Robert Pollard, Etc.

[hardwood floor]

I love the coastline!

[sunken treasure]

fuck me. elephant jokes and army are killing me right now...two great albums from the man

 

this guy is having a career renaissance

 

uncle Bob!

 

[people are leaving]

Will be available only as a promotional release.

 

If you're interested shoot me a PM and I'll hook you up.

[sunken treasure]

 

here's Bobs (I'm guessing?) best of picks:

 

Go For The Exit (Boston Spaceships)

Gratification To Concrete

Queen Of Stormy Weather

Imaginary Queen Anne

Heavy Crown (Boston Spaceships)

By Silence Be Destroyed

The Girls Will Make It Happen (Circle Devils)

Nude Metropolis (Cosmos)

Let It Rest For A Little While (Boston Spaceships)

Jimmy

Ships From Prison To Prison (Circus Devils)

Winston's Atomic Bird (Boston Spaceships)

Don't Be A Shy Nurse (Cosmos)

The Butler Stands For All Of Us

You Satisfy Me (Boston Spaceships)

Stiff Me

Spectrum Factory

Letters From A Witch (Circus Devils)

The Original Heart

How Wrong You Are (Boston Spaceships)

Faking My Harlequin

He Had All Day (Circus Devils)

Welcome To Miami (Carbon Whales)

Question Girl All Right (Boston Spaceships)

 

no The Blondes, Weatherman, Canned Food Demons, Mexico City, etc

 

interesting inclusion of the circus devils tracks as well

[hardwood floor]

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

[sunken treasure]

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

Its 99% crap. Some of bob's most ridiculous, drunken vocals laid non top of eerie Todd music....I'll give them the music...its decent background/atmospheric noise, but I probably wouldn't spend money on it. The bob fan I used to be probably would...but I've spent to much $$ on shit like nightwalker and acid ranch to do it again. I'm strictly Bob proper and Boston Spaceships from here on out......pass the koolaid.

[brianjeremy]

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

 

I'll pick up the CD's albums if I find them cheap, for like under $5. The only one I ever paid full price for is Pinball Mars on vinyl from Rockathon back in the day. I seriously have found them all ridiculously cheap in the dollar/clearance bin or used. I found a new copy of Ringworm on vinyl for only a couple of bucks about seven years ago, which I consider a pretty good find. I haven't found Five, Ataxia or Gringo for a cheap price yet, but I have downloaded them. I still would like to pick up a few of them on cd just because I haven't gotten them on cd yet...I think their first 4-5 albums are only $5 from the Factory...

[hardwood floor]

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

[brianjeremy]

Seriously, Bob can't sell no more than 1,000-1,500 tops for those Circus Devils albums. The last two albums he did for Merge at one time had only sold 2,500 apiece.

 

I think this is the overall problem with Bob's current situation: he's releasing music to a small but none-the-less fervent fan base but is doing little to grow or develop as an artist. He may be fine with that and more power to him, but it would bug the shit out of me if I were allowing myself to be marginalized as an artist. As a fan I know he can do better but...he's not. Plain and simple.

[sunken treasure]

Seriously, Bob can't sell no more than 1,000-1,500 tops for those Circus Devils albums. The last two albums he did for Merge at one time had only sold 2,500 apiece.

 

I think this is the overall problem with Bob's current situation: he's releasing music to a small but none-the-less fervent fan base but is doing little to grow or develop as an artist. He may be fine with that and more power to him, but it would bug the shit out of me if I were allowing myself to be marginalized as an artist. As a fan I know he can do better but...he's not. Plain and simple.

 

go listen to Under the Bushes and live in 1996 forever then, mannnn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sunken treasure]

also, I think we should change the title of this thread to the "Bob Pollard discussion"

[brianjeremy]

go listen to Under the Bushes and live in 1996 forever then, mannnn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With very few exceptions, I pretty much already do.

[sunken treasure]

With very few exceptions, I pretty much already do.

 

in the pantheon of Bob, that's one of the best years to live in.

 

Bushes, Sunfish Holy Breakfast, Not In My Airforce, Tobin Sprout's Carnival Boy

 

goddamn, that was a great year

[hardwood floor]

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

[sunken treasure]

there's some food upon the taaaaable, boys.

[sunken treasure]

1996 mix:

 

Man Called Aerodynamics

Systems Crash

Cut-Out Witch

Why Did You Land?

The Official Ironmen Rally Song

June Salutes You!

To Remake the Young Flyer

No Sky 2:04

The Key Losers

Lord of Overstock

Acorns & Orioles

Get Under It

If We Wait

He's The Uncle

Bright Paper Werewolves

Your Name Is Wild

At The Farms

Dayton, Ohio - 19 Something And 5

Carnival Boy

Flat Beauty

Atom Eyes

Beekeeper Seeks Ruth

Big Boring Wedding

To My Beloved Martha

The Winter Cows

Sheet Kickers

Heavy Metal Country

Drag Days

Optional Bases Opposed

It's Like Soul Man

Redmen and Their Wives

Psychic Pilot Clocks Out

Don't Stop Now

 

 

best GBV cd ever? the amount of great songs Pollard and co. put out in 1996 is absolutely staggering

[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

[sunken treasure]

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

 

yeah, some of the tracks that came out that year go back pretty early...but as far as I'm concerned, if the official release came out in that year, it counts....haha

 

have you seen the footage of Mitch playing that? i think it's on Some Drinking Implied or something

 

[hardwood floor]

 

insanely great

[hardwood floor]

speaking of insanely great ...

 

here's the set list from the final show

 

one of the greatest nights of my life

 

Dec. 31, 2004

 

Over the Neptune/Mesh Gear Fox

Watch Me Jumpstart

Pimple Zoo

Everybody Thinks I’m a Raincloud

Fair Touching

Things I Will Keep

Glow Boy Butlers

Lethargy (Jim Pollard joining Bob on vocals)

The Best of Jill Hives

Red Ink Superman

Fourteen Cheerleader Cold Front (with Tobin on vocals & guitar)

Girls of Wild Strawbereies

Back to the Lake

Demons Are Real

Do the Earth

Tropical Robots

Beg for a Wheelbarrow

My Kind of Soldier (with Beatle Bob … um … dancing)

“Wished I Was a Giant”

Bright Paper Werewolves

Lord of Overstock

Window of my World

Navigating Flood Regions

Gold-Heart Mountain Top Queen Directory

Tractor Rape Chain

I Am a Tree (with Jon Wurster on drums)

Drinker’s Peace

Chief Barrel Belly

Game of Pricks

Pink Gun

Matter Eater Lad

Redmen and their Wives

Never Gonna Have to Die

I Drove a Tank

Shocker in Gloomtown (last two with Jim MacPherson on drums & Greg Demos on bass)

Secret Star

If we Wait

Huffman Prairie Flying Fields

Sad if I Lost It

Cut-Out Witch

Buzzards and Dreadful Crows

Alone, Stinking and Unafraid

Unleashed! The Large-Hearted Boy (with Matt Sweeney on bass)

Glad Girls

Johnny Appleseed (Bob, Jim Greer & Tobin)

Heavy Metal Country

Murder Charge

 

Encore No. 1

My Impression Now

My Valuable Hunting Knife

Queen of Cans and Jars

Hot Freaks (Tobin at some point starting singing)

Motor Away

I Am a Scientist (with Don Thrasher on drums)

Teenage FBI

Echos Myron (with Tobin on "Man of Wisdom ..." harmony)

Smothered in Hugs

 

Encore No. 2

A Salty Salute

Postal Blowfish

Pendulum

Dayton, Ohio, 19-something-and-5

He’s the Uncle

Exit Flagger

Don’t Stop Now

[Moss]

I saw Guided by voices 2/26/02 in Boulder, I would love to see a set list of that show but I can't seem to find one. Pollard handing me a Budweiser from the stage was one of the highlights of my concert going experiences. One of the best shows I have ever seen.

[hardwood floor]

I saw Guided by voices 2/26/02 in Boulder, I would love to see a set list of that show but I can't seem to find one. Pollard handing me a Budweiser from the stage was one of the highlights of my concert going experiences. One of the best shows I have ever seen.

 

that was just an incredible tour ... the universal truths and cycles tour ... they were just explosive, although i did think march wasn't as good a drummer as mccann and mcpherson

 

TONS of fading captain series stuff

 

the set list two nights earlier in kansas city was probably very similar:

 

1. Lethargy

2. Flat Beauty

3. Edison's Memos

4. Wire Greyhounds

5. Skin Parade

6. Mushroom Art

7. In Stitches

8. Back To The Lake

9. Zap

10. Christian Animation Torch Carriers

11. I Drove a Tank

12. Girl Named Captain

13. Wings of Thorn

14. Game of Pricks

15. Instrument Beetle

16. Universal Truths and Cycles

17. Twilight Campfighter

18. Submarine Teams

19. The Brides Have Hit Glass

20. The Weeping Bogeyman

21. The Enemy

22. Smothered In Hugs

23. From A Voice Plantation

24. Skills Like This

25. Everywhere with Helicopter

26. Cheyenne

27. Things I Will Keep

28. Teenage FBI

29. Love 1

30. Storm Vibrations

31. Soul Train College Policeman

32. Tight Globes

33. Tractor Rape Chain

34. Alone, Stinking And Unafraid

35. Glad Girls

36. Car Language

37. Echos Myron

38. Cut-Out Witch

Encore #1

39. My Valuable Hunting Knife

40. Watch Me Jumpstart

41. The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory

42. Fair Touching

43. Don't Stop Now

44. I Am A Scientist

[sunken treasure]

The last two albums he did for Merge at one time had only sold 2,500 apiece.

 

 

is that all he sold? jesus christ. that depresses me.

 

it's fucking criminal he isn't more popular

[hardwood floor]

is that all he sold? jesus christ. that depresses me.

 

it's fucking criminal he isn't more popular

 

true, but when you put out 10 to 12 records a year under eight different band names, how is a potential new fan going to get his arms around that?

 

GBV was fairly popular for a while there, but bob's decision to break up GBV and take the solo route certainly didn't help. very limited touring since and exteremely uneven records don't help either.

 

plus, standard gargoyle decisions & coast to coast carpet of love were released on the same day and both were pretty bad

 

i would say the only decent tracks on SGD were shadow port & folded claws, which are both great, and the only good tracks on coast to coast were miles under the skin and life of a wife, which had been floating around for a while and was on the original silverfish trivia that wasn't released ... our gaze is ok, too

 

so i agree that he has been criminally underappreciated but i think he's brought a bit of that on himself

[brianjeremy]

I know I've posted this or someone else has on here before, I couldn't find it though. It needs to be re-posted though. It's a funny article about his emissions and carbon foot print.

 

Man With Emission Are Robert Pollard and his spend-happy collector fans sowing ecological catastrophe?

By Aaron Leitko on December 20, 2007

 

It’s difficult to place limits on creativity and personal freedom, but somewhere between Universal Truths and Cycles and Normal Happiness it became appropriate to question whether the world can spare the resources necessary to accommodate all of the songs drifting around in Robert Pollard’s head.

 

It’s hard to find the ex-Guided by Voices frontman’s name in print without the word “prolific” trailing close behind. And with good reason: The guy writes a lot of songs. Since starting Guided by Voices in 1983, he’s registered more than 1,000 song titles with BMI. (Compare that to Prince, who’s registered only 636 with ASCAP, including eight versions of “1999.”) This year alone Pollard’s fertile mind has blessed listeners with two full-length records (Coast to Coast Carpet of Love and Standard Gargoyle Decisions), one mini-album (Silverfish Trivia), and six 7-inch singles. That’s not counting his songwriting contributions to the bands Circus Devils, the Takeovers, and Acid Ranch, each of which released a record in 2007. That’s almost as many titles in one year as Syd Barrett released during his lifetime—and it also sounds like a lot of CO2. Well, maybe not as much CO2 as Hinder’s last world tour. But given another 20 years, who knows what kind of lo-fi Chernobyl Pollard could help whip up?

 

Recently rock musicians have become more conscious of their carbon emissions than their hotel-room-smashing, Maserati-driving forebears. In 2006, Pearl Jam went to great lengths to offset the carbon footprint of its world tour—the band pledged to help restore 30 hectares of Ecuadorian rain forest and tour on buses that ran on pure biodiesel. Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood admitted to being stressed over his band’s carbon emission during a recent interview with Gothamist. Not to mention that Radiohead opted to initially distribute its new record, In Rainbows, digitally—albeit for reasons not directly attributable to climate change.

 

Pollard is apparently not among the enlightened. He continues to emit at least three records every single year, regardless of the environmental implications. Pollard has never posed as eco-savvy, but how many jangle-rock-meets-psychedelia afterthoughts can he press into a physical format before he becomes accountable?

 

Don MacInnis, owner of Camarillo, Calif.-based Record Technologies Incorporated—a company that presses records for Touch and Go among other labels—maintains that the process of pressing a vinyl record is pretty clean. “It basically involves a PVC—like the pipe—compound being heated by a natural-gas-fired steam boiler. The material is then cooled using water—the condensation from which is then captured and re-circulated,” he says. “The only waste products of a pressed phonograph record are records that are rejected on a quality-control basis.”

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CDs are created through a more complex process. “It’s an injection molding of a polycarbonate-based material,” says MacInnis. “We get them from a company in San Diego, and they’re manufactured in the U.S. Besides molding the disc out of the polycarbonate material, there are at least two additional steps where other layers are applied to that disc. There’s the reflective layer—the aluminum shiny part that gets sprayed onto the clear plastic. Then a protective coating for the aluminum—that’s an acrylic that’s spun onto the surface.”

 

“It doesn’t sound too bad,” says ­Maryland-based ecologist Dr. Deborah Landau. “But just the fact that it’s a petroleum product increases its carbon footprint. That means that it’s from the Middle East or Venezuela and that it’s coming from a great distance—plus all the strife of the war. Anything that involves a lot of petroleum product is going to have a very heavy footprint.”

 

CD packaging, Landau says, compounds the problem twofold. “The jewel case contains as much plastic as the CD itself,” she says. “Records usually come in cardboard or paperboard. CDs come in plastic cases­, so they have a much greater carbon footprint. And they’re not recyclable. They will end up in a landfill eventually.” Landau also maintains that CDs suffer from their aluminum coating. “Aluminum is a nonrenewable resource—once it’s out, it’s out. There’s also a lot of energy expended in mining it and refining it.”

 

All that said, Landau was disinclined to nail down a precise figure regarding the carbon footprint of CD and vinyl production, partly because of the difficulties of assessing just where the waste ends. “It’s so hard to say—I mean, do you count the device—the CD player or the record player? Which one consumes more energy? There’s so much involved,” says Landau. “With carbon footprints, you can just go on and on.”

 

Rob Pollard is relatively safeguarded against harming the globe on any massive scale, due to the size of his audience. Merge, Pollard’s current label, doesn’t make its pressing information public. But according to Nielsen SoundScan, Pollard has so far sold roughly 2,500 copies of his two recent full-lengths and 2,000 copies of his mini-album in the United States on both CD and vinyl. Which means that in America, Pollard has roughly 2,500 remaining hard-core fans who will actually shell out for 40 or 50 more songs per year. That’s nothing compared to the sales figures for Interpol’s Our Love to Admire—173,000 copies—or probably even the Wowee Zowee reissue that all those Pavement nerds clamored for..

 

Those 2,500 Pollard fans, however, suggest a problem that isn’t going away. At some point even the staunchest hipsters grow up, buy a Prius, and sell their Jesus Lizard records back to the store. But a growing populace of lifetime man-children who are hell-bent on accumulating every single-sided, lathe-cut Russian-pressed 10-inch record by an artist might start to add up to some pretty serious damage over the next 50 years. How about the people who are still buying Neil Michael Hagerty records? Every Wolf Eyes side project? At his current rate Pollard will have to press roughly 4 zillion more copies of Asshole 2: Meet the King—his second album consisting solely of live stage banter—before he croaks in order to flood Manhattan or reverse the North Atlantic current. But how many hectares of rain forest will have to be restored for the world to recover from the crushing carbon weight of a planet full of vinyl-loving indie-rock fanboys?