Why is Robert Pollard the most underrated songwritter ever?

Sheer # of amazing amazing 60's-esque Melodies

He's the king of that.

Not one of which could have been a hit in the actual '60s

-- drew (lichte_...), August 12th, 2004 12:19 AM.

1) Brian Wilson
2) Carole King/David Goffin
3) Lennon-McCartney
4) Holland-Dozier-Holland
5) Gene Clark
6) Marissa Marchant
6) Those other guys

Songwriters more unduly hated on by anti-rockist kneejerkers at ILM than Bob Pollard:

1) ????

A lot of his output (especially his solo output) ain't so hot because of the fact that he apparently thinks every 57 second half-idea he comes up with on the shitter is an awesome song, but this is not so.

People based their opinions of a songwriter on their entire output, and with Pollard, you have some great stuff lost in the brush of a lot of not-so-great stuff.

I don't get why people hold it against him that he's too prolific. And it makes it all the more absurd that people who think he only wrote a few good songs can explain it through that. As if he's like some monkey banging away at a typewriter who types long enough to eventually produce Shakespeare.

Funny this thread should come up since I hadn't listened to Bee Thousand in about five years. Then today I inexplicably got "Echos Myron" stuck in my head to the point where i had to pull out the LP and give it a listen again. Such a great song. Part of him being underrated as a songwriter is that he's actually a gifted lyricist yet people tend to discount his lyrics as abstract nonsense.

But hey, if you went to a show once and were skeeved by the very devoted, very male crowd, or if you went to the discography and found it inpenetrable and wanted an excuse not to be bothered, or need someone to blame for all the lo-fi or lazy collage art he inspired...he's an easy target.

Time will win out, though, as it since has for the once critically reviled likes of Wordsworth, Led Zeppelin and Peter Falk. Pollard will be the ne plus ultra of ILM saintdom in about the year 2023.

You must be so. fucking. high.

Sean this is a project I would happily undertake...but would that require a separate up/download for each track, or is there a way to do it in one fell swoop?

That said, I think Michael's remark - "it's awfully strange to call Pollard a songwriter" - is OTM, and speaks to the thread-question (which also loaded the dice against itself so badly that you couldn't really expect much reasoned dialogue, I figure). Pollard's got this sixties-pastiche thing going that seems to me, after a short time, rather more like something of a nervous tic or reflexive habit than compositional choice. Now, one might say: "who cares if the aesthetic is intentional or accidental?" but with something as referential/reverential as Pollard's '60s jones it seems fair to ask: what's he trying to do? "Write good songs" seems a disingenuous response, there's too much going on in 'em to think of them as just "here's what I came up with!"

Full disclosure, I can get into a GBV song when I hear one but have never really been able to bring myself to care much otherwise.

Sheer # of amazing amazing 60's-esque Melodies

Greg Cartwright (Oblivians/Compulsive Gamblers/Reigning Sound) not only matches him but thoroughly beats him at it.

It seems if he’d presented his songs (they are songs!) in a single guise — a dozen albums produced by Jon Brion or whatever with I don’t know Ry fucking Cooder, he’d be getting enormous props around here. If anything, Pollard’s sin is probably so unabashedly loving rock music (!), which turns out to be just NOT COOL. A lot of people can’t stomach the references without the wink-wink or the angular haircut. But for Pollard the aesthetic is inextricable to “writing good songs.” He’s a naïf -- the leg kicks are no joke -- and when that sincerity touches some sing-along schmuck in a backwards cap it rubs people wrong, especially people who have slotted him “indie rock” (which, btw, he is CONSTANTLY apologizing for/denouncing…)

This just isn't true - I had a huge paragraph arguing with it, but what would be the point? I think people have honest aesthetic reasons for disliking GBV, you've got this demonstrably false notion that Pollard isn't mega-famous because the sneering literati wanna keep him down or something. It doesn't matter, at any rate, whether he denounces indie rock; so does every other indie rock luminary, it goes with the territory!

*,** The answer to both of these questions would, of course, be pretty simple: absurd productivity, unwillingness to leave Dayton, lack of a breakout "Float On"-like single, beer, the bad timing of the move to hi-fi production coinciding with a creative lull.

For the record, I thought "Teenage FBI" was going to be huge. The fact that this was not licensed to every teen-comedy soundtrack in 1999 is a spectacular marketing failure.

Because they are? If not, please prove otherwise.

most artists eke out one or two songs out of a career of approximately hundreds, he makes 10 incredible songs out of thousands. why do we hold someone in such high esteem if, mathematically speaking, his ratio for delivering the goods was so incredibly low?

furthermore, pollard had plenty of editors willing to assist him -- its a shame his stubborn attitude got in the way.

I'm going to open myself up to ridicule here, but I'd like to state that BP's new "Coast To Coast Carpet Of Love" is quite lovely indeed. I haven't picked up "Standard Gargoyle Delusions" yet, but I've been pleasantly surprised by how consistent he's been since climbing aboard the Merge train.

Okay, fire away!

i'm down w/guided by voices

neither of the 2 new ones are as good as "normal happiness" from last year or the takeovers' "bad football" from this year

"standard gargoyle decisions" has a fantastic album cover though

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51WXe9FjSrL._SS500_.jpg

and "customer's throat" is a great tune

I would just like to say that Pollard's last decade of work is WAY too Genesis-influenced to be called "straight-no-chaser indie rock." There is some serious ass chaser in it.

Has anyone heard the new single?It's fantastic.From his new album-"Robert Pollard is Off To Business".I believe that's the title.Anyway,great stuff as usual.

matthew smith from outrageous cherry writes better melodies and has a much higher hit rate

LOL at outrageous cherry.

And you know,I like outrageous cherry.Still,it's like comparing cherries and oranges.

what's to lol? they're a top band who has made a stack of great records

As has GBV/Pollard solo etc.I just think Outrageous Cherry doesn't have that distinct of a sound.Whatever influences Pollard might be mining at the moment he makes sure to infuse it with his own warped flavor.You can mistake O.C. for someone else.I think that would be more difficult with a good portion of the Pollard stuff.Plus-he wrote a song called "Kicker Of Elves".I mean come on.

look i like pollard but i don't agree with your take on OC. i'm willing to accept that as a heavily immersed fan i don't see the wood for the trees but that's not really here or there.

pollard's quirky titles have never really been a big part of his appeal to me, i don't particularly understand why people get so excited about them. sometimes they just let the lyrics down.

whats going on with Outrageous Cherry/Smith anyway?
it's been a while since their last record

i know that they changed rhythm sections again, i'm hanging for a newie but i think it's only been a bit over a year so there's still time

actually yeah it's more like 18 months now..

somehow it looks longer.
anyway, the last isuued Smith involved project is the last Monster Island record - children of mu

Yep.Still rules.

That new Boston Spaceships record is actually very good.Pollard's voice is rather high here somehow, and the sonwriting is constantly good

i thought his last few solo albums on matador were really, really crap. it would be nice to hear something good and new from him again

they were. but this is good.
dont expect anything new in terms of production/style, but at least the songwriting is better.(and at the worst, it's harmless)

When I first got into Pollard/GBV I bought Alien Lanes and From A Compound Eye((which was my fave album of 2006 next to Scott Walker's Drift))), one of my friends and a whole bunch of reviewers made me realise lots of people hate him for some reason.

I've been buying every new Pollard album since then and the occasional GBV and I dont really understand why people think he has gone downhill. I dont mind at all that he could have saved up his best songs to make fewer, better albums, I'm just amazed that anyone can make so much music that I never get bored of. The usual is 3-6 amazing songs are decent/good, but I've yet to find any of them shit. I'm not gonna be one of those guys that hails every track as genius, but I do think Pollard is a genius. I think it's crazy just how much is going on in each song and that I'm probably not even going to realise much about any of those songs.

I tend to like a lot of the songs that people hate. I thought the Silverfish Trivia EP was as good as Alien Lanes and "Cats Love A Parade" was incredible, lots of people hated it.
I was really impressed with "Waves" too, I hope that Pollard will explore ambient music or already has in a record I have yet to buy.

I've never got the chance to got to one of his concerts yet or meet another fan of his, so I dont really understand the hostility.

I will buy all his records if I can find them.

the way i always saw it was that the guy could have, i suppose, released a record every three years with ten great songs on it, but he just didn't want to. as with ANY songwriter, he's got songs that clearly aren't up to par with the best of his tunes (aside: people who worship the ground the guy walks on and think that >50% of his songs are great are really really nuts, and terribly deluded). the difference is, he decided to release just about every idea that he wrote down, which diluted a lot of his work and made many of his albums not work as a whole as much. but why is this a bad thing? sure, the records themselves aren't all classics (though there are two or three that are, imo), but there isn't really anyone with a legitimate opinion who thinks they all are. and i'm not really offended by it and don't see the practice of releasing two or three uneven records a year as cash-grabbing, because how many records has the guys sold combined? a million? less?
sorry this is so poorly written but i think my point is that he's not an album artist but rather someone whose entire body of work is available and you can pick which songs you like. if you can get over that, there's a LOT of really, really incredible songs (and hundreds of worthless ones).

Dude rules. He's rated accurately, which is to say- he's underrated. Have you guys heard the Cosmos record. With Richard Davies? Should be more discussion. It's really good.

haha, who's sock was this?

It belonged to Anthony Kiedis.

Haven't heard the Cosmos record yet, still catching up some of his other 2009 releases. This week I've been on a really big Circus Devils kick, particularly Sgt. Disco and Ataxia. I love the dark, creepy vibe that pervades many of these songs. There's also a much higher percentage of real hooks on these, as compared to the earlier Circus Devils albums, so maybe just a little "easier" to absorb. I got Gringo off iTunes the other night, but haven't spent any time with it yet.

Gringo kinda sucked, though I've got no real incentive to meet the guy halfway anymore - i'm fine w/ living with his 90s stuff forever

I long ago gave up on buying (or even listening) to the recs he made. The sheer volume just drove me away. But I do agree the guy writes some pretty good tunes. Sadly he isn't a very good editor.

Oh yeah, I won't argue about the editing thing... but I've discovered that even pulling out a record I'd dismissed years ago, some new gem shines through and I realize how truly great he can be.

No doubt. It's just becoming less and less worth it as his hit to miss ratio decreases with time

xpost I'm just too lazy to make it work, y'know, fuck that, I don't wanna weed through the mediocre songs. Thing is, that all his recs have gems, but I'm just not that big of a fangirl to put energy into it, y'know. Not even with my favourite band dEUS.

Oh, I understand completely. For the last, oh, three years now I've sworn I'm giving up on Pollard and at some point, when searching for something new to listen to, I shrug my shoulders and dive in.

I gave up following Pollard around 2000 but no doubt he's written gobs of great tunes since then. Is there any dedicated fan here willing to recommend a 2 or 3 disc compilation of his best bits from the 00s?

That would be a project I'd love to tackle, but two things holding me back:

1) Right smack in the middle of taking and studying for my ARE, not that much time to spare.
2) I'm sure I've only heard like 75% of what he's released this decade.

Maybe in the Spring, when I'm done testing, I'll follow through with it.

yeah, i've thought about putting together a Best-of the 2000s Pollard comp, but #2 is holding me back as well. And I've heard a lot of his albums!

Alright, we'll circle back in March. Maybe between the two of you you've listened to them all!

I am serious about tackling the project at some point, very much so. I just don't want to promise it right now when there's very little chance of it happening anytime soon.

"Haven't heard the Cosmos record yet"

disapointing record. i had some expectations cause it's the richard davies comeback after some time, but it's skipable stuff.

bob hasn't put out a record i really enjoy since the 2nd last GbV album. circus devils seem like some sort of bad joke. no intention of going near the cosmos record after hearing the reviews..

The Richard Davies songs from the short-lived Cardinal reunion are so staggeringly better than the Cosmos stuff that...it's just sad.

the cosmos album is one of my favorite albums of the year, and my favorite pollard album this year (though most of them have been good). it strikes me as a great piece of pretty, melodic surrealism. for some reason whenever pollard does one of these spacey-moody, low-key dreamy pop collaborations, it gets generally dismissed - like the airport 5 albums or the go back snowball album too, for example. The critical drubbing of the circus devils bugs me too - it's experimental horror-rock, don't expect it to sound like GBV.

I think the drubbing from Davies fans is justified...can't speak for the other side of the aisle.

So guys now that I'm laid off I'm going to start tackling that best of 00s Pollard comp.

do it! would love to hear the hits without the expense and effort involved in buying and plowing through a hundred records i don't really like. of course, a big part of the fun is deciding which ones are "hits"...

I look forward to your findings!

me too! I just got the new one in the mail (not out til March 2010 ...) 11th record since Summer of 2008! Ridiculous.

Can you include some Mist King Urth on there? I never did find that one.

Shit, see this is where I fail because Mist King Urth is one of the few I don't have! Also, I didn't realize that even cutting off at 2000, there are still FOUR GbV albums proper included!

I'd say keep it non-GbV.

That's the way I was leaning because it was going to be way too easy to fill up a big chunk of a disc from those four alone.

After poking around, it seems I do have some Mist King Urth tracks after all. Here's the starting list from which I'm going to pull. I know there are some gaps here, but I feel like between the Crickets comp and random other tracks I've acquired I can piece things in well enough. Seeing these gaps makes me feel like a Pollard slacker though!

Motel of Fools Robert Pollard
Fiction Man Robert Pollard
From A Compound Eye Robert Pollard
Normal Happiness Robert Pollard
Standard Gargoyle Decisions Robert Pollard
Coast to Coast Carpet of Love Robert Pollard
Superman Was a Rocker Robert Pollard
Robert Pollard is Off to Business Robert Pollard
The Crawling Distance Robert Pollard
Elephant Jokes Robert Pollard
Zoom Robert Pollard
Silverfish Trivia Robert Pollard
Ringworm Interiors Circus Devils
Pinball Mars Circus Devils
Sgt. Disco Circus Devils
Ataxia Circus Devils
Gringo Circus Devils
Brown Submarine Boston Spaceships
Headache Revolution Boston Spaceships
The Planets Are Blasted Boston Spaceships
Zero to 99 Boston Spaceships
Life Starts Here Airport 5
Jar of Jam Ton of Bricks Cosmos
Blues and Boogie Shoes Keene Brothers
Lightninghead to Coffee Pot Moping Swans
All That is Holy Psycho and the Birds
We've Moved Psycho and the Birds
Choreographed Man of War Robert Pollard and His Soft Rock Renegades
Turn To Red The Takeovers
Little Green Onion Man The Takeovers
Bad Football The Takeovers

Yikes.

I had Mist King Urth and sold it on ebay (I think). "Heavy prog" iirc.

Well I've always wanted to hear it bcuz the other Pollard/Gillard duo album, Speak Kindly Of Your Volunteer Fire Department, is better than any GbV album this decade.

"fether herd" on the mist king urth album is unlike anything else bob's done

Speak Kindly Of Your Volunteer Fire Department, is better than any GbV album this decade.

yep that's why I bought it too. they're not at all similar really.

not saying it's bad per se but when I decided to unload some records I went through my big pile of GBV and related I made a rule that if I couldn't remember how ANY song went on that record it probably deserved the sell pile.

"they're" meaning Fire Dept. and Mist King

weird. "fether herd" sounds like guided by voices covering birdsongs of the mesozoic. hard to forget, for me at least

jon, why not tower in the fountain of sparks?

Sadly thats one of the few I don't have. I believe I have a couple tracks from it though. That one and Go Back Snowball are both up there on my list of Pollard releases to buy when I have the cash.

lol, jesus, that list 00s records. and I've got a lot of them!

Think the Boston Spaceships records have been my fave of the last few years ...

The two songs I have off Tower...Sparks are kind of lame tbh. Both good tunes that go on repeating their material wayyy too long.

Slowed down a bit to work on year-end stuff and the holidays, but this project is still definitely moving forward! 2009 actually turned out to be one of my favorite post-GbV years for Pollard!

When I made a Pollard mix for a friend, my biggest hangup was putting on a song or two from each album. That's really not the worst approacch - if an album doesn't have a song demanding to be included, then leave it off!

Still working on the project, albeit very very slowly. Mainly bumped this thread to talk about how great the first Pollard of the new decade sounds! Seriously, dude is on a fantastic roll these past two years.

Yes! I'm behind on the Circus Devils stuff, but the solo stuff and particularly the Boston Spaceships have all been grade A. I like Suitcase 3, too.

I did this a few weeks ago, frustrated by having to sort through umpteen records to get my fix. Agree above w/ difficulty in getting every record represented & gave up after awhile:

http://i390.photobucket.com/albums/oo346/HadrianVIII/GrayGardens.jpg

1:14:07

01 Brown Submarine 1:22
02 Dancing Girls And Dancing Men 2:40
03 Heavy Crown 2:40
04 Stiff Me 2:17
05 Gratification To Concrete 3:34
06 Penumbra 1:50
07 Rhoda Rhoda 1:52
08 I'm A Widow 3:37
09 Andy Playboy 1:30
10 Shadow Port 2:59
11 Keep Me Down 2:40
12 Symbols And Heads 2:08
13 You Satisfy Me 3:04
14 Conquerer Of The Moon 5:04
15 When A Man Walks Away 1:49
16 I Surround You Naked 2:42
17 Tattoo Mission 2:44
18 Zero Fix 2:44
19 I In The World 2:01
20 The Right Thing 4:30
21 Canned Food Demons 2:08
22 Gasoline Ragtime 1:38
23 Denied 2:36
24 Towers And Landslides 2:01
25 The Original Heart 2:15
26 (All You Need) To Know 3:45
27 Love Is Stronger Than Witchcraft 4:13
28 Nicely Now 1:51

Love the list Hadrian! I'm still missing a lot of his '00s output, probably close to half.

One song you forgot is "Slow Hamilton," definitely the most melodic song I've heard of the more recent years...

Slow Hamilton is gorgeous. Also, Weatherman and Skin Goddess.

his new dvd is almost enough to cure me of gbv fandom

ahem!

Meddle off Zero to 99 is so great. The whole albums really good.

I have enjoyed the occasional robbert paulard

kinda want to make my own Pollard Oughties best-of... which, since I own exactly none of these records, would probably just mean pirating/ripping as many of them as I can, getting super-stoned, throwing everything on shuffle, and deleting every song that doesn't rock my world on the first listen. I'll let you guys know what I end up with.

came across this recently: http://leatherbagmusic.blogspot.com/2010/05/best-of-robert-pollard.html
haven't listened though! seems like a cool selection.

wow this is wonderful!

love guided by voices, but i've never really progressed past the big GBV albums cuz honestly digging thru all of pollards stuff seems like such a grind...

his first few on matador, not in my airforce and waved out are almost as good as the gbv records he was putting out at the time. his latest one (?) we all got out of the army isn't shabby either

yeah, not in my airforce and waved out are pretty indistinguishable from GBV of that era -- pretty sure those songs were "GBV" songs for all intents and purposes, just that he couldn't put out more than one GBV record a year, or something. They have a lot of the same players. both are pretty essential.

which one had "subspace biographies"? that song rules

that's on Waved Out -- prob one of Pollard's best rockers! starts out awesome, gets better.

Sounds like Wire that song, this is a good thing

really, tho, at the end of every year, Pollard should just: "didn't buy the six albums I put out this year? Here's a playlist of the best 20 songs" ... I'd buy it. maybe that's totally missing the point, but I do find it hard to keep up.

I've tried listening to his post-GBV stuff, but it really isn't very good

Of the stuff I've heard, which is prob'ly like 5% or sumthin'!

i dunno, i always like hearing new stuff by him when I put it on, but after a few listens, I rarely go back to it.

i'd say that first Boston Spaceships record is probably my fave from the last couple years?

I've heard tell that's good. Of the other stuff I've heard, songs seem fussy + overcooked, his voice is not what it was, don't like this Todd Tobias guy playing all the instruments.

yeah, it's true -- his voice does seem a little weak these days.

out of context - but the Owen Pallet cover of Game Of Pricks is really good

Listening to that selection linked above. Holy crap - "First of an Early Go-Getter" sounds like "Hold Your Head High" by Argent!

yeah the owen pallet cover is great -- arthur russell meets GBV. man, "game of pricks" is quite a song isn't it?

"It Is Divine" off this mix really gives me goosebumps....kinda gets me in that classic GBV ballad way like "14 Cheerleader Coldfront"

i'm 4 songs in... songs 2-3 are kinda turkeys. song #4 is awesome though "Frequent Weaver..."

okay this mix picks up after an uninspiring start. but then #6 ("Gold") is kinda sucking the wind out of the momentum that had built with #4-5

this is great tylerw, thanking u

Robert's lyrics may be a bit surreal for mass consumption. That may be one reason. He's really clever. That can be a problem too.

Really loving the new Boston Spaceships record. I feel like this project has a much better hit-to-miss ratio going for it than the stuff under his own name as of late.

circle of trim off of tower in the fountain of sparks

pop zeus as well

those two. those are the answer to the thread title question

always loved the first track off that tower in the ftn of spark record

Hows the new one? Haven't gotten my copy yet. But I am super, super excited by what I read on the (excellent) Wires and Waves blog:

Next month, he releases a new record with former GBV guitarist Doug Gillard under the name Lifeguards, and March will see the release of a collaboration called Mars Classroom, made with the guys from underrated '90s indie-rockers Big Dipper.

all three of his new ones are pretty strong! the lifeguards one in particular.

Oh man, didn't even know the other two were "out there".

yeah i'm on a promo list for him, for some reason ... i just get download links. but yeah, listening to the mars classroom now -- pretty great! straightforward, catchy pop rock.

Glad to hear, can't wait to hear these.

just chiming in again to say i REALLY like the Mars Classroom LP, maybe more than any Pollard LP in a while ...

^ i agree, even though i'm biased (i play drums on some of it)—it's a real grower, too.

whoa, no shit? yeah, i really dig it -- less ummm proggy than some of his other solo joints? just straight-up, simple tunes, with a nice warm (slightly melancholy) vibe.

you see, the thing is, GARY WALEIK is the most underrated songwriter ever.

ha, yeah, maybe. what's the deal with this -- did gary write all the music, and pollard the lyrics?

that's right.

cool. i think i read somewhere that big dipper was one of pollard's fave bands ...

http://music.is-amazing.com/sites/music.is-amazing.com/files/covers/robert_0.jpghttp://images.uulyrics.com/cover/v/vashti-bunyan/album-just-another-diamond-day.jpg

I picked up the Lifeguards LP on a whim. Back in the early 00s I was a Pollard/GBV devotee for a good while but I haven't bought a Pollard release in about four years. Whether it was declining interest on my part or perceived lack of quality on the part of Pollard (probably a bit of both) but I was drawn in by the first song from the new Lifeguards and I have to say I find it quite good. It's much more "produced" than most Pollard efforts, the arrangements are more sophisticated and it is, for lack of a better word "weirder." Some noisy flourishes, proggy parts, over-the-top hard rock vocals by Pollard, etc. I quite dig it. Gillard's guitar work is excellent.

lol just got a promo for another pollard record this year -- a new circus devils record! i want to meet someone who is like the world's biggest circus devils fan. they have nine records now!

best song title so far: Aerial Poop Show (Inst)

ha! what's the album called? i'll be on the lookout for it. pollard's on a roll this year. i've heard four (4!) of his projects so far and no duds among them

Capsized! (exclamation point included)

So the email I got from Pollard just now says that Let It Beard is the last Boston Spaceships record! Was this announced before and I missed it? Really disappointed because I felt like the Spaceships was definitely the best thing Pollard had going right now.

huh, really? i hadn't heard that. with all the hype (relatively speaking to other pollard releases) around this one, seems surprising.

No, that announcement seems to have caught most people out. Real shame, 'cos yeah BS are one of his best, & LiB is probably their best yet.

Yeah, the press release I got had the subject line of "The End is Near..." and here's the pertinent part of the email:

The ultimate (and final) Boston Spaceships album. A 75-minute thrill ride through the many forms Pollard has mastered in his three decades of writing and recording, Let It Beard is the White Album meets Quadrophenia meets Jesus Christ Superstar meets Same Place The Fly Got Smashed.

weird to break up a band that is barely a band to begin with. did pollard and moen get into an email flame war?
still digging into let it beard but it seems pretty great so far.

weird, but kind of great!
http://soundcloud.com/north-of-onhava/robert-pollard-stephanie-1/s-NqdFR
pollard does the soft boys' underwater moonlight

The Vicelords, they come down on a string into your life.

www.rockathonrecords.com
Let It Beard Boombox Demos Pre-Order
Here are the demos for the 26 songs on Let it Beard, as recorded by Bob on his guitar then shipped off to Chris to begin work on their masterpiece.
This release is cd only, a Rockathon exclusive and is limited to 500 copies, hand numbered by Bob himself
The scheduled release date is 10/25/2011
DID I MENTION IT'S ONLY 5 BUCKS?

kind of interesting -- i've been curious as to what bob's collaborators have to work with when they go about making these records.

Let It Beard is fantastic, just like the other Boston Spaceships' albums have been. I'm kinda sad he's done with them but can't wait for the new GBV albums...

Seriously, each BS record feels like a greatest hits. Pollard never ceases to amaze...

Hmmmmmmm, I think he ceased to amaze, and a lot of other people I know, some time ago... sadly

... amaze me that is.

Heard two Boston Spaceships' album and there are just too many mediocre tracks for me to get excited about them... though there are definitely good things on them too, just not enough of them

i enjoyed 'let it beard' as well. it's certainly better than the bulk of his post-gbv solo & side project output. more hooks, more of that late-gbv anthemic guitar riffing. however, it's a rather daunting double-cd set and could have probably been pared down to one cd.

what do people think of Go Back Snowball - Calling Zero? I'm listening to it now for the first time and loving it. It seems to of been roundly panned when released, maybe over hyped expectations?

in case anyone missed it before
North of Onhava offers a limited time re-post of "Walls And Windows," the 1983 GBV song that would alter become "Hardcore UFOs" on Bee Thousand. http://bit.ly/uFsfe3

maybe it's just me but is the new pollard record (honey locust honkey tonk) not just 'the best one in a while' but actually . . . good?

haven't heard it yet, thought it didn't come out until next week. i liked his tossed off Sunflower Logic EP a lot.

haven't heard that. (there's so much pollardia to keep up with . . .) this new one's loose but there are also songs that cohere as, well, songs: "i killed a man who looks like you," "who buries the undertaker," and "airs," to name a few

I Killed a Man... is not just good Pollard, but great Pollard. That one's been floating around for a while, though. I haven't formulated an opinion on the rest of the album yet.

anybody heard the Teenage Guitar stuff yet? the other other new side project band from 2013, also out next week.

stereogum posted a song here

http://www.stereogum.com/1351622/teenage-guitar-atlantic-cod/mp3s/

Teenage Guitar is pretty good! It's my favorite of the 2013 releases so far.

helpfu1!

http://trustthewizards.com/2013/09/10/kicker-of-elves-chooses-robert-pollards-50-best-robert-pollard-songs/

and i totally agree with the top 2

50. Back To The Farm (from the album Superman Was A Rocker) – Pollard stars as country character Hiram Campbell in an opening skit offering to “beat your head in with both my banjos” before the song kicks into a sublime instrumental that is so good it appears twice in this list. Is it only me that was hoping this same character was going to front the rumoured Pollard country album set for release this year? Honey Locust Honky Tonk is many things, but it isn’t that.

49. No Island (The Crawling Distance) – The chord change as the song goes into the refrain gets me every time, along with the resigned acceptance of “well, at least an outpost” 3 minutes in.

48. Faster To Babylon (We All Got Out Of The Army) – “This will not be the title track..” and then the cello comes in and the song builds with glorious background guitar feedback.

47. I Have To Drink (Honey Locust Honky Tonk) – In under a minute, Bob sums up why any of us Have To Drink. “Alright!!!”

46. Fear Of Heat (B-side to Silk Rotor) – What a great guitar sound there is at the start of this throwaway B-side. The feel is maintained through menacing half-whispered vocals and a pounding rhythm “till the prurient love is gone”.

45. Each Is Good In His Own House (Moses On A Snail) – I love the vocal phrasing that starts with “God drives a cadillac” and the “… in his own house.. and garden” twist.

44. On Top Of The Vertigo (We All Got Out Of The Army) – More crunchy guitar at the start of this one. I don’t remember the ‘Zoom Zoom Room’, but I wish I had been there. Exciting stuff.

43. Science Magazine (Mouseman Cloud) – Pollard’s vocals here have an unusual tremor that suggests something major is being divulged… “I chair the regrettable-act sub-committee”. Top play on words with ‘piece/peace’ too.

42. Conspiracy Of Owls (Fiction Man) – Some great Chris Sheehan piano throughout this one and a rhythm that forces the tune into your head and has it remain there for days.

41. Her Eyes Play Tricks On The Camera (Honey Locust Honky Tonk) – Sounds like a real classic with fantastic vocals right from the off, but especially on the chorus. Got to be from the album of the year, right?

40. Gratification To Concrete (Robert Pollard Is Off To Business) – Oh that wah wah sound and some really powerful drumming. No wonder “she said wow a hundred times”.

39. Penumbra (Coast To Coast Carpet Of Love) – Spooky riff? Check. Silly voice in the middle of the song? Check. Yet another earworm? You bet.

38. Red Rubber Army (Jack Sells The Cow) – Another immediate melody, but it’s the little guitar sounds we first hear 25 seconds in that gets me.

37. Rumbling Joker (Waved Out) – The first song on this list that has Bob on all instruments. At 1’48″ the vocals get doubled-up and there is a fantastic crashing guitar (?) sound.

36. Accident Hero (Elephant Jokes) – Some fairly unhinged vocals feature in this track, which combined with a neat little keyboard riff and whistling (?) makes for a fine minute and a half.

35. Who Buries The Undertaker? (Honey Locust Honky Tonk) – Another stand out track from the latest record. It’s the refrain that makes it for me, especially the way Bob sings “And who marries the cakemaker?”.

34. On Shortwave (The Crawling Distance) – Again a cello sets the tone and Bob’s slowed down phrasing throughout draws you in to a melancholy treat “on short… wave.”

33. Pegasus Glue Factory (Normal Happiness) – Do I hear castanets? Probably not, but there are some interesting background noises here. The solo at 1’55″ is particularly neat and takes us to a tremendous coda. Oh, and here we also have the best song title on the list to date I would suggest.

32. In A Circle (Lord Of The Birdcage) – Chorizo Garbanzo reckons this is the best Robert Pollard track. Clearly, he’s not right about that. In fact it’s not even the best song on this album, but it is definitely a great song. The circular guitar riff suits the subject matter and I really like the line “in inconstant reverie/ in make shift comfort suites/ in 9 o’clock meetings…”

31. Weatherman And Skin Goddess (Robert Pollard Is Off To Business) – “Yes, no, baby..” What a great start to a song that is. More great vocals on the repeated lines “keep me crying/trying”. The slowed down section that ends with “answer me now” is also great. I have no idea what the song is about.

30. Miles Under The Skin (Coast To Coast Carpet Of Love) – Another killer riff kicks this song off, but it’s the launch into “baby, it’s a free way/ where nothing can destroy you” at 1’03″ that gets the hairs on my neck upright.

29. Feel Not Crushed (Standard Gargoyle Decisions) – A great guitar sound on this track and Bob’s vocals are suitably slightly distorted to particulalyr great effect when again they double up at 1’33″ on the line “… by fathers and mothers or those who hand it down…”

28. Dunce Codex (Lord Of The Birdcage) – Note to Garbanzo – this is the best song from this album. A weird guitar riff under some top notch lead work from Mr Tobias and vocals from Bob that are seemingly constantly on the edge of falling apart. “Please excuse me, I lost my girl and I need to go find her”. Heartbreaking stuff.

27. A Boy In Motion (From A Compound Eye) – Recently included on our monthly playlist, I had previously tended to overlook this song when thinking about the FACE masterpiece. But, it is another fine example of a Pollard earworm with its military beat and the great delivery of the line “it’s been removed”.

26. Conqueror Of The Moon (From A Compound Eye) – Also from FACE, this is Bob at his prog-rock influenced best. In a song with distinct sections – movements (?) – it is the searing guitar that starts at 2’05″ that goes into the Hawkwind-esque middle section that I really love.

25. Girl Named Captain (Not In My Airforce) – Great drums from Kevin Fennell to start this one and outstanding vocals from Bob throughout with my favourite line closing things off: “I’m not in your dreams / Get out of mine.”

24. Snatch Candy (Kid Marine) – A little gem, this one – great bass sound from Demos and Bob sings fantastically, especially on the line “a carefree world / sugarless”, but the highlight for me is the keyboard that comes in at 1’05″ and takes us to the close. Beautiful.

23. The Weekly Crow (Moses On A Snail) – Guitar + cello is a combination that, for me, rarely can be beaten. The dual vocal call-and-response with low Bob and regular Bob also works a treat.

22. Sea Of Dead (Fiction Man) – I love the extended intro on this with its strings and things, but it is Bob’s reverb treated vocal that kicks in with “You think you can run / You think you can hide” that really kills.

21. I Can See (We All Got Out Of The Army) – I love the line “look but don’t think” especially as it leads to the section of the song where Bob unleashes his inner Roger Daltry from 2’30″ on. Some great bizarre lyrics here too: “baptized removed all the dross round my brain / a ticket so thick it was flies on meringue”, anyone?

20. Pontius Pilate Heart (Jack Sells The Cow) – Another contender for song title of the blog, this song is all about chiming arpeggiated guitar. However, it is the brief solo at 1’12″ that sticks out for me. That, and the brief burst of guitar a minute later and then again when the keyboards come in for the last 30 seconds or so. A really uplifting song.

19. Love Your Spaceman (Superman Was A Rocker) – And here we have a reprise of the instrumental part of Back To The Farm. This time with lyrics like “She said the distance between/ Is quite a distance” that lend themselves to a myriad of meanings. My favourite bit though is when Bob gives it loads on the “love your spaceman” bit 1’30″ in.

18. Trial Of Affliction And Light Sleeping (Fiction Man) – The hesitant guitar at the start soon makes way for a great sound that runs at pace throughout this little nugget. I love the vocals that start at 0’44″ “burn it in theatre / burn it on cable TV” as the guitar goes fucking mental. Makes me want to jump around and shout, which has got to be a good thing, right?

17. Release The Sunbird (Not In My Airforce) – Another masterclass in how to write a melancholic song. The droning keyboard (or is it a guitar?) in the background is the bit that really does it for me – brings tears to my eyes every time I listen. “… time can only free you when she’s gone…”

16. Harrison Adams (Motel Of Fools) – “Go ‘ding!’ and fall over..” A really beautiful song this – I really like the line “give into the umpire / feel his air”, but, of course, it is the killer chorus that really makes it. I also really like the nice bit of feedback that pops in at 3’13″. This song would be higher if the drunken chat at the end weren’t there.

15. Make Use (Waved Out) – This song is mostly about a great guitar riff courtesy of Bob himself, but Jimmy Mac’s drumming is also superb and the two mesh together perfectly at around 1’30″. Then there is the fabulous distorted synth that is ‘made use’ of only once at 2’13″. Wow.

14. Circle Saw Boys Club (Silverfish Trivia) – Another beautiful song with killer lines like “where x-men saw no heroes / only firemen crossing swords”. Some fantastically emotional singing from Bob – notably at 1 minute in “god almighty / we saw it coming” and on the final lines “in the circle saw boys club / it is vacant / it is.” It melts me every time.

13. Shadow Port (Standard Gargoyle Decisions) – A great ominously building guitar takes us from “it’s gone to hell / you know that it has” to “see – I remember me / love – I remember her” in a, frankly, creepy way before Bob’s evil alter-ego comes to the fore to deliver the line “slashing like razor / design us like you / chosen escaping of the night / out all over”. This is then upped by the closing repeated line “she has wings / are you watching her?”. A complete horror movie in under 3 minutes.

12. Get Under It (Not In My Airforce) – I really like the vocal sound here with its slight distortion and the fact that Bob delivers some of his more direct lyrics that rank up there with Morrissey for social realism “The dress isn’t flattering you / When you don it like you do / You expect me to approve / but I just won’t.”

11. U.S. Mustard Company (From A Compound Eye) – The arpeggio at the start is great, but it is outdone by the fantastic chorus “contain yourself” with its little piano fills. I also love the line “make yourself feel like it used to be / throw away your charts of progress”, which really appeals to my inner nerd.

OK, so now it’s time for the top ten. Hold on to your hats!

10. People Are Leaving (Waved Out) – A song unlike any other in the Pollard canon. A haunting piano leads us into dual vocal lines that, like ‘The Murder Mystery’ by The Velvet Underground, gives the listener a choice of which lyrics to follow. At times these come together in glorious harmony, at others snippets of the lyrics fall out in moments of clarity like “The angels are making circles/ A gift to every naked fat baby” if clarity is the right word. The result is a moving masterpiece that a number of GBV nuts on the Strong Lions mailing list have nominated as a song to leave this world to (see our funeral podcast for more on this). Mention should also go to co-writer and multi-instrumentalist, Stephanie Sayers, who appears on just this one Robert Pollard track, but what a track.

9. Love Is Stronger Than Witchcraft (From A Compound Eye) – Again we have a great arpeggiated guitar to start, but it is Bob’s singing that makes this song so great. His delivery is fantastic throughout notably the call-to-arms “damn!” at 1’57″ that takes the song into its proggy middle-eight and the partly inaudible exhortations therein. Oh, and the lyrics are fantastic too, not only the positivity of the title itself, but also the opening verse of “What you call this Jesus mind / I can’t focus on it anymore / But I’m doing all the good things you said I should do / To be a damn good model” that speaks to all us fathers out here. Well, this one anyway.

8. I Killed A Man Who Looks Like You (Honey Locust Honky Tonk) – The best song from the best album released this year. I have already talked about this at length on our podcast 13, but let me reiterate. I love the guitars that, with their open chords, seem to fly into the ether. The melody still hasn’t left me since I first heard the song and the lyrics, well, lines like “Sacrificed prodigious son / I innocently drew the gun / To orchestrate no go away / To come too late some other day / And I killed a man who looks like you / I don’t understand the things a man won’t do…” get my imagination racing. Is this, perhaps, the country song that Bob has been rumoured to be making? Well, it sounds like a country fable to me (if not fabled country) and it sure fits a lot into under 2 minutes. I also bet REM are pretty pleased they’ve retired.

7. Their Biggest Win (Fiction Man) – From Bob’s last solo album before the closing of the initial Guided By Voices chapter, and still one of my favourites. This is, in fact, the closing song and yes, it has a great Todd Tobias guitar sound and yes, it has a fantastic racing rhythm, but really it’s all about the chorus “And we say nothing but when we want some / And we do nothing but when we get some” that makes it so good. Then at 2’28″ the instrumentation falls back temporarily for that line to really hit home before the psychedelic tour-de-force of a guitar line that blows everything else away for the rest of the song. What a closer! Much like an Aroldis Chapman fastball.

6. The Butler Stands For All Of Us (The Crawling Distance) – A great guitar riff in this one too, but it is the overall feel, a mixture of both sadness and optimism that only Pollard seems to get right, that marks this song out as a classic. I really love the refrain “Arounder and longer and safer and stronger / It pays to know who you are / That’s who you are” without really knowing what it means. The whole song is sung beautifully and also contains the line “Ease off on your querulous sidekicks”, which is sensible advice for anyone, let alone one of three wizards.

5. The Ash Gray Proclamation (Not In My Airforce) – A great loose guitar sound from Bob himself on this classic from his first solo album. It is the way the guitar rhythm and lead meld together in the second, instrumental, half of the song that really makes it for me. Absolutely mesmeric.I also love the opening line: “… the shuttle bus is leaving us / It has collected 50 souls / Who have redefined our roles…” despite, or perhaps because of, again not really knowing what it means or who it refers to.

4. Powerblessings (Kid Marine) – Of course the great thing about Guided By Voices reforming recently was the fact that we got to hear Robert Pollard and Tobin Sprout play and sing together. A magical mix. And here, Tobin brings about 13 seconds of piano to this song at 1’20″ that is just right. I really love the keyboard sound that Bob plays on this too and the way it merges with the acoustic guitar at 20 seconds in is just sublime. The lyrics sound like an incantation to me and when I was a primary school teacher, I always thought it was something that should be read at morning assembly. “Powerblessings to you and all of you.”

3. Piss Along You Bird (B-side to Rud Fins) – This is another song that has previously been discussed on this blog – as part of my nominating Bob as the best swearer in rock. However, it is more than just the curious title of the song that sees it at number 3 in my list. I first heard the song as the B-side to the first single released in the one-a-month series of 12 singles in 2007 on the newly established Happy Jack Rock Records label. The A-side was pretty good, but the B-side was fantastic and it took me back to the days when music was much less accessible and when you bought a 7″ single and played it over and over again. This record was on my turntable for weeks, with the flip uppermost. It hooked me from the opening ‘Alright, alright, alright…” and I love the speeding up and slowing down of the song as it builds to reveal the “message to your sender” that arrives at 1’38″ “No means no and maybe means no and yes means no”. Damn right. Oh, and “Piss along you bird” is also a fantastic phrase that I spend every working day trying to engineer into conversation, but that might just be me.

2. Psychic Pilot Clocks Out (Not In My Airforce) – 4 minutes of genius. From the opening guitar squalls to the coolest of cool guitar riffs and we’re still less than a minute in. At 1’11″ the drums kick in and we’re off with “The sign sheds light on who is lonely / Run and hide / I’m alright”. The guitar comes to the fore again in the instrumental section at 2’03″ before more great lyrics “Don’t be defensive / Not with me”. Yet all this is just setting us up for the big pay off at 3’15″ when Bob goes into overdrive with, in my opinion, his best phlegm-speckled vocals ever and the clarion call of ”I feel life passing on by us, passing on by us, passing on by us”. Life-affirming stuff.

1. Subspace Biographies (Waved Out) – The best Robert Pollard Robert Pollard song and it’s appropriate that the bulk of the instrumentation is from Bob himself. But first, let’s give credit to the drumming of Jimmy Mac, which gets stronger and stronger as the song reaches it climax, and perhaps more so to the bass lines of John Shough that propel the song along at its irresistable rate. After the delicious intertwinning of bass with Bob’s beautifully picked guitar at the start, it is 25 seconds in when the great keyboard sound that dominates this song is heard ‘bup- bup – bup/ bup- bup- bup/ bup – bup – bup- baa- baa’. A sound that now dominates my dreams. Then the lyrics start with as good an opening line as any Bob has come up with (the start to Pop Zeus being my all time favourite) “Has there been a break today / Stoned comedian Ringo?” At the end of the first verse we hear another brilliant guitar line before that keyboard refrain returns and then the pace quickens and we get the mega chorus “I am quail and quasar / I picked you up on radar / I do my job each day / Empties crushed and fired away”. Phenomenal stuff – quail AND quasar? One would have been enough. And then at 1’38″ there is the none more profound line “There is nothing worse than / An undetermined person”. All of which is worth repeating before unbelievably the pace is ratcheted up even further at 2’14″ with an additional feedbacking guitar in the background. And guess what? What? It’s even better live.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0JE8VCYR3A

So there we have it, These 50 Robert Pollard songs taken from a tiny portion of his back catalogue over the period 1996 – 2013 and as it turns out pretty evenly spread out over the 20 studio albums. These are the number of tracks taken from each:

5: Not In My Airforce

4: Fiction Man, From A Compound Eye, Honey Locust Honky Tonk, Waved Out

3: The Crawling Distance, We All Got Out Of The Army

2: Coast To Coast Carpet Of Love, Jack Sells The Cow, Kid Marine, Lord Of The Birdcage, Moses On A Snail, Robert Pollard Is Off To Business, Standard Gargoyle Decisions, Superman Was A Rocker

1: Elephant Jokes, Motel Of Fools, Mouseman Cloud, Normal Happiness, Silverfish Trivia EP

plus 2 B-sides

So, this Ricked Wicky record's not bad! Enjoying it more than the last couple GBV records, anyway. "Mobility" is the best thing he's done in a while, imo:

https://soundcloud.com/firerecords/ricked-wicky-mobility

Really love that "I'll take you home, I love you baby..." section in "Cats Love A Parade", wish it repeated at the end. It's from Silverfish Trivia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZOGPMb3I8w

a question about bob pollard: has he collaborated musically/creatively with any women who are not kim deal?
just wondering, and it's kinda hard to search for and he has worked with a lot of different people. i am just wondering if any of them (aside from her) are women.
i can't think of any but i thought maybe someone here who had listened to more of his solo catalogue might have a better idea.

He did a track with someone called Stephanie Sayers on the "Waved Out" album. His 10,000 album catalogue is an enormous sausage fest basically.

xp
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkqK9FYPxWE

had to look up her name but the music here is by Stephanie Sayers -- who judging from the below was also involved with that never made Soderbergh/Pollard Cleopatra movie musical.

Me: Okay, I have to ask you about "CLEO", a musical you are writing the music for. You are doing more then that though, right?

Stephanie: Actually, that's Robert Pollard (Guided By Voices) writing all the songs. I just took them back down to basics and recorded acoustic and vocal. Then we went into the studio and recorded the basic tracks. Something like 26 songs in three weeks.

Me: Is it a musical about Cleopatra?

Stephanie: I think so.

Me: When is it coming out, Steph, or did it come out already?

Stephanie: I don't know if it is.

Me: It's being directed by Steven Soderbergh. Did you get to meet Steven? How was that?

Stephanie: I think he's retiring now. We met at Musso and Frank's in Hollywood. I gave him a copy of "Odessey" and "Oracle" by the Zombies and some David Bowie tracks. I was very enamoured with the clarity and separation of the instrumentation on those records, also the transparency of the mixing. I thought conceptually it would be a good marker for the project and also for Pollard's writing.

Is she a solo artist only?

He has also gone on record as saying there will never be a woman in Guided by Voices. "No girls allowed in the club house" or some shit like that.

He is such a dick sometimes.

When did he say that?

here you go http://ink19.com/2001/04/magazine/interviews/guided-by-voices-9

No chicks in the tree house! That’s what I told Kim Deal. We were touring with The Breeders, and Kim asked me, right after Last Splash, “Why don’t you let me play bass?” And I thought for sure she was just fucking with me, so I said no. And I probably would have let her, but then I told her that we have a policy that there are no females allowed in Guided By Voices. It’s like when you’re a kid and you have your tree house and there’s no girls allowed in it. Then she did an interview in some GIRL magazine and she called me over and she goes, “Explain your philosophy to her!” And I said, “No chicks in the fuckin’ tree house, OK?”

Doesn't make a lick of sense.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/11/Pollardrelaxation.jpg

Pollard is an A-1 dick, no doubt (he's flipped-off his audience more than Mr. Rotten), but his song-writing should not be a point of contention. That he hasn't collaborated with the finer sex should be prefaced with instances where other (male) songwriters have (worked with women) to some prolific extent.

Nick Cave (PJ)
F Mac (McVie, Nicks)
Barry Gibb (Babara)
VU (Nico, Moe)
Stephen Merchant (?)

...still not real abundance...

...in rock/pop, anyways...

...plenty of instances with country, jazz, blues, etc, with FAR more crossed-gender efforts, no?

But, yes, he hasn't work with females... did Rush, ZZ Top, Scott Walker, Gerry Rafferty, etc.....?

men writing songs for women is super-common in rock/pop

(which is not really what La Lechera was asking about but you brought it up...)

I took her point to be more that a guy whose led a successful indie rock band for decades with tons of line-up changes - ie who's worked with an inordinately large range of collaborators/backing musicians - has never involved a single woman (apart from Kim Deal), is pretty weird.

A good point of comparison is Mark E. Smith & the Fall.

ie a similarly prolific frontman with a constantly shifting lineup, who has not coincidentally worked with a bunch of women

tbh I was wondering if LL was thinking of phoning Bob up to see if he needed a new drummer.

haha

Only 2 women have been in The Fall? More?

wtf are you nuts: Lucy Rimmer, Brix Smith, Una Baines, Marcia Schofield, Julie Nagle, Karen Leatham, Elena Palou etc etc

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/timeline/76827472459c49a5671ae856e3ac397a.png

Smith has consistently had women in the band his entire career

how many of them was smith not in a relationship with

a question about bob pollard: has he collaborated musically/creatively with any women who are not kim deal?

Why yes: Kelly Deal

sadlol

Most of them afaict mookie. Brix and elena were exceptions. Not that it matters, seems irrelevant to me.

Indeed but Una and Kay Carroll, Julia Nagle were all in relationships with him. Kay Carroll was never in the band though.

wtf are you nuts

― Οὖτις, Friday, 23 June 2017 00:16

Sorry, I completely misread an earlier post

But, yes, he hasn't work with females... did Rush.....?

― bodacious ignoramus, Thursday, June 22, 2017 3:57 PM (fifty-eight minutes ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMSFqXGZ5TQ

Difference between Pollard and everyone elese mentioned, even Mark E Smith, is that he's collaborated with about 3000 other musicians. And a woman.

mist king urth is genius. the lowest fi prog masterpiece

\m/

I took her point to be more that a guy whose led a successful indie rock band for decades with tons of line-up changes - ie who's worked with an inordinately large range of collaborators/backing musicians - has never involved a single woman (apart from Kim Deal), is pretty weird.

yeah this was basically it, and i was wondering what his problem is, but then i read that "no girls in the treehouse" shit and i remembered. i hate to say it, but what a stupid dick. if someone i knew said this, i would never talk to him again. of all the reasons i have to not like him anymore, this has parked itself at the top of the list.

tbh I was wondering if LL was thinking of phoning Bob up to see if he needed a new drummer.

― Duncan Disorderly (Tom D.), Thursday, June 22, 2017 6:08 PM (yesterday) Bookmark
there was a time, lol

i would like to add that the interviewer in the "no chicks" interview linked above sucks too

Rush - Time Stand Still -- is singing 3 words considered a collaboration?

every time i think i can write the guy off, i remember how good some of his songs are and i feel like i'm back at square 1
this time i heard "secret star" after not-hearing it for years and i started bawling it was so good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZIi97N5sFM

oh yeah, that is a good one ...
i have the same general experience — i rarely put on GBV or related projects these days, but I'll hear a song every now and then and remember that he's got like 75-100 incredible songs. Which is a lot!
anyone know anything about this? out in August.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41UtKVDiDEL.jpg

Closer You Are is the authorized biography of Robert Pollard and Guided by Voices. Author Matthew Cutter is a longtime friend of Pollard and, with Pollard's blessing, Cutter has set out to tell the whole, true story of Guided by Voices. This will be the first book to take an in-depth look at the man behind it all, with interviews conducted by the author with Pollard's friends, family, and bandmates, along with unfettered access to Pollard himself and his extensive archives, ephemera, and artwork, which many fans will no doubt recognize from the band's numerous album covers. A series of appendices will further illuminate Pollard's solo career, side projects, and art shows.

Whoa, ok that seems like a must read!

Completely understand LL's stance: guy's tumbled way into questionable territory, and there's heaps of bad stuff, but damn he wrote some fantastic songs. They pull me back in every time.

just in time for my bday
i'll read it

Wow I am all over this!

It's funny xpost I have such big love and respect for Bob's songs, to the extent that I never just drop into the catalog. It's been a couple years now and when I go in I go WAY in. I would put the number up above that 75-100.

yeah, the book sounds pretty promising ...
and yeah, when I wrote 75-100 I thought maybe that's low.

synchronicity — just saw this pollard-curated Roches mix posted on spotify: https://open.spotify.com/user/1247112455/playlist/6Zf8EZVGFPVeTDyQpS5SW6

That's....unexpected.

I guess it's easy to look at the sheer volume of it all and penalize him for hitting, say, .250.... But shit man 200 really good songs is 200 really good songs!

Author Matthew Cutter is a longtime friend of Pollard

This is not good though.

Yeah not ideal but anyway I'm not reading for some kind of takedown

I am okay w hagiography if the subject is p much someone slogging it out on the margins

yeah i don't really mind, and it's not like bob is super mysterious

Posted on the/a GBV thread, but they killed it here the night before New Year's. Three hour set! And then they did it again in NYE I guess.

Is Sprout still in band?

They were indeed good at Empty Bottle! I was at that same show! No Sprout isn't in band - but that's ok Bobby Bare Jr is a nice foil for Doug Gillard and the band all around smokes. Kevin March is an excellent drummer for them!

Yeah not ideal but anyway I'm not reading for some kind of takedown

Did you read Jim Greer's book on GBV? All those tedious tales of Bob and his boring boozing buddies yukking it up down in Bob's basement? I'm not expecting a takedown but, if you're going to write a book on Pollard, a little distance would be preferable because the guy seems to have surrounded himself with boosters and cheerleaders and enablers - no women though, of course.

Ugh Doug Gillard sucks

I guess he’s the best steady Bob could get
But damn he’s got no soul man

This is a Bob thread, I get it, but he shouldn’t be advertising GBV without his club dudes

Yes, I think he's a good foil but I don't really like his guitar playing.

It’s too exact

too orthodox

i not only read the jim greer book, but attended a book tour event, which was my first (and only) time meeting bob p

I read the Greer book, it was whatever. I'm definitely not interested in an analysis of why there are no women in the band. I would be very up for nerding out on his process (beyond Rolling Rock), song germination, takes on his peers and other musicians/artists etc.

I appreciate Gillard for his versatility. He never sounds like he's really bleeding for it like Mitch Mitchell did, but there's a lot of mid- and later-period Pollard stuff that calls for greater range