Category: music

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Robert Pollard-Mania! #23: TIGERBOMB

Guided by Voices
Tigerbomb
1995, Matador Records

So, we’ve talked about how Guided by Voices went into a studio and recorded shined-up versions of a few Alien Lanes songs, presumably as offerings to the gods of radio, MTV, and licensing.

But then they (or maybe it was Matador’s decision) did something that I still think is weird and released those recordings only on vinyl, a format that was next to dead in 1995. Some cooler indie stores in cities or near universities still stocked it, sure. You could also get an envelope and buy a fuckin’ stamp and send a check or money order to Matador Records in New York City and get this in your mailbox six weeks later, okay (no Paypal yet, kids). The big chain stores though, where Joe Schmoe bought his music, had been done with it for about five years.

So, color me confused on what they were thinking here. Not that I take great issue with it. GBV’s vinyl-only releases motivated a shy young man named Jason to buy his first turntable in 1996. It was a year for me when every dollar was vital and a plastic $100 Sony from Sears was a major purchase at the time, but I did it. I was done with being locked out of the 7″s that I was reading about in magazines like Puncture and CMJ. When I learned that Guided by Voices had new vinyl-only releases, it became essential that I become equipped to play them.

So, I took the plunge. I bought a turntable and very quickly became a real freak for the needle.

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Robert Pollard-Mania! #22: GUIDED BY VOICES / NEW RADIANT STORM KING Split 7″

Guided by Voices/New Radiant Storm King
“The Opposing Engineer (Sleeps Alone)” b/w “I Am a Scientist”
1995, Chunk Records

In the vast Sargasso Sea that is Robert Pollard’s body of work, there are remarkably few cover songs. My guess is that there are less than ten, but I don’t have an exact count. I could spend a few minutes researching the matter, but I’m not going to do that because these reviews are already geeky ENOUGH.

This 7″ offers one of those rare specimens. It’s one of those cute split-singles that indie rock bands sometimes do where they cover each other’s songs. You know the drill.

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Robert Pollard-Mania! #21: MOTOR AWAY

Guided by Voices
“Motor Away” b/w “Color of My Blade”
1995, Matador Records

“Motor Away” is the song for all of the people who doubted Robert Pollard’s rock ‘n’ roll pursuits over the past ten years. All of the family members and co-workers who said that he was wasting his time. All of the people who thought that he should give up. All of the townies who felt that he was just dreamin’.

This song is for them and its message is simple.

Its message is “Kiss my ass, I was right, I did it.”

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Robert Pollard-Mania! #20: ALIEN LANES

Guided by Voices
Alien Lanes
1995, Matador Records

A part of Robert Pollard’s aesthetic that’s not often talked about is that he’s inspired by the world of record store bins. Endless miles of vinyl to flip through. Records that you’ve seen a million times. Records that you’ve never seen before in your life. Bad records, good records, weird records, records that you will never hear. Records that you wasted money on. Records that you would love if you heard them, but so far you haven’t bothered.

I think that Pollard, a devoted collector who still hits record stores all over the country when he’s on tour, imagines his own work in those bins and he considers it his job to put together something that catches the digger’s eye. He goes for mystery. He wants you to be curious about what the hell kinda record this is, whether you chance upon it in 1995 or 2045.

Thus the abstract collage art (Pollard’s own work) that doesn’t tell you much about the music. Thus the bizarre song titles. Thus the extra-long tracklists.

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Things I Will Keep #10: THE QUICK, Mondo Deco

The Quick
Mondo Deco
1976, Mercury Records

In 2005, I was a giant idiot, but I was smart enough to buy this.

In 2005, my financial situation was a smoldering wreck and my love life was even worse, but I was lucky enough at least to find The Quick’s first and only album for a cool $1.99 at Half Price Books.

In 2005, I was down-and-out and kicked-around and I knew that it was mostly my own fault, but…

Actually there is no but. When you’re feeling down-and-out is the PERFECT time to hear Mondo Deco. It’s sad and frustrated, too, while it also rocks so hard that it feels like you could point your stereo speakers at a wall and then blow a hole through it.

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Robert Pollard-Mania! #19: BOX

Guided by Voices
Box
1995, Scat Records

To me, music is about more than just the sounds that come out of the speakers. There’s the sleeve art and presentation, sure, but for a weirdo like me it goes beyond even that. Permanently linked to the music that I love are things such as HOW I first heard about that music and WHERE I bought it.

I still remember those rare amazing thrift store scores from back when I was into that sort of thing. I have fond memories of record stores that closed fifteen years ago. I’ll never forget listening to the local indie/underground radio show on Sunday night in Dallas (The Adventure Club on the old KDGE) in the 90s and writing down the songs I liked so I could buy the album the next time I had $12 to spare.

All of that is a part of “the music” for me. I still think that flipping through record bins and making decisions based on intriguing covers and titles is the #1 best way to discover music. I’m not saying that you’ll strike gold every time, but it’s more fun and more crazy and it puts more original thoughts in your head than streaming Pitchfork’s latest list of picks that are carefully selected to make them look still relevant.

Music for me is partly about the hunt. It’s about running into the inexplicable and unexpected all on your own and taking a risk. That’s how I’ve always done it, at least.

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Robert Pollard-Mania! #18: KING SHIT AND THE GOLDEN BOYS

Guided by Voices
King Shit and the Golden Boys
1995, Scat Records

In 1995, the fourth weirdest thing about Guided by Voices was that they put out a great album last year that got attention from high places even though it sounded to most people like it was made on a Fisher-Price cassette recorder.

The third weirdest thing was that they were in their late 30s in an indie rock scene full of 25-year-olds.

The second weirdest thing was that Guided by Voices had already made a pile of records going back to 1986 and most of which nobody–not even the hippest, most annoying, know-it-all record collector jerk-off you knew–had ever heard about. That’s not even mentioning the blizzard of 7″ EPs in 1994, of which not many people in 1995 had a complete collection.

And the weirdest thing of all was that on top of the nearly fifty songs that the band put out the previous year (and their forthcoming new album in the spring), the band still had more great unreleased stuff, enough to fill a whole other LP.

They called that LP King Shit and the Golden Boys. 

Sounds like a masterpiece to me.

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Things I Will Keep #9: BOBBIE GENTRY, Local Gentry

Bobbie Gentry
Local Gentry
1968, Capitol Records

As a man whose life is a perpetual mess, I’m drawn to things that are neat and tidy. There’s a memorable anecdote in Anthony Bourdain’s book Kitchen Confidential in which the young Bourdain, still learning the ropes of the restaurant life, witnesses a head chef jump on a line cook’s ass for keeping a dirty work area. The chef points out the refuse and splattered sauce everywhere and tells the guy “That’s what the inside of your head looks like now. Work clean”.

“A messy station equals a messy mind,” Bourdain goes on to clarify.

I couldn’t agree more. In some of the most misguided times in my life, I was also a giant slob. Messy car, messy home. A sloth with no discipline. My surroundings reflected that. Your home and the space where you work are mirrors of your own mind. If it’s fucked up, you’re fucked up. Take the time to clean and organize and, in my experience, your mental clarity benefits as a result.

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Robert Pollard-Mania! #17: CRYING YOUR KNIFE AWAY

Guided by Voices
Crying Your Knife Away
1994, Lo-Fi Recordings

I’ve been writing about Guided by Voices in 1994 for four months. What the fuck is wrong with me?

Anyway, that year they put out five, six, or maybe even seven records depending how you’re counting the 7″s. In fact, there’s one record from this year that I, Mr. Fanboy Weirdo himself, don’t have: a split single on Anyway Records with Belreve. The GBV side is “Always Crush Me”, a song that turned up the next year on Alien Lanes, so I don’t feel much urgency to get it though I’d certainly buy it if I ran across it at a good price.

In any case, I think we here at The Constant Bleeder have this crazy year’s output covered well enough.

And now, a party…

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Robert Pollard-Mania! #16: I AM A SCIENTIST

Guided by Voices
I Am a Scientist EP
1994, Scat Records

“I Am a Scientist” is Robert Pollard’s mission statement. If you’re confused by his voluminous output, his five albums a year, and his thousands of songs, just put on “I Am a Scientist” because it explains it all in plain language and with a perfect pop melody that soothes savage beasts. Gun to my head, it’s the definitive Guided by Voices song.

This EP offers a different, hi-fi take on in it. It’s a different version than one on Bee Thousand, but it’s still on the rough side. The band recorded it live in the studio with old school punk rocker Andy Shernoff working the knobs, and it naturally reflects the way the band played the song on stage. It’s louder and more driving, shined-up just enough for mainstream radio, but not obnoxious in the slightest. It still serves the melody. It does what it should do.

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