GBV OCD

[edison]

So what's everyone's take on the new album? Fits the bill very nicely as far as I'm concerned - it's not top level GBV but I wasn't expecting that. "The Unsinkable Fats Domino" is probably my favorite song of the bunch.

[edison]

On a related note, I have just remembered the existence of "Not Behind The Fighter Jet", so I am now going to play that fifteen times in a row!

[edison]

And, a few hours later, after listening to random GBV/Pollard stuff on Spotify, I discovered "Pop Zeus". And have listened to it six times today.

[sashwap]

And, a few hours later, after listening to random GBV/Pollard stuff on Spotify, I discovered "Pop Zeus". And have listened to it six times today.

pop zeus! that song kills me. i still consider myself lucky for getting to see it live one time. that whole speak kindly album is top-tier.

i'm really happy with the new album. it's just great. and i agree with you -- it's not bee thousand, but why would one expect that, or even want that? it's a new era of GBV! pretty exciting.

[auto-da-fey]

{wrote this yesterday but couldn't post because my internet died; clearly sashwap and I think alike; also I have not forgotten that I owe sashwap a DVD, I just don't get to the post office too often. it's still coming though!}

I wasn't able to pre-order because I don't really have a stable mailing address, so I'm stuck waiting for the street date in a few weeks.

Hell yes to "Pop Zeus" though. That whole Pollard/Gillard album is pretty wonderful, certainly a highlight of the early Fading Captain series.

I recently realized that several of my GBV albums had disappeared, either in moves or the mail. Mostly the late albums--Do the Collapse, Earthquake Glue, Isolation Drills--but most heartbreaking, the Vampire on Titus/Propeller double-album that was my first GBV purchase in 1994. Box is MIA too, also sad because that was like half a week's wages at my high school fast food job.
I could just buy them all back online pretty effortlessly, but instead I've been scouring the local bins. Scored DtC today, looking forward to popping it on for a victory spin.

[auto-da-fey]

oh, also, as a postscript to that:

so, Do the Collapse did not live up to my memories of it; given that it isn't with me in Philly, I presumably haven't actually played it since leaving L.A. in 2008. it's an anomalous album for me in many ways; I was obsessed with GBV in the mid-90s, but then lost interest a bit after Mag Earwhig and only returned to the fold with Universal Truths and Cycles several years later, meaning I didn't get Collapse or Isolation Drills upon their release. perhaps because of that, or perhaps because they're such weirdly polished/radio-ready albums, they've always occupied a separate little corner in my personal GBV imaginary. When I finally got to DtC, I think I overreacted to the widespread dismissal of it by valuing it a bit too highly; I still think it's underrated and over-reviled, but man does it have a lot of turgid chugging nothingness filling it out.

I do love "Hold on Hope" though, I just can't help it.

[auto-da-fey]

also, my brother gave me Moses on a Snail on vinyl for Christmas, which was very thoughtful if also not terribly necessary.

for whatever reason, while my family was all together for the holiday my mother dug out old home movies from 20 years ago where my uncle took us to his military base and let us drive a tank around. I must have said "Robert Pollard has a song called 'I Drove a Tank'!" five times before someone finally threw something at me.

[edison]

oh, also, as a postscript to that:

so, Do the Collapse did not live up to my memories of it; given that it isn't with me in Philly, I presumably haven't actually played it since leaving L.A. in 2008. it's an anomalous album for me in many ways; I was obsessed with GBV in the mid-90s, but then lost interest a bit after Mag Earwhig and only returned to the fold with Universal Truths and Cycles several years later, meaning I didn't get Collapse or Isolation Drills upon their release. perhaps because of that, or perhaps because they're such weirdly polished/radio-ready albums, they've always occupied a separate little corner in my personal GBV imaginary. When I finally got to DtC, I think I overreacted to the widespread dismissal of it by valuing it a bit too highly; I still think it's underrated and over-reviled, but man does it have a lot of turgid chugging nothingness filling it out.

I do love "Hold on Hope" though, I just can't help it.

Funny you should discuss that album; I've been binging on GBV/Pollard stuff since yesterday and took advantage of Spotify to finally hear Do The Collapse, a record I've seen described as shit many times. I was very pleasantly surprised (at least "Teenage FBI", "Hold on Hope" and "Surgical Focus" are pretty great), to the extent that I ordered a cheap copy of it (along with Isolation Drills, which I'm also not familiar with) today.

[narlus]

Isolation Drills is a million times better than DtC.

[sashwap]

oh, also, as a postscript to that:

so, Do the Collapse did not live up to my memories of it; given that it isn't with me in Philly, I presumably haven't actually played it since leaving L.A. in 2008. it's an anomalous album for me in many ways; I was obsessed with GBV in the mid-90s, but then lost interest a bit after Mag Earwhig and only returned to the fold with Universal Truths and Cycles several years later, meaning I didn't get Collapse or Isolation Drills upon their release. perhaps because of that, or perhaps because they're such weirdly polished/radio-ready albums, they've always occupied a separate little corner in my personal GBV imaginary. When I finally got to DtC, I think I overreacted to the widespread dismissal of it by valuing it a bit too highly; I still think it's underrated and over-reviled, but man does it have a lot of turgid chugging nothingness filling it out.

I do love "Hold on Hope" though, I just can't help it.

Funny you should discuss that album; I've been binging on GBV/Pollard stuff since yesterday and took advantage of Spotify to finally hear Do The Collapse, a record I've seen described as shit many times. I was very pleasantly surprised (at least "Teenage FBI", "Hold on Hope" and "Surgical Focus" are pretty great), to the extent that I ordered a cheap copy of it (along with Isolation Drills, which I'm also not familiar with) today.

i listened to do the collapse yesterday too! not only that, but i was blasting it was louder than my normal comfortable level. it's a weird one. i love that even though pollard can write crazy great songs that should have universal appeal ("teenage FBI," "surgical focus," "dragons awake!," "much better mr. buckles"), he's incapable of making records -- be they lo-fi or hi-fi -- that aren't full of oddities that would be baffling or off-putting to most of the mainstream audience they were courting. in the case of DTC, the oddness comes in the form of those turgid dirges. but what's really frustrating is that they had the songs for a much-better album; i urge those of you exploring this era of GBV for the first time to be sure to pick up the hold on hope EP. it is brimming with exactly the kind of hits you want to hear sprinkled throughout DTC.

i agree that isolation drills is much better, but the production on do the collapse is more colorful. it does SOUND great.

[auto-da-fey]

Isolation Drills is a million times better than DtC.

wouldn't go that far, but superior, definitely. "Glad Girls" is one of those songs where you can't help assuming that if Bob were a few decades younger and a bit hotter, it would have gone mega. "Come on Baby Grace" is probably the most recent of these--tell me that song should not be blaring from car radios everywhere!

in the case of DTC, the oddness comes in the form of those turgid dirges. but what's really frustrating is that they had the songs for a much-better album; i urge those of you exploring this era of GBV for the first time to be sure to pick up the hold on hope EP. it is brimming with exactly the kind of hits you want to hear sprinkled throughout DTC.

oh man, seconded--"Fly into Ashes" is one of those dozens of why-is-this-buried-as-a-b-side tunes that dot the GBV landscape and make it such a pleasure to dig through the dregs.

[sashwap]

oh man, seconded--"Fly into Ashes" is one of those dozens of why-is-this-buried-as-a-b-side tunes that dot the GBV landscape and make it such a pleasure to dig through the dregs.

truly. i was gonna single that one out too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kjfVD9fx0Q

[auto-da-fey]

to the best of my knowledge, my near-incessant proselytizing over the past 15 has converted basically no one to the GBV cause (my lady--and most others who preceded her--has developed a sort of "yeah, they're pretty good" attitude that I think she enjoys a bit too much whenever I wax fanboyish over how, say, the bass solo on "Echos Myron" is a transcendent rock moment).

but I finally got someone roped into the fold--M's housemate. He's kind of a proggy guy, but so is Pollard at times, and he's fallen pretty hard. his roommate is right over hers, and this moment I was awoken by him loudly playing "14 Cheerleader Coldfront." I couldn't be too angry--it was 10am. Though once "Bulldog Skin" came on and he--clearly thinking himself alone in the house--began shouting along with it despite knowing only a fraction of the words, it was time to depart for a coffeeshop.

also, still haven't heard the new one, but I was playing the "Silk Rotor" 7" yesterday, and man, I love those b-sides.

[sashwap]

can't wait to hear your take on the new GBV, whit.

[edison]

I worry that I might be becoming too complacent, but with five or six more listens to Do The Collapse under my belt, I still can't find a track I actively dislike or even feel an urge to skip. I'd still agree that Isolation Drills is the best of the two ("Twilight Campfighter" is my current favorite), but I'm really liking both.

The new one, though, has its fair share of skip-worthy tracks, and I think a little less about it since binging on older GBV stuff, but it's still a pretty decent effort, and I too am looking forward to adf's take on it.

[edison]

Also, thanks for the pointer to the Hold on Hope EP - I'll make sure to investigate that (have already listened once, but not really enough for it to make any kind of impression)

[auto-da-fey]

i mean, let's face it, my response is 99.999% sure to basically reduce to "luv this luv this luv this, well there's some filler but still, luv this."

which is fine by me, we've all got our soft spots.

[edison]

Regarding Let's Go Eat The Factory, one of the reasons I'm liking it a little bit less now is that after ten listens or so I started getting really annoyed by "Doughnut For A Snowman", which I found to be on the right side of the pleasantly whimsical/corny divide initially, until one day I didn't. And it's a bit unconvenient to have to skip the third track of a short album. I'm sure I'll get over it though!

I was toying with the idea of purchasing the "Electrifying Conclusion" DVD; would that be a good idea?

[Black Amnesia of Heaven]

oooooohhhhhhh YEAHHHHHHHH I'M GOING TO DRIVE MY CAR

[davy]

Let's Go Eat the Factory, for whatever musical charms it may possess, has some truly awful cover art.

[edison]

It's unremarkable, certainly, but I don't know about awful. Plus, the inside artwork and the back cover are nice enough.

[davy]

I can't ever tell if I'm looking at an actual cover or some sort of digital glitch.

[sashwap]

I can't ever tell if I'm looking at an actual cover or some sort of digital glitch.

totally, it's a completely baffling image to look at.

that's kinda why i like it so much... though it had to grow on me a bit. i dunno, it's all part of what makes GBV so special, that pollard has no qualms with releasing a highly anticipated "comeback" album that looks and sounds like shit (but is pretty brilliant).

[auto-da-fey]

dozens and dozens of listens in, I am loving Let's Go Eat the Factory. that said, I keep feeling ambivalence when friends of the oh-yeah-GBV-they're-cool camp ask about it, because I don't want to get their hopes up. it doesn't have the soaring transcendance of Bee Thousand/Alien Lanes, nor the polished pop sheen of "Glad Girls"/"Teenage FBI"/whatever spare late-GBV tracks non-obsessives might be familiar with.

what it sounds like to me--and why I love it--is some drunk middle-aged dudes bashing out some tunes in their basements and garages. which is funny, because most indications suggest it was anything but so casual or saturated with camaraderie, but it does sound that way--not a band hungry for a comeback, but a band comfortable in its own pocket. the catalog reference point I'd choose is Tonics and Twisted Chasers--wonderful, messy, and not terribly concerned with converting the nonbelievers. 

[auto-da-fey]

although I don't know if Tobin Sprout got down with the Jesusman or what, but his lyrics are a little treacly and "spiritual" here in a way I don't associate with his past work. which is fine if it's his thing; really, his songs are carried along by their own fragile loveliness anyway, and I doubt many people linger on what he's saying.