Baba O'Pollard
Unless you've been hiding underneath an indie rock (now that's comedy), you likely know that Guided By Voices is calling it quits. Sure, frontman Bob Pollard will continue to release 32 solo records a year, but GBV as we've come to know (and love...well, some of us, anyway) will be no more come the Dec. 31 show here in Chicago. I've been a huge GBV fan since about '94, and while I'm not the obsessive "sad freak" collector-type of GBV follower, I have seen the band around 25 times. I'm really looking forward to the New Year's show, which will either be an amazing, triumphant send-off or an embarrassingly drunken fiasco. It may even be both.
I've had the good fortune of hanging out with Bob a number of times--though it wasn't until the last time, in September, that I was convinced he remembered who I was--and I've written a fair number of reviews of his records. In "honor" of the final show, I thought I'd post a series of those reviews. To start, I'll include the one interview I did with Bob in 2003 (he's a great subject), as well as a Magnet Staff Infection blurb about the recent GBV LP.
Guided By Voices, Half Smiles Of The Decomposed (Matador): On the first few listens, GBV's final record seemed a little flat, but the songs came alive while seeing two of the band's shows (Philly, D.C.) on the Electrifying Conclusion farewell tour. (And the Chicago New Year's Eve finale is on tap; I'm taking bets on the over/under on band beer consumption.) Now I can't stop listening. Chiming opener "Everyone Thinks I'm A Raincloud (When I'm Not Looking)" is a gentle, if pointed, goodbye smooch to Bob Pollard's cult of personality: "Hungover and hungry to fix it/A miracle cure for my sorrow/With pillows of self-esteem/Alone in a satellite dream/Where I can forget about a world/Where every theme I choose/Is shining alone on you." The closing "Huffman Prairie Flying Field" finds Pollard seeking fuel for whatever awaits him: "I've come to start up my head/Been closed and locked up/For far too long"; the last, anthemic line is repeated for a magnificently long time. In between these tunes are a requisite clunker or three, but Half Smiles is more consistently entertaining than the last couple of GBV records and a more-than-fitting way to cap an amazing run. The club may be closing, but it's going out of business in style.
On a related note, this is a fun timekiller, though it may hit a little too close to home, at least to most of my friends. Don't brag about your score unless you can make it to 100. Sprechen sie betrunken?*
*FYI, this came from freetranslation.com. I make no claims of its accuracy.
I've had the good fortune of hanging out with Bob a number of times--though it wasn't until the last time, in September, that I was convinced he remembered who I was--and I've written a fair number of reviews of his records. In "honor" of the final show, I thought I'd post a series of those reviews. To start, I'll include the one interview I did with Bob in 2003 (he's a great subject), as well as a Magnet Staff Infection blurb about the recent GBV LP.
Guided By Voices, Half Smiles Of The Decomposed (Matador): On the first few listens, GBV's final record seemed a little flat, but the songs came alive while seeing two of the band's shows (Philly, D.C.) on the Electrifying Conclusion farewell tour. (And the Chicago New Year's Eve finale is on tap; I'm taking bets on the over/under on band beer consumption.) Now I can't stop listening. Chiming opener "Everyone Thinks I'm A Raincloud (When I'm Not Looking)" is a gentle, if pointed, goodbye smooch to Bob Pollard's cult of personality: "Hungover and hungry to fix it/A miracle cure for my sorrow/With pillows of self-esteem/Alone in a satellite dream/Where I can forget about a world/Where every theme I choose/Is shining alone on you." The closing "Huffman Prairie Flying Field" finds Pollard seeking fuel for whatever awaits him: "I've come to start up my head/Been closed and locked up/For far too long"; the last, anthemic line is repeated for a magnificently long time. In between these tunes are a requisite clunker or three, but Half Smiles is more consistently entertaining than the last couple of GBV records and a more-than-fitting way to cap an amazing run. The club may be closing, but it's going out of business in style.
On a related note, this is a fun timekiller, though it may hit a little too close to home, at least to most of my friends. Don't brag about your score unless you can make it to 100. Sprechen sie betrunken?*
*FYI, this came from freetranslation.com. I make no claims of its accuracy.
posted by MH at
12:15 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home