When I Saw You There I Saw The Best Part of Me Was Yourself

As a true Official Iron Man, I would, of course consider Robert Pollard the greatest songwriter ever. Beyond that, I would say the other contributing member of GbV and father of their lo-fi sound Tobin Sprout is the second. Anyone who has fairly listened to their records Propeller through Under The Bushes Under The Stars need not question why. After all where would those albums be if not for classics like "Ester's Day," "A Good Flying Bird," "Little Whirl," "14 Cheerleader Coldfront," or "To Remake the Young Flyer" Slightly less deserving as the greatest records of all time, that's where. Well, here's an entire album of that kind of thing.

This album, release concurrently with Pollard's Not In My Air Force, the initial reaction to Sprout's now out-of-print album was more favorable than Pollard's unexpectedly experimental piece. This one fits in noticeably more with the prior three GbV releases than that album does. In fact, one of the most recent album's standout tracks, "It's Like Soul Man" is re-recorded here - actually with a more clean and professional recording. Luckily it's not even the best song as "My Beloved Martha" and "E's Navy Blue" manage to outdo that GbV masterpiece. that is not to say they are the only two. Really this album is as solid as most of GbV's LPs and to be frank, maybe even better than average. It is the perfect for anyone who ever wished for just a bit more of "You're Not An Airplane."


Tobin Sprout - Carnival Boy (1996)

She Wants Me To Come, But I'm Never Going There

Busy moving today, so no "full" update, however, this must be seen.

Selling Out Never Sounded So Good!

...but that is to admit that this album actually is a sell-out. Robert Pollards collaboration with Ric Ocasek actually works. Yeah, it's a more over-the-top sound than ever before - but GbV was always sort of over-the-top, right?

It's cleaner and there's a little more multi-tracking than usual, and a lot more keyboards, but it succeeds. Some may complain about how the band did not really do anything new, but who cares? It's Guided by Voices, arguably at their peak. I can see how it may have been off-putting in 1999, but knowing their improved-quality records of the present decade it does not seem out of place. Additionally, this album is the first of the true new loose incarnation of the lineup after the "Guided by Verde" era. In every way, really the band is not waning, despite some filler tracks. The big sound of "Teenage FBI," "Things I Will Keep," and "Wrecking Now" are some of their best songs. With 16 tracks there is no shortage of classics - even the much maligned "Hold On Hope," which was featured on Scrubs (not just any episode, but one featuring Brendan Fraser) is a great one despite what may be said in Hunting Accidents. The album also includes many songs on die-hard Official Iron Man Stephen Soderbergh's top tracks. Ocasek's production really lends to what could be added to GbV's sound and a lot of it reccurs in subsequent albums and Pollard's better solo work.

Bottom line: Despite what you may have heard about this record, it is great, and I think, perhaps a decent starting point for Guided By Voices.


Guided by Voices - Do The Collapse (1999)

Be Thankful Every Day

We all know that Robert Pollard is the god of Rock 'n' Roll. No person has understood what it's all about and is the second most prolific songwriter in the genre after R. Stevie Moore. Admittedly, he has not lived up to the work he has done with GbV as a solo artist, but this record is the closest he has come to it. That's a lot to say considering this is a double LP (one CD, but whatever, dead format.). Also, this is the first thing he put out after the demise of the greatest band of all time.

Synths are more prevalent than on any GbV release making his New Wave/postpunk and prog influences more apparent than ever. The lyrics never falter and stand up to the stuff he was writing even on Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes. The biggest difference is the song lengths. There is nothing like "Cigarette Tricks" on here with no song clocking in at under one minute. More epics. It is clear that Pollard's songwriter has gotten to the transcendent level here. He is re-inventing song structure rather than simply mastering it. He produces swirling arrangements that slowly build and build while going through complex changes, ultimately building to an orgasmic peak. This kind of structure is possible only with the unworldly understand of rock music that Pollard has. What comes to mind is Built to Spill's Keep It Like A Secret which showed that you could be epic in a mere four minutes. Pollard can get a bona fide epic into a mere 2 1/2 minutes. Any GbV fan would know he is capable of that and here it is. The best tracks are "Dancing Girls and Dancing Men." "U.S. Mustard Company," and "Light Show," but let's be serious here, this is Bob Pollard.

I think comedic genius and former member of Superchunk Jon Wurster plays on this, but I am not sure.

For strong lions only.


Robert Pollard - From a Compound Eye (2006)

Here's some pics I took when I saw Bob with Boston Spaceships here (in Boston) at the Paradise Rock Club this fall with my buds Alex Halatsis and Brock Ginther. Needless to say that was a great show. I still have the empty bottle of Miller Lite that Pollard handed me during the all-GbV encore. I also got a swig or two of his tequila.:


Bob in top form


The Keene Brothers as they are known.

I have more, but why overload? That night Pollard put it all best when he said, "This is how you have a great rock band - you gotta be drunk and tight! It's really hard. Drunk and tight. Now I'm not advocating the abuse of alcohol...

...but yes I am!"

The Strokes

In many ways, I think the Strokes has been one of the most controversial groups of recent times. Personally, I think they are also one of the best, at least to have emerged within the decade. The Strokes is also one of the few artists I would even compare to Guided by Voices, though they do not even approach that level of greatness. The group does invited this upon themselves, for better or worse by thanking Pollard and company in the liner notes of Is This It and sharing the screen in this fantastic video:



When I make this comparison I often get a strong negative response, even from people who do not have nearly as strong an affinity for Guided by Voices. While the personality of the Strokes differs from Guided by Voices, both bands have the same kind of honesty and genuine love and knowledge of rock music. Most prominently, is the lack of pretension, a statement that I am aware begs for trouble. First, the Strokes are accused to being pretentious, but this is of course, coming from people that seem to forget that New York City breeds arrogance, especially coupled with affluence and youth. Naturally, that attitude is there, but no more than should be assumed under these circumstances. Being older Midwestern drunks GbV gets these accusations more from their music which is often inaccessible. In reality, any close listen to either group will prove that both artists create their music out of a sincere love of the best rock music that has been made since the birth of the genre - whether inaccessible, pretensions, mainstream, artistic, or superficial. Both groups serve as the ultimate culmination of the quality that has been collecting over the years.

When the Strokes were still merely gaining a buzz almost seven years ago accusations of the band being a group of Velvet Underground impersonators circulated even more than fashionable photos of the group. However, when Is This It was finally released the comparison hardly came to mind, at least not any more than artists who had already been regarded as classic like the Raincoats or Talking Heads. What I did hear was everything I liked - traces of Television, the Stooges (to whom my guitar teacher immediately compared after seeing the "Last Nite" video"), and even some of the better indie rock of the time. That record, which I truly believe will stand as the only obvious classic rock of the decade thus far, represents everything great about rock and roll as of 2001 and emits the band's personality to a degree that is almost never heard anymore.

This is not the last you will read of my affinity for the Strokes.