quote:

Originally posted by EricG75:
MJ, how about a list of the best GBV songs not written by Bob Pollard? Two that come to mind for me are Tobin Sprout's "Atom Eyes" from Under the Bushes, Under The Stars, and Doug Gillard's "I Am A Tree" from Mag Earwig.

Not exactly what you asked for, but the only way I could justify doing it.

Upon further review, I found 19 GBV songs that were either written solely by Toby or he got top billing in the writing credit. The three I missed the first time around were all co-written with Pollard: “Sot”, “#2 In the Model Home Series” and “Ester’s Day.” Of those, he only sings lead on ED. Here are the Top 10 Tobin Sprout penned (and sung) GBV Songs (for the record, not one dud amongst the 19):

1. “Awful Bliss” from Bee Thousand
2. “Atom Eyes” from Under the Bushes Under the Stars
3. “Little Whirl” from Alien Lanes
4. “Dodging Invisible Rays” from Tigerbomb EP
5. “Gleemer (The Deeds of Fertile Jim)” from Vampire on Titus
6. “To Remake the Young Flyer” from UtBUtS
7. “A Good Flying Bird” from AL
8. “Ester’s Day” from B1000
9. “Scissors” from King Shit and the Golden Boys
10. “Jabberstroker” from Sunfish Holy Breakfast EP


Perhaps the most under-rated of Bob’s cohorts is his older brother Jim Pollard. Although he is never given full writing credit he got second billing 40 times. Jimmy P had his hand in many of my favorite GBV songs. Here’s Jim Pollard’s Top Ten Contributions to GBV:

1. “Pendulum” from Same Place the Fly Got Smashed
2. “On the Tundra” from Propeller
3. “Unleashed! The Large Hearted Boy” from P
4. “Smothered in Hugs” from B1000
5. “Deaf Ears” from The Official Ironmen Rally Song EP
6. “Club Molluska” from SPtFGS
7. “Expecting Brainchild” from VoT
8. “Buzzards and Dreadful Crows” from B1000
9. “The Hard Way” from SPtFGS
10. “Lethargy” from P

Thirty-nine songs feature Tobin Sprout as the second song-writer with almost all of Tonics & Twisted Chasers, which was basically just Pollard, Sprout and a 4-track. Some of these songs are so near and dear to me that I can’t really rank one over another without serious regret. I’ll give it a shot anyway. Here are the Top Ten Pollard/Sprout Tunes:

1. “14 Cheerleader Coldfront” from P
2. “A Salty Salute” from AL
3. “Motor Away” from AL
4. “Dayton, Ohio – 19 Something and 5” from T&TC
5. “Wondering Boy Poet” from VoT
6. “Indian Fables” from Fast Japanese Spin Cycle EP
7. “Red Gas Circle” from P
8. “King and Caroline” from AL
9. “Demons Are Real” B1000
10. “At the Farms” from T&TC

Once you get past Toby and Jim Pollard, there are about two dozen songs left over. Here’s the best of the rest:

1. “I Am a Tree” (Doug Gillard) from Mag Earwhig!
2. “Postal Blowfish” (Pollard, Mitch Mitchell) from KSatGB
3. “Back to Saturn X” (Pollard, Mitchell, Conley, Mapier, Smith) from Delicious Pie & Thank You for Calling
4. “Trendspotter Acrobat” (Jim Greer) from Sunfish Holy Breakfast EP
5. “Avalanche Aminos” (Pollard, Gillard) from Hold on Hope EP
6. “Trap Soul Door” (Pollard, Mitchell) from Sandbox
7. “Snowman” (Pollard, Kevin Fennell) from FJSC EP
8. “Deathtrot and Warlock Riding a Rooster” (Pollard, Mitchell) from KSatGB

Pretty good lists MJ. I tried to make them into playlists, although I'm not quite the GBV completist you are.

The only additions I would probably make are:

Toby's "It's Like Soul Man" from UTBUTS
Toby and Bob's "Ex-Supermodel" from AL

The latter is a great song despite the odd production choice of featuring snoring over the entire track.

Incidentally MJ, I'm lacking a lot of the GBV EPs and rarities you have. I've got Sunfish Holy Breakfast and The Pipe Dreams of Instant Prince Whippet, as well as Hardcore UFOs which collects a fair amount of rarities.

Your next challenge, should you choose to accept it:

The best non-LP GBV tracks. You can also include alternate versions of tracks that did make it onto LPs.

I figured I'd make my own list of the best songs from the first Suitcase set that came out a few years ago. I'll admit, there were quite a few mediocre songs I had to sift through to find the good stuff, but it was worth it in the end. The ones in bold are the best of the best, IMO. Anyway, here goes:

Driving in the U.S. of A. (this one is more like noise than music, but I like it for some reason)
The Terrible Two
Tear It Out
Bunco Men
Dorothys A Planet
Let's Go Vike
Pink Drink
Spring Tigers
Little Jimmy the Giant
Taco,Buffalo,Birddog & Jesus
Supermarket The Moon
Ha Ha Man(My favorite version)
Our Value of Luxury
Bug House
Shrine to the Dynamic Years
I Can See It In Your Eyes
Tobaccos Last Stand
Sing It Out
Messenger
The Fool Ticket
Mallard Smoke
Blue Gil
I'm Cold
Damn Good Mr. Jam (an excerpt of this is heard on Propeller)
Long Way to Run
Settlement Down
Mr. Japan
A Good Circuitry Soldier(this one is a gem. I know this because Bob says so..)
Cocain Jane
Exploding Anthills
Perch Warble
Once In A While
Little Head
The Flying Party
Trashed Aircraft
Wondering Boy Poet

quote:

Originally posted by EricG75:
The only additions I would probably make are:

Toby's "It's Like Soul Man" from UTBUTS
Toby and Bob's "Ex-Supermodel" from AL

Both excellent choices. "Soul Man" was one of my very last cuts. In the end, I decided since it was also featured on Toby's first solo album (Carnival Boy - Matador, 1996), it was more of a solo song than a GBV song.

I once had a 90 minute tape of my favorite non-LP GBV songs. I absolutely wore it out. I'll try to recreat it for the next challenge.

Well here's what I came up with. I remembered that the tape I mentioned was actually all of the random GbV stuff I had on vinyl and non-LP CDs instead of pure 'best of' compilation-- I also did it circa Mag Earwhig!, so it actually fit on a 90 minute tape. So for this project, I compiled all my favorite tunes from the non LP releases into one massive playlist. It was a bit too long, so I started by cutting all the stuff that were from the two odds and sodds compilations (King Shit and the Golden Boys and Delicious Pie and Thank You for Calling). It was still a bit long, so I decided to slash any song that I had already mentioned in this thread. This left me with a manageable group of songs, and with a few cuts I had it all fitting neatly on an 80-minute CDR-- sequencing was a bitch, but I think it flows nicely. I've had the other compilation in the car CD player since I posted it here, so this will be a welcome change.


Guided by Voices – Best of the Non-LP Songs

01. “I’ll Get Over It” from TGH
02. “Unleashed! The Large-Hearted Boy (Live Version)” from CW
03. “My Impression Now” from FJSC
04. “Damn Good Mr. Jam” from SAJ
05. “The Winter Cows” from SHB
06. “The Who Vs. Porky Pig” from POPP
07. “Gelatin, Ice Cream Plum . . .” from SAJ
08. “A Crick Uphill” from HOH
09. “Systems Crash” from POPP
10. “Let’s Ride” from FSB
11. “If We Wait” from SHB
12. “Off the Floor” from TGH
13. “Do the Earth” from IAAS
14. “Kissing to the Crying Cooks” from FJSC
15. “Dusty Bushworms” from GOOMS
16. “A Contest Featuring Human Beings” from SHB
17. “Idiot Princess” from HOH
18. “Like I Do” from FSB
19. “Big School” from SAJ
20. “Tropical Robots” from HOH
21. “June Salutes You” from TOIRS
22. “Cocksoldiers and Their Postwar Stubble” from SHB
23. “Shocker in Gloomtown” from TGH
24. “Underground Initiations” from HOH
25. “Hey Ardvark” from SAJ
26. “He’s the Uncle from SS
27. “Perfect This Time” from HOH
28. “Spring Tiger” from GOOMS
29. “Beekeeper Seeks Ruth” from SHB
30. “Dig Through My Window” from TPDOIPW
31. “Break Even” from TGH
32. “Interest Position” from HOH
33. “Color of My Blade” from MA
34. “Dusted” from FJSC
35. “Delayed Reaction Brats” from SS
36. “A Life in Finer Clothing” from POPP
37. “Kiss Only the Important Ones” from TB
38. “Real” from WIOH
39. “The Ascended Master’s Grogshop” IAAT

Total Disc Time: 1:19:16

Key:

TGH – Grand Hour EP
CW – Cutout Witch 7”
FJSC – Fast Japanese Spin Cycle EP
SAJ – Static Airplane Jive EP
SHB – Sunfish Holy Breakfast EP
POPP – Plantations of Pale Pink EP
HOP – Hold on Hope EP
FOB – Forever Since Breakfast EP
IAAS – I Am A Scientist Maxi Single
GOOMS – Get Out of My Stations EP
TOIRS – The Official Ironmen Rally Song Maxi Single
SS – Superchunk Split 7”
TPDOIPW - The Pipe Dreams of Instant Prince Whippet Mini LP

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Maximum Jack,

In the spirit of the title of this thread, I thought I'd take the opportunity to jot down some thoughts on each record in the GBV Discography (or at least the ones I own). I'm going to go chronologically using the GBV Discography listed here. My hope is to do a couple a week, so that hopefully I'll be done some time before the end of this decade. I'm doing this in the hope that it will stir up some more GBV-related discussion, so please feel free to comment or chastise!

Forever Since Breakfast – Originally released on I Wanna Records, Vinyl only 12” EP in 1986 (Current availability: Only as part of the Hardocre UFO Box Set on Matador Records, 2003)

"I was not happy with Forever Since Breakfast. We let the guy in the studio pretty much dictate what had to be done, and I thought it sounded sterile."-- Robert Pollard

Listening to FSB in hindsight, it is difficult to discern where this group was headed. To say this is a band trying to find its voice is a bit of an understatement. This incarnation of GBV: Robert Pollard (vocals), Mitch Mitchell (bass), Paul Comstock (guitar) and Peyton Eric (drums), sounds like any of a number of college rock bands that sprouted up all over the country in the wake of the jangle-pop explosion down in Athens, GA circa 1980. While this record is not groundbreaking in any way shape or form, it is quite pleasant and does not deserve the contempt it has received over the years from Robert Pollard-- it was out of print for nearly two decades because he was ashamed of it! For all its shortcomings, FSB still has a pretty good hit to miss ratio, and if anything, is more focused than most of Pollard's later efforts. Of the seven songs, I can’t really say there is one that forces me to hit the skip button, and no less than four songs that I really like (“Let’s Ride”, “Like I Do”, “The Other Place” and “She Wants to Know”). Of course, I think Pollard’s main concern with this recording was the production, which he had no control over. It would pretty much be the last time that would happen until his major label debut 13 years later.

Overall, I'd give this EP a solid three stars, but due to it's limited availability via the Box Set (the vinyl version routinely goes for several hundred dollars on eBay), I can only recommend this to Robert Pollard complete-ists. However, if Matador ever happens to release this separately, snatch it up!

EDIT: I added the Pollard quote, because I'm going to try to lead each of my reviews this way from now on

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Maximum Jack,

Good review, MJ. I really enjoy Forever Since Breakfast. I'd say Sometimes I Cry is the highlight of the ep, though. It's pretty surprising to me that this album was unavailable in cd form for so many years. And it's probably just me, but I felt like the songwriting on here was stronger overall than on the next 2-3 albums in their catalogue. I didn't hear it until the Hardcore UFO's set came out, and I remember just listening to it on repeat all night during a long road trip. So, yeah, I'd say if anyone is enough of a gbv fan to buy 5-6 of their albums, they would most likely enjoy this one too. It's not the best starting point, of course.

GbV's early recordings are some of my favorites I've recently discovered. I've never really liked Forever Since Breakfast, but it's got some great moments on it (Like I Do and Sometimes I Cry). But as long as you're undertaking reviewing every GbV album MJ, I'd love to throw in my two cents on a few albums, specifically Bee Thousand and Mag Earwhig!

quote:

Originally posted by Eckle:
I'd love to throw in my two cents on a few albums, specifically Bee Thousand and Mag Earwhig!

I'd love to read them and encourage you not to wait until I get to those albums-- it could be awhile

Two votes for "Sometimes I Cry." I mentioned in the FSB post that the main reason Pollard essentially disowned the debut EP was the production. I think another big reason for his dismissal was the lyrics. Pollard was writing the most straight forward lyrics of his career at this point, and 'straight forward' is not his forte. Usually, lyrics mean squat to me. I much prefer to have bad lyrics than no lyrics at all, but some of the lines in "SIC" just make me cringe:

"Every moment speaks hovering silently in the air
The wind hammers like a drum
Every highway leads into a darker sea of despair
Turn you back to where I come from"

Still, the song has a very nice melody and a very singable chorus-- so I can't write it off as a bad song, just not one of my faves from the EP.

I've been thinking, is the Hardcore UFOs boxset worth the cost? I've heard some streams of the EPs and albums from it, but its list price is $40 at my record store. I've liked some of the material I've heard from it, but based on MJ's review, I'm not sure it's worth buying. Should I get it now or wait a while?

I'd also love to write a review of Bee Thousand this week. Maybe I'll post it this Wednesday.

If it was me, I'd listen to all their 90's albums first before spending the cash on the Hardcore UFO's set, Eckle. I'm guessing the first 3 Robert Pollard albums are also more satisfying than the set, although I've only heard Waved Out so far. Personally, I don't find myself listening to most of that boxset, just certain discs. It's definitely worth getting at some point, though.
Edit: It looks like you already heard a good deal of their 90's output, so if you're itching to buy it I'd say go for it. One of the things about the set that I'm weary of is the greatest hits disc (I hate the idea that newcomers are hearing these great songs out of context).

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Tron Jeremy,

quote:

Originally posted by Eckle:
I've been thinking, is the Hardcore UFOs boxset worth the cost?

I would imagine for you it would be worth the cost. The packaging is pretty fab. The booklet has some amazing pictures and some decent essays. It's worth it for fans, just for Demons & Painkillers disc which compiles a lot of the 'out-of-print singles, b-sides, etc.' Delicious Pie, which has some unreleased stuff, is also pretty good. And if you've never watched Banks Tarver's documentary Watch Me Jumpstart, then you are in for a treat. I'm not a huge fan of live stuff, but there are some excellent performances on Live at the Wheelchair Races. I don't think I was clear with my previous statement about the box. I don't think it serves as good introduction to the band, mainly because it is just too vast. A newbie would be much better served by picking up the 'Best of' or one of the proper albums. If you know you like Pollard, then I say get it.

Devil Between My Toes – Originally self-released on vinyl February 15, 1987 (Current availability: Only on Box which is a 5-CD box set which compiles all the pre-Propeller albums together in one convenient location, released on Scat Records in 1995)

“We did a second record, but I said—and this became the Guided by Voices aesthetic—‘I’m gonna put whatever I fucking want on the record. Because obviously we’re the only ones listening.’"—Robert Pollard

Saying that Pollard and Co. made a giant leap forward on their debut long player might be overstating things a bit. Still, it is by far more representative of what Guided by Voices would become then FSB. This time out, most of the ‘band’ that worked on the album would end up being the nucleus of GBV right up through the ‘classic’ albums of the early-mid 90s. Most notably, this was the first release to feature contributions from Tobin Sprout and Jim Pollard, though they’re not listed as official members in the liner notes. Musically, DBMT is one of the darkest albums in the Pollard canon. Songs like “Cyclops”, “A Portrait Destroyed by Fire” and the instrumentals “3 Year Old Man” and “Artboat” are downright creepy. Incidentally, there are five (!) instrumentals on this record out of 14 total tracks. I don’t think that any other GBV release ever had more than one, and frankly, all but one (“Crux”) feel like album filler. Lyrically, Pollard is starting to find his knack for absurdist lyrics, though it would be a while before he really had a firm grasp on this. Highlights include, the aforementioned “Portrait” and "Cyclops", “Dog’s Out” (which sounds like a good FSB outtake), “Captain’s Dead” and the delightful “Hank’s Little Fingers”.

It’s a little rough around the edges, and a little too inconsistent to rank among Pollard’s best work, but by no means is DBMT a dud. Two and half stars-- if they had just released another EP, it might have gone as high as four.

I *love* album packaging, and the essays and pictures sound good. I'm trying to hear everything Pollard put out, so Hard Core UFOs sounds like a good bet. Nice review of Devil Between My Toes, MJ. Do you do music reviews regularly?

Thanks for the kind words, Eckle. To answer your question: not really. I once worked for a local, nonprofit, weekly music rag. And by 'nonprofit', I mean it didn't make any money (or pay any for that matter), not that it was some sort of worthy cause

I'm going to try to keep posting these reviews on Tuesdays and Fridays. So here is the third installment:

Sandbox – Originally self-released on vinyl in 1987, recorded Summer of 1987 (Current availability: Only on Box which is a 5-CD box set which compiles all the pre-Propeller albums together in one convenient location, released on Scat Records in 1995)

“People say we sold out on Do the Collapse--no! We sold out on Sandbox. I even put that corny fucking photo of us on the cover. I thought it would be our power-pop record, like the Raspberries or Big Star. I thought it would get us recognized.”—Robert Pollard

According to the barely legible liner notes, Guided by Voices this time around was Robert Pollard (guitar and vocals), Mitch Mitchell (bass), Kevin Fennell (drums) and Jim Pollard (illegible, but I’m guessing guitar). A host of names are listed under “Others Guided.” Most significantly, Tobin Sprout and the New Creatures, which was another Dayton band featuring Greg Demos and Don Thrasher (today they record as 3 Dream Bag)-- the pieces were really starting to come together. Like DBMT before it, Sandbox was recorded at Steve Wilbur’s 8-track garage studio. Wilbur was more of heavy metal guy at heart, so while he received co-production credit he essentially allowed the boys total control of the studio. So compared to their later 4-track efforts, SB does sound a bit hi-fi, but it still has a bit of a muddied sound. On “Get to Know the Ropes” one of Pollard’s early psychedelic masterpieces, the track even sounds as if it drags at times. The song fades in and out, and finishes with, perhaps, Pollard’s first great absurdist lyric: “Ladies and Gentleman, back by popular demand for your entertainment and spiritual enlightenment Electric Jam Soul Aquariam[sic].” The line is delivered through a megaphone, which gives it quite a carnival-esque sound and perfectly segues into the more straightforward rocker, “Can’t Stop.” Highlights abound on this record which clocks in at just over 27 minutes and only has 12 songs. In addition to the two songs I’ve mentioned, “Everyday”, “Trap Soul Door”, “Long Distance Man”, and “Adverse Wind” are flat out Pollard classics. However, two of the songs here are arguably the worst he’s ever committed to tape: “Common Rebels” and “Certainly Hope Not.” “Lips of Steel”, the album opener, is not among my favorites and “Barricade”, the album's longest song at four and a half minutes, has some nice ideas but ultimately fails because Pollard was trying to do too much within the context of one song.

Again, as an harbinger of things to come, Sandbox is a nifty glimpse at the maturing of Pollard as a song-writer. The fact that this album is over in a flash, probably pads the rating somewhat, but I give it three Stars. By no means does it deserve “The weakest record the band ever recorded” tag, given by James Greer, the official GBV biographer. It’s at least better than DBMT, and I like it better than any of GBV’s late-period Matador records.

Oh dear. I just found the coolest blog that I cannot read for fear that I might end up plagiarizing. I should have suspected that someone (given the legions of Pollard fans) would have done this already. Anyway, just on first glimpse it looks really well done, so I think it would be wrong for me not to share it with you. He (The Rock Robot) has systematically gone through nearly all of Robert Pollard's extensive catalog and done what I am attempting to do here. Check it out: The Rock Robot's Guide to Guided by Voices

I take it from your lack of comments that no one else around here has heard the original GBV Box. Oh well, I'll soldier on. Here's round four:

Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia - Originally self-released on vinyl in 1989 (Current availability: Only on Box which is a 5-CD box set which compiles all the pre-Propeller albums together in one convenient location, released on Scat Records in 1995)

“In 1989 we did 500 copies of Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia, which was recorded in the Snakepit and again on Steve's 8-track. The sound got fucked up in the pressing, but I OK'd it anyway because I'm so impatient.”—Robert Pollard

When you hear the opening drum beat on the delightfully dreary “The Future is in Eggs,” which kicks off Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia, you immediately get the feeling that there is something special going on here. There is, SIAN is the first solid Guided by Voices record. Nods to Wire and Peter Gabriel-era Genesis abound, as Pollard is clearly wearing his influences on his sleeve. The album is nearly flawless: the one misstep being “The Qualifying Remainder,” which sounds like a tossed off instrumental (à la DBMT) with some obtuse and mostly indecipherable lyrics stuck on top. Interestingly, Pollard could have left this song off and it still would have been his longest album to date. But that really is quibbling, because the rest of SIAN is simply fantastic. It is the first GBV album to demand repeat listens and to benefit from the listener’s utilization of headphones. The guitar sounds on songs like the previously mentioned “Eggs” and “Slopes of Big Ugly” are angular and crisp, while the acoustic strumming on songs like “Paper Girl” and “Dying to Try This” are just sublime. SIAN is also home to the first GREAT Robert Pollard song, “Liar’s Tale.” Everything about this song is superb, though there isn’t much to it. Just Pollard singing with some sort of vocal trickery, accompanied by electric guitar played with a tremolo effect, which makes it sound otherworldly. “White Whale” is another early masterpiece and “The Great Blake Street Canoe Race,” with its not-quite-power-pop vibe, is yet another highlight. The album ends with an up tempo rocker, and features some of Pollard’s tape-splicing expertise—used to mimic the sound of searching for a station on the FM dial a technique he would use again, most famously on Propeller’s “Back to Saturn X Report”—on the fabulous “Radio Show (Trust the Wizard).” Trust the wizard indeed.

Being buried in the middle of the daunting, early years’ box set, I would imagine this is one of the least heard GBV releases. That should not be the case. The quality here is just a notch below what we would come to expect from Pollard in the early 90s. Four freakin' Stars.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Maximum Jack,

I'm sure more folks will jump in when you hit Propeller and Bee Thousand. A lot of folks, myself included, aren't terribly familiar with GBV's earlier years. I like reading the reviews though.