, that's one of my favorite GBV moments and it doesn't come across here. Love the "Good Flying Bird" cover, though, some intense strumming there.

[sashwap]

i got the new boston spaceships album (zero to 99) in the mail last week and it's been in constant rotation. it is excellent. their best yet. let's talk about it sometime!

edit: i know i always gush over whatever new thing pollard has released this month, but zero to 99 is definitely THE one to check out if you haven't been keeping up with his post-GBV work. i'd love to hear more people's takes on it around here and not just the regulars

[auto-da-fey]

ha, I was actually going to add to my earlier post a question about whether Bob has released anything new lately, since it's been a few months. guess that answers it. though, scrolling this thread, I think you and I are the regulars, so I feel a little slighted! 

really though, I agree--even though I've never gotten into the second album, I still think the Boston Spaceships would get a lot more attention if they were a new band and not something that fits into a preconceived notion of "oh, another half-assed Pollard jam," though it's definitely a grave he dug himself into.

anyway, will pick it up when it drops next week, I'm always too deadbeat to pre-order.

[Andrew_TSKS]

I read this thread with great interest, but as a pretty casual GBV fan, I never have anything to contribute.

[sashwap]

ha, I was actually going to add to my earlier post a question about whether Bob has released anything new lately, since it's been a few months. guess that answers it. though, scrolling this thread, I think you and I are the regulars, so I feel a little slighted! 

no slight intended! you've done a great service in founding this thread, and i would never diminish your contributions to it! 

it IS good to know andrew reads it too

[lastclearchance]

edit: i know i always gush over whatever new thing pollard has released this month, but zero to 99 is definitely THE one to check out if you haven't been keeping up with his post-GBV work.

i think you've said that second part too.

p.s. i follow this thread closely as well

[auto-da-fey]

i think you've said that second part too.

he's right, though! seriously, Pollard is trapped in a misleading narrative of tossedoffedness that doesn't do justice to his recent (or circa 2000, dammit!) output.

(also I didn't really feel slighted. I should probably finalize the making of my four-part mix that began this thread though)

[auto-da-fey]

played the new Boston Spaceships twice this morning; already like it a lot more than the second one, but not sure I'd go as far as sashwap--for me, the two defining post-GBV Pollard moments are probably the first BS and the solo FaCE album.

I do think this a solid contender for next in line--though I'm pretty partial to the Circus Devils' Gringo, it's a doozy of a musical Peckinpah-as-shot-by-Ed-Wood mood piece.

[sashwap]

zero to 99 is my favorite pollard of the year, but you may be right that brown submarine tops it. still, obsessed with "meddle," the mccartney-esque basslines on "trashed aircraft," and the under the bushes-sounding "let it rest for a little while." and "a good circuitry soldier" is one of those golden melodies that's all hook. "question girl all right" is destined to be another overlooked classic in a catalog full of them. the real weak point of the album for me are the couple of simple acoustic songs that are a bit more static than pollard usually gets -- they're pleasant but not mandatory repeats like a lot of the other stuff.

i need to actually buy gringo. it's pretty great, i just fell a little behind this year. just pre-ordered suitcase 3 though!

[auto-da-fey]

just pre-ordered suitcase 3 though!

ha, me too--just got the email for it today, decided it was a chance to finally throw on that Carbon Whales EP that I missed.

agreed with basically everything you say--"Question Girl" has a nice shaggy British Invasion sound. I also like when his voice climbs up near the end of "How Wrong You Are," I wasn't expecting that.

and it's hard not to fall behind--I bought the damn Cosmos album but have barely listened to it, should probably give it more of a chance to work its limited charm.

[auto-da-fey]

Suitcase 3 arrived today. Boy, that packaging is . . . economical. Anyway, went straight for the GBV disc. At the halfway mark now, it's exactly what you'd expect from something subtitled "Spontaneous Lo-Fly Recordings/Controlled Acoustic Jams"--no through-and-through treasures so far, though a few songs that probably could have amounted to something (and in the case of "South Rat Observatory"--I think, the stupid numbering system has me stumped--did). "Kotex Moon" is infinitely better than a song with that name deserves to be, I will say that.

The Carbon Whales EP came with it, just played the first two tracks because the GBV stuff couldn't wait, but liked what I heard.

and sashwap, I've come around and just about wholly embraced Zero to 99.

[sashwap]

and sashwap, I've come around and just about wholly embraced Zero to 99.

yay! 

i gotta say, i kinda love the GBV disc of suitcase 3. stupid fun, but definitely has a handful of replayable tracks..."mr. spoon," to name one. "brand new star" gave me chills the first time i heard it because it goes into a bit at the end that later was used in the song "stingy queens," an old favorite from suitcase 2.

the rest of the set is really, really fantastic, but then i love the suitcases. they're an amazing body of work in their own right, and if it weren't crazy old robert pollard whose name was on it, i think more people would take interest. it's like this crazy microcosm of the universe of rock 'n' roll. i love digging through it all.

[auto-da-fey]

"brand new star" gave me chills the first time i heard it because it goes into a bit at the end that later was used in the song "stingy queens," an old favorite from suitcase 2.

ha, that's actually what I meant, even though I got the title wrong and recognized but couldn't place the "Stingy Queens" dry run.

I've gotta admit, I bought this out of sheer, well, GBV OCD, certain the well had run dry when Pollard plastered those obnoxious acoustic jams as filler on Suitcase 2 and that this would be just another sad completist purchase along the lines of the middle Circus Devils albums. But no! Just played Disc Ten, and it's amazingly tight--I love these mid-80s R.E.M.-style ditties here, like "I'll Come" and "When's the Last Time," and the failed new-wave of "Sonny the Monster" might be the funniest thing he's ever tossed out there. By "Bruce Smitty Smith," that makes it even better. And then you're like, "For fuck's sake, a song called 'Joe,' that's gonna be some puked-out drunk-strumming" and it turns out to be a really pretty little keeper, and that happens like a dozen times on this disc alone.

Though, okay, "Psychlophobia" just exists to eat a title that wasn't worth a real song.

[Andrew_TSKS]

"Suitcase 3" has 10 discs? Good lord.

[auto-da-fey]

nah, it just picks up where 2 left off, with disc 9 -- 4 more here altogether. Now I'm 3/4 through it; more hilarity on disc 9 with "The Annex" ("Now I'm turning yellow!"). I love the 'workprint' versions of later-developed songs that pop up on the Suitcases--always fascinating to see what Pollard salvaged or tweaked, like the proto-"Closer You Are" "Coastal Town," where instead of driving himself to the lookout rock, it's the barbershop.

[Andrew_TSKS]

Oh, OK, so he's numbered all the discs from each release consecutively, kinda like how Billy Idol's second album had sides 3 and 4, and his third album had sides 5 and 6? That's interesting.

[sashwap]

more hilarity on disc 9 with "The Annex" ("Now I'm turning yellow!").

thinking of making a halloween mix just so i can include this song

[davy]

Oh, OK, so he's numbered all the discs from each release consecutively, kinda like how Billy Idol's second album had sides 3 and 4, and his third album had sides 5 and 6? That's interesting.

Never knew that. Interesting concept.

[Ignatius]

Seems to make more sense for the Bob Pollard stuff than Billy Idol, since each set is a continuation of the one big thing. Given the amount of stuff, it seems less a pain in the ass to say disc x rather than Vol. X, Disc Y. Whereas albums (should, generally) have titles/integrity.