If Bob Pollard released a 100 song box set of the best of all his projects since the early 80s, it would rival almost any other band's career best. Agree/Disagree/Laugh?

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I know this a bit rockist but I genuinely believe it. I hope I can still post on this board without being laughed at after this!

(I even think 100 songs would be tough, lots of good stuff would probably be left off.)

― Colin O, Friday, 28 March 2003 20:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Who is Bob Pollard?

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 28 March 2003 21:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Pollard's the lead singer of Guided by Voices and numerous other side projects. He's recorded around 700 or 800 songs, many admittedly crap but there is a relatively high percentage of incredible music. Strange pychedelic rock with absurd lyrics and lotsa more straightforward pop stuff.

― Colin O, Friday, 28 March 2003 21:04 (twenty-two years ago)

bob pollard needs to be muzzled and have his hands chopped off

― jess (dubplatestyle), Friday, 28 March 2003 21:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Then I'd have to disagree as I've tried to get into GbV but have only ever enjoyed "Motor Away" and probably only because I heard it because it was on Jackass on MTV.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 28 March 2003 21:09 (twenty-two years ago)

god, I'm writing like d k now. where is he?

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 28 March 2003 21:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Agree, absolutely. The guy tosses off catchy, berserk pop songs with amazing consistency & is absurdly prolific. I like the get-it-on-tape-warts-and-all approach.

― John Bullabaugh (John Bullabaugh), Friday, 28 March 2003 21:17 (twenty-two years ago)

I've got nothing against gbv but if people want middlingly memorably standard-issue rock, why not just buy dollar bin records?

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 28 March 2003 21:17 (twenty-two years ago)

he's like the sensational alex harvey band of the 90s minus the glamtasticity

― jess (dubplatestyle), Friday, 28 March 2003 21:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, when Guided By Voices had those two guys from Cobra Verde backing them up for like two months or something once, they weren't COMPLETELY worthless, I suppose. But the answer would still be: laugh.

― chuck, Friday, 28 March 2003 21:19 (twenty-two years ago)

You'd think if a man recorded 700 songs, somewhere along the line he'd try something different.

― David Allen, Friday, 28 March 2003 21:21 (twenty-two years ago)

>>I've got nothing against gbv but if people want middlingly memorably standard-issue rock, why not just buy dollar bin records?<<

Because GBV have never rocked, and their fans prefer it that way. Dollar bin records often rock, and frequently feature actual singers.

― chuck, Friday, 28 March 2003 21:21 (twenty-two years ago)

hmm. agree in the sense that i think his best songs are ace, and i'd throw down the $ for a comprehensive, carefully selected best of. disagree in the sense that it's a bit of a loaded question - it would give him a grossly unfair advantage over loads of more consistently inspired and interesting artists, as most of his output is total dreck.

― lauren (laurenp), Friday, 28 March 2003 21:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Their continued popularity remains a complete and utter mystery to me. Am I like totally deaf or something, because I can't hear any hooks, or anything that makes me think 'hey, this is a great pop song', or 'this makes me want to dance', or 'this really rocks', or anything.

in fact i think i even started a thread about this about a year ago!

Why in the name of all that is holy do people like Guided by Voices?

― geeta (geeta), Friday, 28 March 2003 21:24 (twenty-two years ago)

GBV have rocked out on numerous songs and Pollard is a hell of a singer, part-Daltrey part-McCartney, if you like that sorta thing.

When I first heard GBV I was not that impressed either but after a few listens the melodies really jumped out at me.

― Colin O, Friday, 28 March 2003 21:30 (twenty-two years ago)

subliminal melodies

― jess (dubplatestyle), Friday, 28 March 2003 21:30 (twenty-two years ago)

As far as I can see, they do the exact thing all those Elephant 6 groups do -- take perfectly good '60s rock, subtract all the energy and rhythm and catchiness and push from it, thereby turn it wispery and watery and bland, and pretend that makes it "weird" or something.

― chuck, Friday, 28 March 2003 21:31 (twenty-two years ago)

don't forget recording it on a boombox

― jess (dubplatestyle), Friday, 28 March 2003 21:33 (twenty-two years ago)

for that "raw, live" approach the beatles went for so often

― jess (dubplatestyle), Friday, 28 March 2003 21:33 (twenty-two years ago)

I Can't Believe It's Not Songwriting (a trademark of the Elephant 6 corporation)

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 28 March 2003 21:34 (twenty-two years ago)

I'd buy it. Acutally, I'd rather have a complete boxset with everything he has ever recorded or even sank in the shower.

― Jeff-PTTL (Jeff), Friday, 28 March 2003 21:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Hundred songs? Easy! I'll even volunteer to compile it.

― matt riedl (veal), Friday, 28 March 2003 21:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Chuck, it doesn't sound like you really have heard much GBV. The don't sound like Elephant 6 much at all. Less weird instruments and more rocking than E6.

Matt, alright what would you put on it!?

― Colin O, Friday, 28 March 2003 22:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Actually I sort of agree with, now that I think of it. Again, I don't know what came over me. Apologies.

― Amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 28 March 2003 22:23 (twenty-two years ago)

No big deal -- People make that mistake all the time. If I'm in a bad mood, I blame pathetic lack of reading comprehension, but it must be PARTLY my fault. But anyway, honestly: I'm just strategically immune to the virtues of BORING self-conscious subcult music. (Though since I've never heard any music in my life that's NOT self-conscious, nor possibly any music that's not somehow subcultural, whatever that means, I'm not sure even *I* know what the fuck I'm talking about.)

― chuck, Friday, 28 March 2003 22:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Heh, I discovered Rudimentary Peni thanks to Chuck!

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Friday, 28 March 2003 22:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Also Chuck can you make me a dub of the Motorhome cassette? I once asked both Phil Durr and Mike Rubin and neither of them came through.

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Friday, 28 March 2003 22:36 (twenty-two years ago)

His 50 wouldn't beat their 50 (and their 10 would SMOKE his 10) but his 100 might hold up to their 100. Lots of pretty lil' melodies in his pocket, even if his lyrics are often disappointingly incoherent.

I've always figured Chuck just doesn't like nice guy bands, no matter how nice their songs sound. Bands that don't sound like they WANT or NEED something (money, girls, to voice their cynicsm, etc.). The closest thing to an incoherent singer I've heard him say he enjoys is somebody like Arthur Lee, who's much more gonzo than Pollard. He just don't like Band-as-hobby bands, ESPECIALLY if everybody else does (unless they rock HARD like Blue Oyster Cult or Queens Of The Stone Age). Totally understandable, but predictable enough that I'm surprised people would even bring up these bands around him.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 28 March 2003 22:38 (twenty-two years ago)

My copy of the Motorhome tape is loooooong, gone, sorry.

Anyway, the "alt.country" thread the Amateurist is reffering to, which died out yesterday JUST WHEN IT WAS FINALLY STARTING TO GET INTERESTING (i.e.: I think I scared everybody away) is as follows:

Nashville Types Who Don't Suck

― chuck, Friday, 28 March 2003 22:39 (twenty-two years ago)

a hundred song box set you say? if the thread title said '500 song box set' i would still agree that it would be better than most bands' careers, hands down.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Friday, 28 March 2003 22:47 (twenty-two years ago)

But I'm a big Angry Samoans fan, Anthony (even their later songs that weren't about calling people stupid assholes!), and certified public accountant Metal Mike Saunders and math prof Gregg Turner ALWAYS said the band was just a hobby. Also, I'll have you know that I was one of our hemisphere's first-ever supporters of Shonen Knife, who were the happiest and nicest punk band in human history (even though they weren't guys). And Flipper and Crack the Sky and Caifanes aren't mean-spirited at all! And I enjoy PLENTY of incoherent singers, especially if they're German! And ALL the criminal-element hip-hop I like, from Schooly D and Cypress Hill to Trick Daddy and Field Mob, is by folks with very warm hearts. Still, I dunno; maybe you're right. Beats me!

― chuck, Friday, 28 March 2003 22:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes, I forgot to note Chuck will forgive your hobby-mentality if you are profane or foreign.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 28 March 2003 22:52 (twenty-two years ago)

...or if you have a rhythm section.

― chuck, Friday, 28 March 2003 22:56 (twenty-two years ago)

I'll testify to seeing a rhythm section (Greg Demos & Jim MacPherson - a fine one indeed) when GBV played in town.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 28 March 2003 23:01 (twenty-two years ago)

But that's the problem: Indie-priss rhythm sections like Guided by Voices' are to be seen and not heard. Or at least not moved to.

― chuck, Friday, 28 March 2003 23:04 (twenty-two years ago)

we were jumping around, dude. I mean, admittedly you probably couldn't do the electric slide to it. But movement was plentiful around me and my friends. Maybe your problem is the stick-in-the-mud-no-dancing fans you associate them with.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 28 March 2003 23:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Nah, it's that old anti-electric-boogaloo thing. What's up with that? Back in my day we used to linedance to "Rock and Roll Hootchie Koo" and Tommy Roe all night long, you know? And Pollard comes from the exact same Midwest that I do, and he's AT LEAST as old as I am!

― chuck, Friday, 28 March 2003 23:24 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah, but he was into GENESIS.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 28 March 2003 23:25 (twenty-two years ago)

I mean, I like a lot of his stuff, but the Savior Of Rock would never say Wire's 154 was the best album of all time, so he ain't it.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 28 March 2003 23:26 (twenty-two years ago)

>>he was into GENESIS<<

Really??? Wow, that explains a lot. I knew kids like that in school - they were pretty weird. Most of 'em also really loved Terje Rypdal and Patrick Moraz, if I remember right. Anyway. Has anybody ever seen Robert Pollard and Geir Hongo in the same room at the same time?

― chuck, Friday, 28 March 2003 23:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Colin O: this weekend I'll put up my list!

― matt riedl (veal), Saturday, 29 March 2003 01:02 (twenty-two years ago)

you know what? I take it back about Pollard's 100 beating other artists 100. Though I still the band was GREAT from Bee Thousand through Under The Bushes (with Isolation Drills being a late period high point and fine singles throughout their career), I was really stretching it to find 100 songs I could wholly endorse. Which is especially lame he's put out HUNDREDS more songs than his peers.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 29 March 2003 01:17 (twenty-two years ago)

I would have reached the 100 song mark a lot quicker had included songs by Tobin Sprout easy.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 29 March 2003 01:21 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't have an opinion on the hypothetical at the top of the board, but I will say that Bob Pollard is my favorite songwriter of all time.

I disagree on the non-rocking. I've never been to a GbV show where there wasn't a completely joyous, electric, fist-pumping mood among the audience.

And I don't hear it as standard issue rock, either. To my fanboy ears, Robert Pollard's mishmash of 60s pop and psychedelia, 70s prog and stadium rock, 80s college radio pop, and his not-infrequent spates of far gone weirdness and noise is, while not groundbreaking at all, full of personality and a load of fun for those of us who basically like the same things he does.

Bob likes pop songs, he likes theatrical 70s Euro-prog mystique, he likes punk. He's stuck in the past and, for some of us, that's not a bad thing.

I also love his sense of wordplay. I hear new things in his old songs all the time. His ear for pretty phrasing, ugly phrasing, funny, and mysterious phrasing impresses me constantly.

I like his sense of humor and the essentially optimistic outlook that nearly all Pollard music has.

He's a hero to me. I'll never stop supporting him.

― Mean Guy, Saturday, 29 March 2003 02:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Also, does anyone here know if something like this has been done before?

For the next Bob Pollard record, The Phantom Tollbooth have taken the vocals off their album Power Toy and handed the instrumental tracks over to Bob so he can come up with new vocal melodies and lyrics.

― Mean Guy, Saturday, 29 March 2003 02:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Agreed. Actually, I might even agree with the editor of Magnet Magazine, when he said that Pollard had written more great songs than the Beatles, the Stones, and the Who, combined.

― James Riot, Saturday, 29 March 2003 05:09 (twenty-two years ago)

haha was it 'opposite day'?

― geeta (geeta), Saturday, 29 March 2003 05:12 (twenty-two years ago)

sometimes i really wonder if people who say things like that have actually ever heard any music other than indie rock

― jess (dubplatestyle), Saturday, 29 March 2003 05:16 (twenty-two years ago)

I can't believe someone reads Magnet Magazine. I thought it was just for birds to make nests out of.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Saturday, 29 March 2003 05:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Saying you don't "get" Guided By Voices is like saying you don't "get" Calvin & Hobbes.

Really.. some of these people here sound like they actually read Rolling Stone....

― DanC, Saturday, 29 March 2003 05:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Skipping 25 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

A 1cd GBV best-of would be killer as long as it has "Gold Star for Robot Boy" on it. A good GBV song wipes the floor with most indie rock pop stuff but these days they are sadly hard to come by.

― adam (adam), Saturday, 29 March 2003 15:10 (twenty-two years ago)

I do kinda feel bad for the folks who don't get Bob

Are you quite all right? If people don't like his stuff that doesn't mean they become objects of pity, fer cryin' out loud! It's a difference of opinion! Worry about more important things, please. ;-)

As for me, Crying Your Knife Away is endlessly entertaining drunk rock fun. And that's about all I have to say about GBV, as that's the the only album I've heard more than once.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 29 March 2003 15:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on
- John Keats

I know that my listening has only scratched the surface of Pollard's voluminous output, but perhaps I can be forgiven if the things that I have heard have not inspired me to undertake a more extensive investigation. I hear all of these GBV fans waxing rhapsodic about Pollard's incredible way with hooks, but the hooks that I hear lack an essential ingredient, which is rhythm. A hook without a good sense of rhythm is kind of a like a beer without alcohol - it might have the right flavor, but it's bound to leave you feeling unsatisfied. Perhaps GBV fans prefer the slapdash, four-track aesthetic because it allows them to imagine the perfect rendition in their minds. It's as though Pollard provides a quick sketch and leaves the full realization as an exercise to the listener - which each listener can flesh out in the way that is most appealing to them.

― o. nate (onate), Saturday, 29 March 2003 15:29 (twenty-two years ago)

I'd rather hear them then see them. They do that fake casual smoking-and-chatting-and-pointing-at -things-in-the-audience-while-playing routine way too much, it makes me cringe.

― Arthur (Arthur), Saturday, 29 March 2003 17:42 (twenty-two years ago)

"the slapdash four track aesthetic"

b-b-b-b-but not all of Pollard's music is lo-fi! A majority of their music since 1995 is recording about as well as any other rock record.

I wish Pollard had a better rhythm section. He always settles for playing with adequete players in his band when his songs really deserve more inspired performances and arrangements. On the other hand, I certainly can't blame him for preferring to play with his buddies.

That said, I think Doug Gillard is a great guitarist for him, and I hope he keeps him around for the long haul.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Saturday, 29 March 2003 18:29 (twenty-two years ago)

recording ---> recorded.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Saturday, 29 March 2003 18:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Question: Are there 25 GBV songs as good as "Motor Away," "Teenage FBI," "The Official Ironmen Rally Song," and "I Am a Scientist"?

If so, Pollard should put it out immediately. And all my Pollard-hating friends should buy it and eat crow...

― Pete Scholtes, Sunday, 30 March 2003 17:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Arena riffs to please the rockers.
Perfect melodies to please the uncommited music fan.
Cerebral lyrics to please the indie geeks.
Mass beer consumption to please the partyers.

guided by voices should be the biggest band on the planet.

― a, Sunday, 30 March 2003 17:15 (twenty-two years ago)

I heard "Motor Away" first, I think it was on What's Up Matador, and that's how I got into GbV (well, I only ever bought 3 albums, so that's not really getting into them). But hearing "Motor Away" first was tough, b/c that's by far their best song, IMO, and I kept hoping in vain there was another one as good. But Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes are good, and I enjoyed seeing them live the first time especially. Now I get sad seeing Pollard up there drunk -- I understand what nabisco is saying above, but I think Pollard's drunk rock dance is veering toward Wesley Willis territory at this point.

― Mark (MarkR), Sunday, 30 March 2003 17:39 (twenty-two years ago)

I used to really, really like Guided By Voices. I mean really like them. I bought the GBV-related albums and EPs and extended singles and box sets, eventually having an entire shelf dedicated to Pollard and his collaborators.
But then I had a moment of clarity. His most recent albums just aren't that good. Granted, Pollard's talented enough that there will always be a couple of good tunes on each release, but that doesn't make up for the dozens of throwaways. And this Fading Captain series just reeks of opportunism, and God bless him. I'm guessing he knows that he has a core fan base that would buy anything with his stamp on it. So as an indie impresario, he has his licence to print money.
Instead of releasing a 100-song box set of his best songs, Pollard should concentrate on one album of good songs. I lost interest a couple of albums ago, and I'm sure I'm not the only fan.

― Bruce Urquhart (Bruce Urquhart), Sunday, 30 March 2003 17:51 (twenty-two years ago)

GBV: The Gathering.

Seriously, GbV should consider a Magic: The Gathering style marketing campaign. Have fans buy a "booster" of songs (some auto-generated CD-R of 'previously unreleased' songs or something, and -- somehow -- fans get to use those songs in some form of entertaining competition. And value can be used to trade songs.. etc. boast the 'best' home made compilations, etc.

― donut bitch (donut), Sunday, 30 March 2003 17:51 (twenty-two years ago)

I must be in a tiny minority as a long-term fan (since Propellor) who thinks the recent albums (esp. Isolation Drills) are among Bob's best work.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Sunday, 30 March 2003 20:59 (twenty-two years ago)

I might be kinder to them based on only ever really having listened to Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes. And Under the Bushes, but that was sort of crap so I stopped there.

― nabisco (nabisco), Monday, 31 March 2003 04:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Jim, I'm with you on feeling the newer stuff ranks with his best. Even though Isolation Drills is supposedly about the dissolution of Pollard's marriage, it is such a feel-good rock album, a great driving record. Anthemic and all that shit.

― Colin O, Monday, 31 March 2003 14:11 (twenty-two years ago)

i used to love em - 'propellor' and 'bee thousand' are damned increidble works of weirdo pop.... but i dunno

― j fail (cenotaph), Monday, 31 March 2003 14:28 (twenty-two years ago)

check this out: http://www.unm.edu/~zurn/bob/
in much the same vein as the Weezer thesis, here's one on GBV & co.

― M Matos (M Matos), Monday, 31 March 2003 23:13 (twenty-two years ago)

I had to stop reading, but that article at least made me remember "Hot Freaks." What a great song.

― Pete Scholtes, Tuesday, 1 April 2003 00:06 (twenty-two years ago)

gbv has more great songs than anyone else on the planet.

― a, Tuesday, 1 April 2003 02:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Jack Logan has already gotten 42% of the way there already with this:
http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drc400/c455/c455736m15s.jpg

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 03:22 (twenty-two years ago)

I LOVE GBV! even when they suck. I just wanted to get that off my chest

― girl scout heroin (iamamonkey), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 10:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Question: Are there 25 GBV songs as good as "Motor Away," "Teenage FBI," "The Official Ironmen Rally Song," and "I Am a Scientist"?

Totally. Way more than that, actually. You can find six or seven of them on Speak Kindly Of Your Volunteer Fire Department alone.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 11:14 (twenty-two years ago)

If Bob Pollard released a 100 track "Best Of" it would still be devoid of many classic tracks. Thing is, with all his short tracks, 100 tracks might only occupy three CDs. I submit that the whole of Pollard's BEST work could occupy 4-5 discs -- Then, once you dip into some live stuff and rarities, you're talking a solid 6 disc set (complete with an official GBV beer cozy and sweat rag). Even if you're indifferent about the guy, you can't deny the passion of his fans -- and that alone is merit enough to justify the task.

― christoff (christoff), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 12:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Believe it or not, I'm actually still working on it.

― matt riedl (veal), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 16:21 (twenty-two years ago)

instead of the Merzbox... the Bobox.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 22:38 (twenty-two years ago)

>I've got nothing against gbv but if people want middlingly memorably >standard-issue rock, why not just buy dollar bin records?
>-- Fritz Wollner (fritzwollner5...), March 28th, 2003.

Dummy.

― Esker Billion, Monday, 7 April 2003 19:27 (twenty-two years ago)

yes, dummy is a future dollar bin record.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Monday, 7 April 2003 19:32 (twenty-two years ago)

>But that's the problem: Indie-priss rhythm sections like
>Guided by Voices' are to be seen and not heard. Or at least
>not moved to.
>-- chuck (cedd...), March 29th, 2003.

Indie-priss rhythm section? I've seen Tim Tobias (bass) and Nate Farley (rhythm guitar) polish off a family size bottle of Jack Daniels and keep playing. Is that considered prissy now-a-days?

― Esker Billion, Monday, 7 April 2003 19:50 (twenty-two years ago)

>It's as though Pollard provides a quick sketch and leaves
>the full realization as an exercise to the listener - which
>each listener can flesh out in the way that is most appealing
>to them.
>-- o. nate (syne_wav...), March 29th, 2003.

Great analogy! I think that's why the older GbV albums are more appealing to me. They leave a lot to the imagination, which in turn brings on more repeated listenings. This also makes it difficult for a lot of folks to get into them.

― Esker Billion, Monday, 7 April 2003 20:18 (twenty-two years ago)

four years pass...

Matt, you never presented a list!

My enthusiam has waned in recent years given that his solo shit has been so boring since GBV ended. I still go back to some of those ep's from the bee thousand years and think its some fuckin weird jangly folk shit perfection, not to mention his first five solo albums or so.

― ColinO, Monday, 20 August 2007 20:13 (eighteen years ago)

disagree.

― Richard Wood Johnson, Monday, 20 August 2007 20:32 (eighteen years ago)

I'm really digging the new Circus Devils disc so far. Curious to hear the new Takeovers too.

― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Monday, 20 August 2007 20:45 (eighteen years ago)

Cut it down to a 30-song, 2xCD set, and then I'll grant that it would be, you know, really good.

― nabisco, Monday, 20 August 2007 20:46 (eighteen years ago)

30 of Pollard's best wouldn't even fill a single disc.

― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Monday, 20 August 2007 20:50 (eighteen years ago)

Best of GbV has 32 tracks. 1 disc.

― marmotwolof, Monday, 20 August 2007 21:18 (eighteen years ago)

Not that it would be anyone else's best of, not even mine entirely, but I think RP picked all the tracks himself (probably a good warning sign, right there):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_Of_Guided_By_Voices:_Human_Amusements_at_Hourly_Rates

― marmotwolof, Monday, 20 August 2007 21:22 (eighteen years ago)

Ha, right, I forgot the length issue! But really, even with his best songs, I think there are some hardcore diminishing stylistic returns that crop up once you pass a certain number. I'll happily take a couple albums, or a set of 30/40 tight ones, but beyond that it seems fairly redundant, you know?

― nabisco, Monday, 20 August 2007 21:26 (eighteen years ago)

he's like the sensational alex harvey band of the 90s minus the glamtasticity

-- jess (dubplatestyle), Friday, March 28, 2003 9:19 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark Link

this made no sense at all! alex harvey and gbv are such different beasts.

― M@tt He1ges0n, Monday, 20 August 2007 21:36 (eighteen years ago)

they both liked teh booze?

― stevie, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 07:34 (eighteen years ago)

... and they were old when they "made it"... and kind of very specific to the places they came from

― Tom D., Tuesday, 21 August 2007 08:50 (eighteen years ago)

This is true, except the artist is actually Mark E. Smith.

― bendy, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 10:26 (eighteen years ago)

Mark E. Smith wasn't old when he "made it"

― Tom D., Tuesday, 21 August 2007 10:28 (eighteen years ago)

I saying you could pick 100 MES tracks that would convince a far broader range of people than his typical audience, but not so with Pollard.

― bendy, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 11:07 (eighteen years ago)

I not proofreader either.

Hey that could be Pollard or MES title!

― bendy, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 11:09 (eighteen years ago)

Arena riffs to please the rockers.
Perfect melodies to please the uncommited music fan.
Cerebral lyrics to please the indie geeks.
Mass beer consumption to please the partyers.

guided by voices should be the biggest band on the planet.

-- a, Sunday, March 30, 2003 5:15 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark Link

no blastbeats, though :-/

― latebloomer, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 11:48 (eighteen years ago)

I don't know who's Bob Pollard, but I'm almost sure Herbie Hancock could put out "a 100 song box set of the best of all his projects" which would beat this Pollard guy's box.

― Tuomas, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 12:34 (eighteen years ago)

Hell yeah, although it's that kind of response that makes those who don't like GBV like them even less . For those who sorta like them there's a lot of great stuff hidden away on 7"s and B-sides that could easily have been on the greatest hits thingy. I'll Name You the Flame That Cries for one, Color of my Blade, and about 78 others according to my playlist.

― hugo, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 18:07 (eighteen years ago)

I sure wouldn't have picked that Tobin Sprout track for the best of. If I could only have one, it would probably be Dodging Invisible Rays.

― marmotwolof, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 18:52 (eighteen years ago)

Pollard fanboys always come off willfully unaware of all the qualities that great rock songs and great rock bands can possess that GBV completely lack.

― Alex in Baltimore, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 18:58 (eighteen years ago)

haha i have actually been listening to alien lanes a lot lately but this thread subject is still madness

― strongohulkington, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 18:59 (eighteen years ago)

Hey, at least he gave "Laugh" as an option.

― Alex in Baltimore, Tuesday, 21 August 2007 19:03 (eighteen years ago)

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