GBV OCD

[sashwap]

it basically reminds me of that 2004ish Fading Captain low point

are you talking about fiction man? oh man, that's one of my favorites!! i like moses but not nearly as much as elephant jokes and we all got out of the army. those two are post-GBV high-water marks for me, as far as his robert pollard albums go.

this new Boston Spaceships though, holy shit! people who long for a return to mid-90s GBV hooks should seek this out, pronto. it cheered me up like nothing else could when I woke up tired and hungry in Newark today with no good food or coffee in miles. "The British and the French" cracks me the hell up, and I'm not even sure it's supposed to be funny.

yes yes, cubehouse is fantastic. i cannot stop playing "john the dwarf wants to become an angel," among others.

[auto-da-fey]

are you talking about fiction man? oh man, that's one of my favorites!!

hmmm . . . scanning over the Fading Captain series, I guess more precisely I meant the 2002ish period--second Airport 5, Hazzard Hotrods, Go Back Snowball, Prince Whippet, the ascent of the Circus Devils to a place of centrality in Pollard Country . . . none of them terrible, but a relative low point, IMHO.

I do like Fiction Man, but not enough to rank it very high in the catalog.

[MincerJay]

A friend of mine can't  stand anything Pollard related, but loves that one Go Back Snowball record. He isn't a fan of Superchunk / Portastatic either, so that's not the reason. Perplexing.

I guess I'll have to get the new Spaceships album soon! I'll either buy it to celebrate getting my new job, or to console myself for not getting my new job. Both options have their merits!

Also, on a tangentially related note, would anyone in this thread be interested in hearing excerpts of the Guided by Voices tribute album I recorded when I was 16 and learning guitar? Because they're horrible!

[Maaik]

I would love to hear that stuff.

I've never gotten into GBV, not because I don't like 'em, but my attention has been elsewhere.  But recently a friend of mine put "Motor Away" on a mix for me and man.  Good stuff.

[MincerJay]

http://www.mediafire.com/?sbaovofdk5chr2j

A few songs from it! Tracklist:

1. Club Molluska
2. Choking Tara
3. Dusted
4. Johnny Appleseed
5. Peephole

I was absolutely terrified of trying to play any of the 'hits' at the time (I'd only been guitar-ing for a few months), so I just picked some of my favorite deep cuts. I convinced my uncle to let me use his home studio and equipment, despite having no idea how to work most of the stuff (on some songs I would seriously just pick a few pedals and turn the knobs all the way up). This was also the first time I had ever tried to sing, so I'm pretty all over the place (not that I've, erm, improved in that regard)!

Be sure to stick around for the 'solo' at the end of dusted, and the weird tape collage stuff on Johnny Appleseed!

...enjoy?

[narlus]

The rock show has been resurrected, w/ the first night in Dallas.

can't wait for Vegas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27X7LA5UHTo&feature=player_embedded

[auto-da-fey]

yessssss. I am psyched for the Philly show; I just moved two blocks away from the venue, so now I can attend properly inebriated and still make it home.


also, totally dig the covers, MincerJay--"Choking Tara" is a great pick, and nicely done.

[auto-da-fey]

I would love to hear that stuff.

I've never gotten into GBV, not because I don't like 'em, but my attention has been elsewhere.  But recently a friend of mine put "Motor Away" on a mix for me and man.  Good stuff.

Myke, if you're interested, this link looks to still be live--I realize I've never followed through on the 4-disc compilation promised on the first page of this thread, and imaginary-disc-1 would be the best place to start, but I will still rep for this as being on par with the best music in the history of indie rock:

okay, Vol. 2 here.

2 caveats: 1. these are mostly wma files, which is kind of annoying.  2. I guess I forgot to upload "Wrecking Now" when I added these to my computer and burned them onto a disc last year (very few actual GBV albums with me in Philly, alas), so that's MIA.

otherwise, hope folks enjoy, and let me know if I've botched the drop.io again.

PICTURE THEM BIG TIME, AKA JUMP OFF ‘CAUSE NOBODY CARES: THE STUDIO YEARS

Teenage FBI               (Do the Collapse, 1999)
Everywhere with Helicopter      (Universal Truths and Cycles, 2002)
I am a Tree               (Mag Earwhig!, 1997)
Glad Girls               (Isolation Drills, 2001)
Official Ironman Rally Song         (Under the Bushes, Under the Stars, 1996)
Surgical Focus               (Do the Collapse, 1999)
Cheyenne               (Universal Truths and Cycles, 2002)
Hold on Hope               (Do the Collapse, 1999)
Chasing Heather Crazy         (Isolation Drills, 2001)
Fly into Ashes               (Hold on Hope EP, 2000)
Portable Men’s Society         (Mag Earwhig!, 1997)
Wrecking Now                             (Do the Collapse, 1999)
Best of Jill Hives            (Earthquake Glue, 2003)
Atom Eyes (live)            (Peel session, 1996)
Acorns & Orioles            (Under the Bushes, Under the Stars, 1996)
Choking Tara               (Mag Earwhig!, 1997)
Girls of Wild Strawberries         (Half Smiles of the Decomposed, 2004)
Underwater Explosions         (Under the Bushes, Under the Stars, 1996)
Fair Touching               (Isolation Drills, 2001)
Drag Days                                        (Under the Bushes, Under the Stars, 1996)
My Kind of Soldier            (Earthquake Glue, 2003)
Things I Will Keep            (Do the Collapse, 1999)
Little Lines               (Mag Earwhig!, 1997)
Jane of the Waking Universe            (Mag Earwhig!, 1997)
Running Off with the Fun City Girls      (Hardcore UFOs, 1998)
It’s Like Soul Man            (Under the Bushes, Under the Stars, 1996)
Now to War               (Mag Earwhig!, 1997)
Huffman Prairie Flying Field         (Half Smiles of the Decomposed, 2004)

edit: that's "Helicopter," singular.

[MincerJay]

also, totally dig the covers, MincerJay--"Choking Tara" is a great pick, and nicely done.

Thanks! It's hard for me to listen to 'em nine years later (not one guitar in tune!), but it was a blast at the time. I sent copies to Bob and Tobin at the time (yeah, I know), and I actually got a really nice letter back from Mr. Sprout!

As it turns out, 'Scissors' is also one of his favorite songs that he ever wrote.

[auto-da-fey]

so I'll be spending the next hour or so making a recent-GBV-related mix CD for a friend whose birthday is today, if anyone has any suggestions. late notice, I know, and I'm not going for comprehensive perfection, just here's-some-cool-shit-you-may-have-missed-since-your-years-as-a-college-DJ (and I think I left my copies of the Merge albums in Arizona, so that's a big omission). I'm also giving her a Power Station 7" because she's a big Duran Duran fan, so maybe some of the Suitcase 3 new-wavish stuff might fit well.

oh, and I just got Tobin Sprout's Popstram 7" off ebay; good stuff, if still short of revelatory (which, to be fair, is never what he's aimed for).

[sashwap]

so I'll be spending the next hour or so making a recent-GBV-related mix CD for a friend whose birthday is today, if anyone has any suggestions. late notice, I know, and I'm not going for comprehensive perfection, just here's-some-cool-shit-you-may-have-missed-since-your-years-as-a-college-DJ (and I think I left my copies of the Merge albums in Arizona, so that's a big omission). I'm also giving her a Power Station 7" because she's a big Duran Duran fan, so maybe some of the Suitcase 3 new-wavish stuff might fit well.

hope "i'll take the cure" made the cut!

[auto-da-fey]

aw man, that was on my list, and then I don't think it made it on, alas (I wound up with 2 discs but had only planned on one, so I must have failed to upload it while I was going through things). I still need to get a track listing to my friend, so I'll post it here for the sheer hell of it--though it's a little odd, idiosyncratic, and painfully incomplete (it also rocks, to be sure).

[elpollodiablo]

I was looking for Post Blowfish on YouTube this morning, and found some casual misogyny from Pollard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTOXNZdWYRo

The reactions to his little digression there are hilarious.

[elpollodiablo]

I mean, here I didn't even know MPLS had especially good pussy

[auto-da-fey]

that's Mitch Mitchell--exact same spiel he gave in Philly, actually, although it was a little more vulgar out east. dude likes his pussy, apparently; kinda curious how that line works out for him. Bob comes out at the 4-minute mark for "Watch Me Jumpstart."

not that Bob is a paragon of feminist sensitivity; doesn't one of the drunken-banter Asshole LPs have him babbling about wanting to fuck Liz Phair? also, see "Soggy Beavers," etc.

[auto-da-fey]

also, MPLS is a sexy city, most definitely.

[elpollodiablo]

I don't remember it being especially sexy, but then again it was like 103F

[Captain]

I once heard on the radio that Milwaukee is the sexiest city.  #2 was Beijing, #3 was Miami. 

So I guess my point is: Northern Midwest America is a pretty sexy place to be.

[auto-da-fey]

Miami would not be the third sexiest city in Utah.

Milwaukee, on the other hand, has Jeb and the Violent Femmes, so I can see it.

My take on MPLS is skewed by the fact that I had one of, if not the, most surreally impulsive sexual encounters of my life there this past summer, and also by the fact of, Prince.

but really the sexiest city is wherever Mitch Mitchell rests his head on any given night.

[auto-da-fey]

here are the track listings for the birthday mix I made my friend:

DRINKING THROUGH THE OBAMA ERA: POST-GBV TREASURES

Stiff Me   2:17   Robert Pollard   Elephant Jokes
The Blondes   4:22   Robert Pollard   Robert Pollard Is Off To Business
Come On Baby Grace   2:34   Boston Spaceships   Our Cubehouse Still Rocks
Bombadine   2:07   Boston Spaceships   Our Cubehouse Still Rocks
When a Man Walks Away   1:49   Robert Pollard   Elephant Jokes
Pretty         2:48   Tobin Sprout   The Bluebirds of Happiness . . .    
Accident Hero   1:38   Robert Pollard   Elephant Jokes
Radical Amazement   3:20   Boston Spaceships   Zero to 99
Meddle   2:59   Boston Spaceships   Zero to 99
Track Star   3:08   Boston Spaceships   Our Cubehouse Still Rocks
Children Come On   1:28   Robert Pollard   Crickets [Disc 2]
Fly Away (Terry Sez)   2:46   Boston Spaceships   Our Cubehouse Still Rocks
Soggy Beavers   1:34   Boston Spaceships   Brown Submarine
Imaginary Queen Ann   2:20   Robert Pollard   The Crawling Distance
Dorothy's A Planet   2:21   Boston Spaceships   Planets Are Blasted
Every Moment Flame On   2:40   Circus Devils   Gringo
Arrows And Baloons   2:24   Robert Pollard   Moses On A Snail
The British And The French   1:45   Boston Spaceships   Our Cubehouse Still Rocks
Each Is Good In His Own House   3:54   Robert Pollard   Moses On A Snail
How Many Stations   2:26   Robert Pollard   We All Got Out of the Army
Beaten By The Target   3:16   The Moping Swans   Crickets [Disc 1]
Stifled Man Casino   3:21   Airport 5   Crickets [Disc 1]
Zoom (It Happens All Over The World)   2:24   Robert Pollard Crickets [Disc 2]

NEVER ENOUGH BOB: PARADE OF POLLARDANIA, PART 2

Gratification To Concrete   Robert Pollard   Robert Pollard Is Off To Business
How Wrong You Are   Boston Spaceships   Zero to 99
(All You Need) To Know   Robert Pollard   Elephant Jokes
Go For The Exit   Boston Spaceships   Brown Submarine
Question Girl All Right   Boston Spaceships   Zero to 99
John The Dwarf Wants To Become An Angel   Boston Spaceships   Our Cubehouse Still Rocks
Catherine From Mid October   Boston Spaceships   Planets Are Blasted
Heavy Crown   Boston Spaceships   Planets Are Blasted
It's News   Robert Pollard   Moses On A Snail
Let It Rest for a Little While   Boston Spaceships   Zero to 99
It's A Pleasure Being You   Robert Pollard   Moses On A Snail
Fly Into Ashes   Guided By Voices   Hardcore UFOs
Harboring Exiles [Outtake]   Guided By Voices   Hardcore UFOs
Sensational Gravity Boy   Freedom Cruise   Crickets [Disc 1]
7 Strokes To Heaven's Edge [Outtake]   Guided By Voices   Hardcore UFOs
Choking Tara [Demo Version]   Guided By Voices   Hardcore UFOs
I'll Come (And When it Does It's Mine)   The Sums   I Can't Think...Yeah (Suitcase [Disc 10]
Joe   Gel Clay   I Can't Think...Yeah (Suitcase [Disc 10]
GBV, Power of Suck tracks x 3 (can’t remember the order—Pantherz, I am Decided, Color of My Blade?)

got a little lazy, especially at the end, but the theme was just "listen to all this cool shit!"   

[auto-da-fey]

also, have been seriously enjoying having a working record player again--just played the new Lifefguards 7", which if not one for the ages, certainly whets my appetite for the forthcoming album.

Tobin Sprout's 2001 "Let Go of My Beautiful Balloon" b/w "Shirley the Rainbow," however, is absolutely lovely and one of my favorite things he's done, so that's a joy.

in a while, I'm going to clean up my apartment to the strains of Pollard's Asshole 2 LP, which I bought when it came out (3 years ago?) and have yet to hear. can't wait . . .

[elpollodiablo]

Not going to get to see GBV on NYE after all

[auto-da-fey]

the best song ever, though, is the b-side "rare hazel japan." sweet merciful crap, does it rule. oh boy.

I finally got the "Silk Rotor" 7" and heard this; agreed that it's a gem of a b-side, but I actually like the other b-side more--"Fear of Heat" has that brooding, ominous portable-men's-society vibe that just avoids formlessness enough to miss being a mid-period Circus Devils song, and there's something about the way Pollard delivers the line "and I don't think the cat's alive" that I just can't shake.

I've been picking up a fair amount of vinyl GBV, and just got the 1997 split 7" with Cobra Verde, which isn't great, but I never got much into CV, so the fact that they were absorbed into GBV at this point doesn't help.

also scored a double-12" copy of the live bootleg Crying Your Knife away and the entire Happy Jack Pollard solo 7" series--which I can't say looks incredible, but must have some hidden greatness somewhere.

[Andrew_TSKS]

Really digging that new Lifeguards song, "Paradise Is Not So Bad." Have you heard it yet, Whit?

[MincerJay]

Just picked up 'Box' on vinyl : Devil Between my Toes - Propeller.

Psyched