Tobin Sprout Thread

best photorealist painter ever signed to matador

laziest halfway-decent power-pop songwriter ever

Got Carnival Boy spinning on the turntable right now and it sounds pretty fucking great to these ears.

Yeah, that aged pretty well

his songs were always among my favorite on GBV albums (ester's day, awful bliss, a good flying bird, 13 cheerleader coldfront). i've got one of his albums but ive never given it much of a chance, i should do that soon

"Gas Daddy Gas" is such an odd, beautiful little song.

Johnny Fever OTM. I'd never really given that song much time before, but last night I kept skipping the needle back to the start of that song instead of pulling the record off the turntable.

Hmm, just went to grab Carnival Boy and I seem to have lost it ... The only Sprout record I've got is Moonflower Plastic, the other Matador release of his. I like that one, esp. the closer, "Water on the Boater's Back," a lovely piano-based tune. I heard a few of his subsequent albums and was disappointed overall. He still sounds best sandwiched in between Pollard's songs, I think. But he did always seem like the odd man out at the GBV shows I saw in 95-96 -- kind of bewildered and comparatively sober. Are the Airport 5 records any good? Never got around to hearing those.

would have loved to have seen those GBV shows in 95 - 96... Airport 5 doesn't really sound like what you think it would sound knowing their past work in GBV, haven't listened to them for a while but the first album "Tower in the Fountain of Sparks" is recommended, very downbeat, monochrome, wintery sounding, "Stifled Man Casino" is a great song and was played live quite bit, the second album "Life Starts Here" is probably best avoided, mostly monotonous, droney sketches, but could be interesting if you're into that sort of thing

The Airport 5 stuff is really weak imho. The first album has about two decent tunes on it. As for the second one, there's just nothing, really nothing. I'd still give the first one a slight edge over Go Back Snoball, the collaboration with Mac from Superchunk. Overall, these albums are just bland- Pollard's solo albums from this period are much much better.

never saw GBV with him in the band...i should check out some of his solo stuff...

judging by the Watch Me Jumpstart VHS, he had the most lolsome bad onstage clothes of maybe any rock band dude ever.

oh man, not to brag, but the first time I saw GBV on the Alien Lanes tour was incredible. i think it helped that no one in the crowd really knew what to expect. After that, subsequent shows kinda seemed like reenactments.

i would brag about that. i didn't seem them until the gillard era

i can brag about that too, but then again, i never saw 'em again after 1996.

what does sprout even do these days? anybody know?

http://www.tobinsprout.net/
seems to be chugging along ...

The Airport 5 stuff is really weak imho.

yeah pretty forgettable. I sold all those on ebay a few years ago (Go Back Snowball too) but kept the two Tobin solo records on Matador

http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2614/103/82/1408004341/n1408004341_295893_5934234.jpg

(does facebook stuff show up in hotlinks? friend of mine posted a scan of this '96 GBV set list. 34 songs, lol)

that lineup with him and Greg Demos et al was awesome

think i saw the jim greer version, haha

that was so weird. but I'm pretty sure his writing about Vampire on Titus in SPIN was where I first heard about GBV so props to Jim Greer

yeah, i think that was my first gbv exposure too! give it up for greer.

he was def. better than some of GBV's other bassists -- looking in your direction, Matt Sweeney.

dmr, if your friend still knows the date of that 96 show he should send the scan of that setlist to the gbvdb: http://www.gbvdb.com/albums.asp?setlist=True&year=1996 they love stuff like that!

was Matt Sweeney ever officially in GBV? I know he was an early fan and Chavez toured with GBV in 95 or so...

dunno, if he was "official" but he was playing bass for GBV when I saw them in 96, and I think in 97. he was ok, but seemed to think he was john entwistle, without the necessary skills.

wow that gbv database is nuts, had no idea it existed. my friend might have a crappy tape of that show, though I guess it says "audio exists" there, so maybe there's a better version. Geraldine Fibbers! Yeahhhh. pretty sure they started with "salty salute" too. LETTER TO THE EDITOR TIME. http://www.gbvdb.com/files.asp?albumid=1133&Title=Gig+Poster

Consecutive nights '96 at Bowery Ballroom were EPIC...place was shaking. I miss that band.

yeah, those were fun shows ... guess there is no likelihood of that version of the band getting back together -- isn't the drummer in jail or something? Kevin Fennell? or did I make that up.

I never saw the Tobin line-up either but the shows I saw with Gilliard, Farley, etc. were some of the best shows I've seen in my life. I'm sure it helps if you're as inebriated as they are.

I love Sprout's songs in the context of the GBV records but an entire album of his is kind of a chore to get through- simple chord changes and the voice starts to grate after a while. Then again I've only heard Carnival Boy so maybe his other ones are better. He does seem like an all-around nice dude though and he's practically achieved sainthood amongst GBV diehards which is admittedly strange.

Tobin has a new album!

www.tobinsprout.net

does anyone know anything about the Eyesinweasal project? like is that just tobin recording under another name?

It's Tobin Sprout but more of a rock band. I think one of the other guys in the band might sing a song or maybe two but it's mostly Tobin's songs. Good stuff.

Eyesinweasal is my favourite stuff by Tobin, moves away from the one, mid-paced sound of the solo stuff. Not sure if having a real drummer helped.

I still have to check out that stuff. I've always heard bad or not as good things about it until now.

and then there was "Bevil Web ... I think I still have this 7 inch. http://decrepittapes.blogspot.com/2010/10/bevil-web-3-dream-bag-split-7-1994.html

I have this

his first solo single, apparently? it is great

Wondering if any of the Tobin Sprout fans here think this awful or great:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpJPU8lYgog

this is*

It starts off sounding awkward enough to be a musical skit for Tim & Eric but then turns out pretty good once it gets going, and I was kind of put off by it initially.

its no 'good flying bird'...thats for sure...

i think while it is awkward, it isnt awful enough to make me not want to give the rest of the song (or at least the next song on the album) a chance.

doesn't seem that weird to me. i like it

for some weird reason never listened to any of his stuff, checking out a big youtube playlist...sounds pretty awesome actually

don't get what's awful about this? it's more or less exactly what I would expect from him at this point (ie, it's slightly more polished sounding than this song would have sounded 15 years ago. but it is still exactly the kind of song he was writing back then)

yeah that's kind of my reaction

Well... I guess I'm used to his charming sloppiness with the instrumentation, but something about the rigidness of each part combined with that makes it sound awkward to me. Like the high-hat and the piano the most. I don't think it is awful, but I could see someone being uncomfortable enough with it think that initially. Also, Tobin is singing a little weirder on this new album.

A few of the same elements but much more natural sounding:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqiuHnqActY&feature=related

^^^that whole album is stellar, esp. the piano-based stuff.

I can only hope that Tobin Sprout liked Mitt Romney on facebook for larfs because thinking that he did it seriously is too depressing.
Talk about things I would rather not know ;_;

55.

Poking around his other Facebook-likes from the last couple of years, it seems pretty clear Sprout's conservatism is no lark.

Tobin Sprout is like the uncle I wish I had/reminds me of uncles I do have (same with Bob), and a few of them are conservative so I'm not bothered...

Uh oh his brother Jeff "liked" Barack

being conservative kinda doesn't really bother me
liking mitt romney bothers me

oh well
going to just try to forget this

GBV, they built that

Good point LL

I just hope none of Fertile Jim's offspring need Medicaid

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMqjzJsxJCc&feature=related

Atom Eyes on piano

omg no
NO
NOOOOOOOOO

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8107/8541745565_5d902a8625_z.jpg

Tobin is just trying to get in good with Morbs.

i'm keep being surprised and disappointed but i'm not sure why

oops
"i" keep
mostly i am disappointed

He IS part of a beer-fueled midwestern barband, essentially.

That doesn't help.

new album

lol n/m false alarm

ugh that was some good news i could have used right now

i do love his voice so

sorry :/

What a weird way to kick us while we're down.

see now THIS is what flag post is for

<3

Are you saying this isn't happening now? I'm confused

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/tobin-sprout-releasing-first-new-lp-in-seven-years-reissuing-90s-matador-lps/

Thought it was bumped cuz he probably voted for Trump

^^^^^^

Oh, no there actually is a new album coming out.

saw this new outtakes comp in the racks last weekend:

https://www.discogs.com/master/3209055-Tobin-Sprout-Demos-and-Outtakes-Two

damn look at the brain worms

https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=Tobin+Sprout&two_year_transaction_period=2026&two_year_transaction_period=2024

Hello Do you know the track ID of this old Irish song present in documentaries about l kesh please? youtube.com/shorts/jgpSGH33yHk?si=O4b_7u5dMGDXw2st

Regards

Thought the revive would be about this (really good) interview about his GBV days

https://excitedones.substack.com/p/a-conversation-with-tobin-sprout

well it's not

well now it can be about both things

Maybe it's a different ... Tobin Sprout.

Oh, I see his brainworms have been well documented upthread.