hardwood floor

i think Why Did you Land goes back earlier than 1996, right?

was just marveling last night at what a powerhouse that is

the guitar sound is just massive

i know it's an original Power of Suck track, and I think that's early 1990s?

but i'm gonna add it to my 1996 mix anyway

i'm gonna burn this tonight

Robert Pollard/Tobin Sprout 1996 Mix CD

Jabberstroker

Official Ironmen Rally Song

If we Wait

Maggie Turns to Flies

Bright Paper Werewolves

Your Name is Wild

Redmen and their Wives

Get under It

Hermit Stew

Girl Named Captain

Lord of Overstock

It's Like Soul Man

Underwater Explosions

Atom Eyes

Release the Sunbird

Man Called Aerodynamics

Acorns and Orioles

Psychic Pilot Clocks Out

Flat Beauty

Drag Days

Gas Daddy Gas

Cocksoldiers and their Postwar Stubble

Quicksilver

Heavy Metal Country

Don't Stop Now

I hear you on the Circus Devils - can't stand them for the most part.

yeah, up through 5 I bought all the Circus Devils stuff, just because it was Bob and I kept waiting to "get it"

but I finally bailed out

I can't imagine he's selling copies of this stuff to anybody other than the hardest hardcore bob apologists who would snap up a three-CD box set of Pollard, Nate Farley and Chris Slusarenko belching, then get drunk by themselves and sign onto Disarm the Settlers and brag about how brilliant it is and how drunk they are

yeah, not for me

i've tried many times but just don't dig circus devils

at all

a few good tracks here and there (bull spears, pattern girl) and i give bob credit for pushing the envelope, but ... it ain't for me

have always loved this band & great live

the post-Bob Wiseman (keyboards) stuff has never struck me quite luck Casino and Lost Together but maybe i should check out some of their newer stuff

Rain Down on Me has the simplest hammond solo ever but one of my favorites

'Til I Am Myself Again is a perfect pop song

I love the coastline!

I'm curious what makes you feel Pollard is the "greatest ever"?

 

just came across this blog post, no clue who it's by, but it kind of approaches putting into words what makes pollard special

http://grubtunes.blogspot.com/2010/03/superman-is-rocker-and-his-name-is.html

(by the way, superman is a rocker is the name of pollard's worst record ever)

Superman Is A Rocker And His Name Is Robert Pollard

Last year I fell in love with the music of Robert Pollard.

I’ve known about Guided By Voices for a long time. At least since I was 15 or something and asked my guitar teacher to bring me some of their albums after seeing the name online. I liked Aliens Lanes and Mag Earwhig! (not Bee Thousand though, which for some reason I always thought was overrated), but it wasn’t until the Boston Spaceships album The Planets Are Blasted that I started to really go nuts for this guy.

The Planets Are Blasted was the clincher because, unlike those cherished mid-90s GBV albums, it was (by Pollard’s standards) a lean 14 tracks long. Even if each song was like 1-minute long, the classic GBV albums are like 30 songs long and I just would always lose patience with them. I also liked how with The Boston Spaceships (and even later GBV work that at the time I hadn’t heard) the songs were actually fleshed out rather than just tossed off bits of genius.

The more I listened to Planets, the more I started to get why people worship Robert Pollard.

It’s because he is the Superman of songwriting.

Fact.

Though Pollard’s songs don’t (appear to) have any kind of deeper meaning and he’s not Bob Dylan writing stunning metaphoric imagery, or Lou Reed capturing the existential angst of city life, his grasp on hook craft and the abandon with which he rocks out may be unparalleled in all of rock music. When Pollard sits down to write a song, he never gets bogged down in any pretensions: he knows what he wants and what he wants are smashing rock hooks.

Song after song, Pollard’s verses are strong and melodic, but cut quickly to the chorus where he always seems effortlessly able to create incredible momentum and climax, often by repeating the same phrase over killer changes that manage to ‘lift’ it higher and higher. Sure, whatever, a lot of songwriters can write a solid chorus, but the sheer consistency with which Pollard can pump them out is astounding. It’s like he simply has the formula down for busting out pop songs. Or maybe he’s like that guy in Sandman who is driven mad by inspiration, except Pollard actually will turn all that inspiration into killer songs.

Like many 90s indie rockers, his lyrics seem chosen for their sound rather than their meaning, but Pollard just has this kind of earth shattering conviction noone else has. Even when he’s singing the most ridiculous thing, it always just sounds like, “yeah, totally.”

“He’s a terrible burden/On the quest for perfection/He’s such an infection/But it never gets him down,” he sings in “Johnny Optimist”.

Or another great line: “She may love her eggs,” from “Fair Touching” off Isolation Drills.

What do those lines even mean? They probably meant nothing when he wrote it, but you always know that even if he doesn’t mean it, he believes it. Maybe the first one means that he (the person being described) is a very far-from-perfect person, but he’s cool with that. Maybe the second means that she’s in love with youth and fearful of getting older and becoming infertile. Maybe. I don’t know. There’s always potential for meaning in Pollard songs, just like in everything apparently written nonsensically, but it’s that conviction of Pollard’s that truly makes him special. Even songwriters like Stephen Malkmus (who gets by on apathetic coolness) or Frank Black (who gets by on charisma and off-kilter-ness) who wrote some of the greatest indie rock of the 90s, simply don’t have the kind of conviction for material that is truly ridiculous like Pollard does. He seems like Jack Black’s character in School of Rock, a guy with a crazy record collection who’s very soul is possessed by rock; a kid who never grows up. Coincidentally, Pollard was also a schoolteacher before he started making enough money with his music to stop.

Of course, Pollard is also renown for being incredibly prolific, releasing at least a couple albums either solo or with one of his bands each year. He released more albums in 2009 than most bands release in a decade, or ever. Not all of these albums are great, and not all the songs on them are great, but they’re never that bad, and sometimes they are very awesome. One of the best things about being a Pollard fan is that you’re rarely kept waiting too long between one release and the next, and rarely are they disappointing. Even if he does release a shitty album, he’ll release another in a month that may very well kick ass. And he never changes but he’s never gotten boring either. If you keep doing something really, really well, who cares if you never change?

Actually that’s not true, Pollard has changed. His music has gone from short and scrappy to longer and finer tuned, from more rock to more pop, from 90’s production to 00’s production, and his songs cover a range of style like folk and grunge and different kinds of rock. But he’s never strayed from making the kind of balls-out, everybody-have-fun rock he’s always made and made better than anyone else at a pace that is beyond comprehension.

Superman is a Rocker. And His Name is Robert Pollard.

most Pollardheads rank that album pretty high, I think. it's a great one...so melodic...

 

i loved when Bob would introduce that stuff live..."this is a song from Speak Kindly of Your Volunteer Fire Department...because they might just save your burning asshole"

 

thanks for the mixes, guys...I'll post mine when I'm done with it

the 1999 tour GBV played like seven or eight songs from Speak Kindly. those were amazing shows with a ton of Fading Captain Series stuff in the set list

when they did And my Unit Moved totally straight with no sense or irony is what downright creepy

hey people are leaving -- i think we only have six or seven tracks in common on our lists, which just shows how varied his post-GBV output is ... although inconsistent, some really great stuff in there

hey matt! speak kindly is incredible! it is very highly regarded by GBV obsessives. as close to a GBV record as you'll ever get outside GBV (except maybe the equally incredible Choreographed Man of War)

tight globes ... pop zeus ... slick as snails (maybe my favorite gillard solo ever) ... frequent weaver who burns ... soul train college policeman ... all classics

Just for the hell of it, I'm curious to see what your 20 or so GREAT Bob songs since Normal Happiness mix would look like? I'm working on a mix for a friend who fell off the wagon after NH as well and need input.

ok, this beats working, so basically post-GBV minus FaCE?

top 40 post-FaCE would look something like this:

1. Miles under the Skin (Coast to Coast Carpet of Love)

2. Death of the Party (Keene Brothers)

3. How Wrong you Are (Boston Spaceships, Zero to 99)

4. Question Girl All Right (Boston Spaceships, Zero to 99)

5. No Island (Crawling Distance)

6. Be it not for the Serpentine Rain Dodger (Takeovers, Turn to Red)

7. Beauty of the Draft (Keene Brothers)

8. Circle Saw Boys Club (Silverfish Trivia Version 1)

9. Let it Rest for a While (Boston Spaceships, Zero to 99)

10. The Blondes (Off to Business)

11. Serious Bird Woman you Turn me On (Normal Happiness)

12. I Feel Gone Again (Normal Happiness)

13. Life of a Wife (Coast to Coast Carpet of Lov)

14. Radical Amazement (Boston Spaceships, Zero to 99)

15. Jesus the Clockwork (Psycho and the Birds, All that Is Holy)

16. The Butler Stands for all of Us (The Crawling Distance)

17. Gratification to Concrete (Off to Business)

18. Father Is Good (Psycho and the Birds, All That is Holy)

19. Look at your Life (Moping Swans)

20. Pattern Girl (Circus Devils, Sgt. Disco)

21. Shadow Port (Standard Gargoyle Decisions)

22. Island of Lost Lucies (Keene Brothers)

23. It's Devine (Go Back Snowball, Calling Zero)

24. Supernatural Car Lover (Normal Happiness)

25. Folded Claws (Standard Gargoyle Decisions)

26. Meddle (Boston Spaceships, Zero to 99)

27. Piss along you Bird (Silverfish Trivia)

28. Tattered Lily (unreleased demo from RobertPollard.com)

29. Insane/Cool It (Takeovers, Turn to Red)

30. Our Gaze (Coast to Coast Carpet of Love)

31. You Satisfy Me (Boston Spaceships, You Satisfy Me)

32. Gratification to Concrete (Off to Business)

33. The Way Out (Boston Spaceships, Camera Found the Raygun EP)

34. Lost upon Us (Keene Brothers)

35. Look at Yourself (Moping Swans)

36. Late Night Scamerica (Psycho and the Birds, All that is Holy)

37. To the Path! (Off to Business)

38. Silk Rotor (We all Got out of the Army)

39. Enon Beach (Psycho and the Birds, We've Moved)

40. Weatherman and Skin Goddess (Off to Business)

Has Zooey learned how to sing yet?

this made me LOL

yeah, the first disc was cringeworthy

i won't bother with this one

i mean, yeah, she's smokin' hot, but whatever

hey bob from bob ... thanks for sharing that

what a nice piece

great to hear tommy keene was involved. i don't know if anybody's music more closely captures the spirit, melodic sense and guitar crunch of big star

tommy is a god

You've brought this up before, and I'm curious what makes you feel Pollard is the "greatest ever"?

 

I love the guy - he's a unique and ridiculously talented songwriter in a prolific and melodic sense, but lyrically I would not put him in the same league as a Bob Dylan or Neil Young. Not even close.

what makes me think he's the best ever?

his songs?

believe me, i love dylan and neil young, and they're both in my all-time top-20 artists, but nobody has ever written as many incredible songs in such a staggering variety of styles over such a long period of time as pollard

it's not even close

anybody who can put out something like "question girl all right" on his 140th release is in a world of his own

dylan, his recent stuff has been passable, he hasn't blown me away probably since Time out of Mind - and that's gotta be 15 years ago? and most of his stuff actually since Slow Train has been uneven. that's 30 years ago.

neil, i dunno, the last record of his that i love is probably ragged glory, and that's 20 years ago

as a sort of afterthought, I wouldn't even dare bring this up on the GBV board - they crucify people for much less over there - attacking Bob and/or Todd is a death wish.

no, you're right ... Disarm the Settlers is an odd little place. some really cool people individually, but if you don't follow the precise set of accepted opinions agreed upon by the few dozen main posters - namely that everything pollard releases is better than the last thing he released and he's never put out a bad song and garbage like Superman Was a Rocker is way better than Alien Lanes - you're a fucking asshole. criticism is not allowed. if you don't like something, you're simply not welcome.

and make sure you mention how drunk you are, that's big over there. "I just drank two six-packs of Miller Lite. Just like Bob!"

anyway

BrianJeremy speaks the truth. the Boston Spaceships stuff has been real good, but the solo stuff is tired and very uneven, and the Todd Tobias connection has definitely lost its spark. and Circus Devils ... yeah, well, the hardcore fans pretend to like it, but it's 99 percent crap

pollard remains the greatest songwriter who ever lived. but his hit-miss ratio is as low as it's ever been

I saw Alex once in the late 1980s & he was bizarre, strange and totally wonderful. He ignored all the calls for "The Letter" or "September Gurls" and just played only his own bizarre, quirky solo stuff.

Amazing artist and musician & guitar player, singer, writer.

I played about five Chilton songs & "Alex Chilton" by the 'mats on my (non-music) radio show tonight & made me feel better and sadder too

here's watcher of the skies

really pretty damn great performance

i could do without the fucking crowd shots every 5 seconds

Hardwood, did you see that? Oh My God! Phish does "Watcher Of The Skies" to open the program - damn near perfectly!

 

And then Trey's wonderful, heartfelt introduction. It WAS an inspired choice for him to be the guy

 

I'm so stoked about this - I hope y'all are watching.

nah, i can't watch this

too sad

i'm sitting here watching the Celtics-Pistons game and listening to London 1973

this isn't how I want to remember Genesis

now, when Guided by Voice gets in the H-of-F, that I'll watch

Tonight on Fuse TV

wow, faith hill & maroon 5 performing

yeah, that makes perfect sense

they really embody what is great about rock 'n' roll

bunch of fucking fuckheads

i saw DS back in the late 1980s and they were just fantastic

was an outdoor shed show on a beautiful summer night

amazing show

making movies is an all-time top-20 record for me

Hiatt's been writing great songs and releasing great records and putting on great live shows for 30+ years

just saw him on Letterman & he's as good as ever

god, he sounded great

underrated as fuck songwriter

love john hiatt

always thought talking heads were a good band with an uneven catalogue ... a tad overrated maybe

never liked byrne

I'm not looking for new musical interests right now.

that's an odd little comment

not sure i've ever heard anybody say that

it's cool, you dig old stuff, but i've never heard it articulated that way

anyway, the few tracks i've heard from the gabriel sound pretty good. i just think the guy is too good to be doing this. and he should get his ass to the freaking R&R hall of fame and sing carpet crawlers with tony, steve and mike

marc ribot is an absolute beast

i went to see the felice brothers a few months ago & marianne faithful was also playing a set & ribot was playing guitar with her

faithful was pretty dull, but ribot was masterful

all-time top-10 guitar player for me

ok, carry on

always loved 'em