FOT Forum
The Best Show on WFMU => Dear Tom => Topic started by: Gagneaux on February 05, 2008, 08:50:17 AM
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Hey Tom and Fots,
A friend recently recommended I look into Robert Pollards work. Since I spent 6 years in the Air Force, I decided to start with his "Not in my Air Force" album. I like it! "Maggie Turns To Flies" is now one of my all-time favorites. I seem to remember Robert Pollard being mentioned on The Best Show (I sure hope he was mentioned favorably and I'm not hanging myself here) and I was wondering if you could recommend another Pollard album. The dude seems to have 43 albums out and I'm not well-to-do enough to buy 'em all.
Thanks All.
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I'm sure you'll get tons of answers on this, all different, but I'd start with the classic Guided by Voices records--the ones with the hits.
Alien Lanes (a must have--one of the greatest rock albums evah!)
Bee Thousand
Vampire on Titus
Propeller
Of more recent releases, GBV's Universal Truths and Cycles and the first Pollard solo album, From a Compound Eye are pretty great.
Just one man's opinion...Tom is the resident Pollard expert. I'd go with whatever he says.
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I'd go for Bee Thousand and Propeller first. I don't know the solo stuff too well.
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Tom loves Pollard/GBV so much that he wrote an essay for the DVD release of a video of the last-ever Guided By Voices show!
(http://media.musictoday.com/store/bands/444/product_medium/PXAM25DVD.jpg)
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I really love GBV. I do. "Window of My World" is one of my favorite songs. Granted, I didn't have the opportunity to see GBV live, but aren't their shows renowned for being hecka terrible?
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OK, this is off the record. I am a huge recorded GBV fan, but not a huge live GBV fan. In fact, the love of my life, Christina The Yes Fan, bought me that DVD as a "This is truly for you because I never want to watch it" gift, and I never made it all the way through. I saw them on their last tour, and I actually left early because, well, they had already been playing for two hours, and it had sorta devolved into them playing three bars of "Teenage FBI", then Pollard being like "STOP! WHY DOES EVERYONE LOVE THE SHITTY SONGS??!!" Then him laying into targets like Velvet Revolver. One thing that was funny he said (but which actually pissed me off at the time) was when he was like "Neil Young does FARM AID (said in Tom's angry word repetition tone). Fuck Neil Young! I'm not a FARMER! Nobody's a farmer!!" So that's either awesome or hecka terrible, depending on how tired and/or drunk you are. I was pretty drunk, but far from drunk enough. It's funny to think about his bitter and envious rants against Velvet Revolver and assorted indie-music label-owners and rock-critics after the fact, but during the thing, mmmmmnot so much. At least not for me.
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Ha! I actually know two pairs of farmers. One pair is lesbian cheese makers. They live in Indiana, and they make the best cheese ever. Their goats and cows graze on sweet grass, and everything's organic and free range. The other pair is a naked lady on the internet and her tattooist husband, and they raise chickens in Canada.
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Ha! I actually know two pairs of farmers. One pair is lesbian cheese makers. They live in Indiana, and they make the best cheese ever. Their goats and cows graze on sweet grass, and everything's organic and free range. The other pair is a naked lady on the internet and her tattooist husband, and they raise chickens in Canada.
Those aren't farmers, those are decadent weirdos.
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I only saw GBV live once (right after Bee Thousand) and I couldn't get over how weird they sounded without all the tape hiss and distortion.
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Ha! I actually know two pairs of farmers. One pair is lesbian cheese makers. They live in Indiana, and they make the best cheese ever. Their goats and cows graze on sweet grass, and everything's organic and free range. The other pair is a naked lady on the internet and her tattooist husband, and they raise chickens in Canada.
Oh, you east coasters....
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I love all GBV albums for different reasons.
The ones I love the most:
Bee Thousand
Under the Bushes Under the Stars
Sunfish Holy Breakfast
For a good read check out
"Guided By Voices: A Brief History: Twenty-One Years of Hunting Accidents in the Forests of Rock and Roll"
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he was like "Neil Young does FARM AID (said in Tom's angry word repetition tone). Fuck Neil Young! I'm not a FARMER! Nobody's a farmer!!"
I'm shocked! I thought Neil Young was untouchable. Guess I was wrong. I heard a Best Show once where Tom played "Auditorium" followed by "Motor Away" which made me feel cool because I made a mix tape a number of years ago with those two songs in the same progression. Best song follow-up ever? I think yes. Alien Lanes is so amazing for so many reasons. Short songs, tape hiss, soulful..
That album, and The Breeders' Last Splash are just a few of the only albums I will never tire of.
By the way, Tom, can you please play "No Aloha" sometime?
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I know lots of farmers, which I'm sure is a great help to Gagneaux. Also, I like Half Smiles of the Decomposed!
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My wife's aunts and uncles farm cows and pigs. Her parents used to farm sheep but now breed westies and boxers. I also am an apologist for Do The Collapse and think there is no reason not to listen to all of GBV's albums and want to listen to more of Pollard's solo stuff.
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Alien Lanes (a must have--one of the greatest rock albums evah!)
Just wanted to second this
and say that recently I've been on a major "Alien Lanes" kick. It's been pretty awesome
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I think I'm the only person on the planet who actually loves Do The Collapse.
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I think I'm the only person on the planet who actually loves Do The Collapse.
Here's what I like from that: "Teenage FBI", "Things I Will Keep" (imho one of their best songs ever), "Much Better Mr. Buckles" and "Surgical Focus". It's a great EP!
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I think I'm the only person on the planet who actually loves Do The Collapse.
No. You're not alone. 'Do The Collapse' is good stuff.
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If you like "Not in My Air Force", "Alien Lanes" and "Bee Thousand" may overwhelm you with their awesome awesomness. :P
Live G.B.V. were always a guaranteed good time for me, even if they were drunker than I was. Admittedly, Bob's stage banter wasn't as clever as he must have thought it was. The last two times G.B.V. came through he went on a long "FUCK THE FLAMING LIPS" tirade.
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I heard stories from friends that he would go off on rants about writers in the local papers who gave the band a bad review or whatever. This was before they got "big," but I always thought it seemed strange and kind of petty to call out writers BY NAME from the stage because they wrote a less-than-favorable review to a record or show in some obscure zine or local newspaper. With some of the stories, I couldn't even believe he'd heard of the zine, let alone read it. Maybe he hired some sort of zine clipping service.
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Thanks for the tips, all... so far: "Alien Lanes" = pretty darn great.
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I think I'm the only person on the planet who actually loves Do The Collapse.
Although I agree with JJ that it might have been better as an EP, it still holds three songs that are in my top 200 songs of all-time on it so it will always be my favorite GBV album with Mag Earwhig a close second.
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I think I'm the only person on the planet who actually loves Do The Collapse.
Although I agree with JJ that it might have been better as an EP, it still holds three songs that are in my top 200 songs of all-time on it so it will always be my favorite GBV album with Mag Earwhig a close second.
Dude! I think Mag Earwhig might be my fave too.
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the only thing i have to add to this thread is that i am in the pollard family. (not necessarily his pollard family, i'm not so sure about that. but a pollard family nonetheless.)
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I saw GBV a few times live.
Seeing them right after Alien Lanes came out stands out as possibly the best show I have ever seen.
It was in a little club in London Ontario, it was just a mind blowing show.
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I heard a Best Show once where Tom played "Auditorium" followed by "Motor Away" which made me feel cool because I made a mix tape a number of years ago with those two songs in the same progression. Best song follow-up ever? I think yes.
Auditorium is followed by Motor Away on alien lanes. That's like if I put Millie Jackson's "Love Stinks" on a mixtape and then followed that up with Millie Jackson's "Muffle That Fart."
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Does the track in this video version of "I Am a Scientist" exist on an EP?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN9x6zckn18
I can't find it anywhere. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place. (iTunes)
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Does the track in this video version of "I Am a Scientist" exist on an EP?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN9x6zckn18
I can't find it anywhere. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place. (iTunes)
That just sounds like the Bee Thousand version to me.
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Does the track in this video version of "I Am a Scientist" exist on an EP?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN9x6zckn18
I can't find it anywhere. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place. (iTunes)
That just sounds like the Bee Thousand version to me.
The intro sounds the same but the guitar is punched up when the
"And I know what's right. But I'm losing sight..." part kicks in.
It's subtle. I was just wondering if it was on one of the Box sets or something.
Any suggestions for which box set to buy first?
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Does the track in this video version of "I Am a Scientist" exist on an EP?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN9x6zckn18
I can't find it anywhere. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place. (iTunes)
That just sounds like the Bee Thousand version to me.
The intro sounds the same but the guitar is punched up when the
"And I know what's right. But I'm losing sight..." part kicks in.
It's subtle. I was just wondering if it was on one of the Box sets or something.
Any suggestions for which box set to buy first?
Yeah, I noticed that too, but it doesn't sound like a different recording or anything. The person who set it to the video footage may've just run it through a normalizer or equalizer or something.
I don't have any of the box sets, so I can't help you there. I used to have the Scat box of the early albums but wasn't particularly crazy about it.
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The GBVDB lists a 7" version of "I Am A Scientist" (http://www.gbvdb.com/track.asp?track=I+Am+A+Scientist&version=7%22+Version&live=False), so it's possible that is the version used for the video.
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The GBVDB lists a 7" version of "I Am A Scientist" (http://www.gbvdb.com/track.asp?track=I+Am+A+Scientist&version=7%22+Version&live=False), so it's possible that is the version used for the video.
The 7" version was re-recorded by Adny Shernoff from the Dictators. I remember it sounding very slightly different, but it's been a while since I listened...
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The GBVDB lists a 7" version of "I Am A Scientist" (http://www.gbvdb.com/track.asp?track=I+Am+A+Scientist&version=7%22+Version&live=False), so it's possible that is the version used for the video.
It's definitely not the 7" version, which is pretty hi-fi (in Bee Thousand-era GBV terms, anyway).
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I'll bet you dollars to donuts it's the Bee Thousand version either compressed for t.v., compressed for youtube, or slightly remixed for the single. If anything I suppose it could be the I Am A Scientist single mix (sometimes singles are mixed slightly different than the album version I've found). I'm almost positive it's not a different recording. Maybe you could just mess with the EQ on the album version and get a similar effect.
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he was like "Neil Young does FARM AID (said in Tom's angry word repetition tone). Fuck Neil Young! I'm not a FARMER! Nobody's a farmer!!"
I heard a Best Show once where Tom played "Auditorium" followed by "Motor Away" which made me feel cool because I made a mix tape a number of years ago with those two songs in the same progression. Best song follow-up ever? I think yes.
[youtube]rN3gmKltn88[/youtube]
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(http://photos-d.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sctm/v204/89/18/552114149/n552114149_446755_6433.jpg)
Robert Pollard and Jon Wurster.
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He has an art book coming out soon.
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Does the track in this video version of "I Am a Scientist" exist on an EP?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN9x6zckn18
I can't find it anywhere. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place. (iTunes)
It is definitely the Bee Thousand recording that Banks Tarver used for the video.
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i can't recommend the keene brothers BLUES AND BOOGIE SHOES enough, here's a taste (http://gbv.com/sounds/deathoftheparty.mp3)
but it's "island of lost lucys" that might be the most heartbreaking song pollard has ever done
i've already ranted on how much i love EARTHQUAKE GLUE on here
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http://pitchfork.com/forkcast/15783-in-a-circle/ (http://pitchfork.com/forkcast/15783-in-a-circle/)
(http://cdn.pitchfork.com/media/robertpollard.jpg)
The new Bob Pollard album Lord of the Birdcage will be out sometime next week. Heres a song from it. Great stuff.
You can also get it off gbvdigital if you are so inclined
edit: huh. didnt realize this was in the dear tom section. either way, this song is worth a listen!
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http://pitchfork.com/forkcast/15783-in-a-circle/ (http://pitchfork.com/forkcast/15783-in-a-circle/)
(http://cdn.pitchfork.com/media/robertpollard.jpg)
The new Bob Pollard album Lord of the Birdcage will be out sometime next week. Heres a song from it. Great stuff.
You can also get it off gbvdigital if you are so inclined
edit: huh. didnt realize this was in the dear tom section. either way, this song is worth a listen!
Since I pre-ordered this recording, I received it last week. It's pretty good!
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I think one of my favorite GBV albums is not really a GBV album. "Speak Kindly of Your Volunteer Fire Department", which is Pollard and Doug Gillard is absolutely amazing. It's so good you'll be angry and sad that there are not more Pollard/Gillard albums (well, hell maybe there are, the discography is just too damn huge).
Robert Pollard With Doug Gillard - Larger Massachusetts (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RY2Nzb7Lps#)
Now I will be listening to this album for the next two weeks.
As for live shows, I saw them at the Stone Pony for Universal Truths and Cycles. It was truly amazing. As for those that might complain about the "quality" of the live shows, I'm sure it varies due to the tremendous amount of alcohol ingested during most shows. So it's probably a bit of a luck of the draw thing. The one guitarist that I just call "Drunky" (Nate) was plastered, but the rest of the band was damn solid. If I'd have missed that show I'd be a real chump.
Also for an alternate sort of "Greatest Hits" take, grab their appearance on Austin City Limits. It's bizarre.