I've finally finished my go-through the entire back catalogue of Robert Pollard. He's put out nearly 150 records if you include EPs. Minus Alien Lanes even his most critically acclaimed records I often find patchy at best. If I'm honest, a high percentage of songs he puts out I really don't care for. However, spread out through all those records there's always a nugget or two (sometimes more) & I've ended up with a playlist of over 320 songs which I fucking love, which quite frankly is ridiculous. Even Bowie didn't have that many good tunes. I'm probably gonna split the tunes up into 20 song comps, that way whenever I fancy a bit of Pollard I don't have to hear any sub-par material.
Anyway, I'm here to share the gold, the hits, the deep cuts, the obscure side projects, the solo highlights & everything inbetween.
Daily Pollard #1 Airport 5 - Yellow Wife #5 Taken from Airport 5's debut, his side-project with Tobin Sprout. Jangly guitars reminiscent of early REM, essentially some talky bits with a huge chorus that repeats over and over again.
« Last Edit: Nov 8, 2018 15:02:14 GMT by Deleted »
The other day I got a bit angry because I saw you rated Class clown spots a ufo below whatever other record they released that year, when that's probably my favourite one of them since reforming. The title track is simply magnificent.
Amyway, looking forward to this. Then you can do a Tobin Sprout compilation, it can be Little Whirl on repeat.
Class Clown has a number of crackers on it, though I think there's plenty of shit too. The highlights on The Bears for Lunch are probably equal, though I think the rest of the record is of a better consistency. The latest Space Gun is one of my favourites they've ever done tbh.
Heh, I was just eyeing up the Tobin Sprout solo records on RYM
I saw GBV a few years ago at our local folk (sigh, don't ask) festival. They had 75 minutes and I believe they played 32 or 33 songs, so it was pretty good bang for the buck. Also, ol' Bob didn't stop drinking for the whole set. Like I said, value for money.
I'm mostly spending my GBV time between Bee Thousand & Alien Lanes for now. Of course, the sheer length of the albums means that some of the tunes are not fantastic, but yeah, both albums are littered with absolute gold. So far from Bee Thousand, I'm really enjoying:
Hardcore UFOs Buzzards & Dreadful Crows The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory Gold Star For Robot Boy Queen of Cans & Jars
Bee thousand has my two favourites as well, in tractor rape chain and I am a scientist. Oddly, I've seen both of them covered by Canadian bands, the former by sloan and the latter by Gord Downie & the Sadies.
Today's pick is a real obscurity from a side project called Mars Classroom which is Pollard with Gary Waleik of Big Dipper from 2011. The album is pretty solid, but this particular tune for me is top tier Pollard. The guitar tone is awesome with big sounding jangly guitars and the chorus gets me every time - plus BADASS guitar solo!. Check it out guys.
THE NEW THEORY OF EVERYTHING!
« Last Edit: Jan 19, 2019 14:21:05 GMT by Deleted »
Not to hijack your thread or anything (I was gonna start another one specifically for Guided By Voices) but uncovering some real fucking gems.
Been spending time Under The Bushes, Under The Stars and there is a couple of tracks from it absolutely love
Cut-Out Witch The Official Ironmen Rally Song
Also, if you don't want me polluting your thread, make it know and I'll get a Guided By Voices thread going. Might be an idea cos honestly feel like I'll be banging on about them for a while.
Of course stick them in here Tux. I bought under the bushes on CD absolutely years ago and really liked it, but never really followed up on it for years. It might be the best GBV for newer listeners due to how well polished it is, also it's one of their most consistent records.
It's definitely more polished than Bee Thousand & Alien Lanes but it still retains some of the roughness round the edges. I've dipped into Isolation Drills & Earthquake Glue a bit and they seem to be the albums that are properly polished with a much, much cleaner sound. I'll most likely spend the rest of this week with Bee Thousand, Alien Lanes and Under The Bushes Under The Stars then I'll move on, perhaps to those more polished records.
I'm not really doing the albums in any real order. I'm reading articles and stuff and just making decisions based on what I read. Honestly, it's one of the most satisfying journeys of discovers (at least musically) that I've been on. I seriously fucking love this band already after only these 3 albums and can see Guided By Voices becoming one of my all time favourite bands. They feel like the band I've always been looking for.
Have you heard the song Hold On Hope yet? It was pushed by the record company as they thought it would be a bit hit, Pollard fucking hated it It is possibly the most Oasis soppy sounding ballad I've ever heard. Like you can actually imagine Liam belting this out like its stand by me or let their be love. It's bland but I'd love for Liam to cover this
I think you are going about listening to them the right way, just go for the acclaimed stuff, then maybe the really early stuff then if you are still interested dig deeper into lesser known records, Pollard solo & the 10,000 side-projects. My playlist in Itunes of every great song ever recorded has 306 Pollard songs in it now
« Last Edit: Jan 22, 2019 22:27:19 GMT by Deleted »
Class Clown has a number of crackers on it, though I think there's plenty of shit too. The highlights on The Bears for Lunch are probably equal, though I think the rest of the record is of a better consistency. 
