Why in the name of all that is holy do people like Guided by Voices?

Q. Why in the name of all that is holy do people like Guided by Voices?
A. No-hassle tune excellence.

Similarly, Bob Pollard's output could be edited down as such:

1. Alien Lanes
2. Bee Thousand

(nb: i own several gbv albums.)

I enjoy the live show too. Mostly for the fact that they play lots of upbeat numbers, one right after another, and focus on being entertaining (instead of just "doing their thing and if anyone likes it that's a bonus.") But the last time I saw them I started to feel sorry for Pollard. He just looked like such a pathetic drunk up there, an overgrown child. He never missed a note or a lyric, so the music didn't suffer, but I just hated to see him making an idiot of himself. It's one thing to be 22-year old Paul Westerburg drunk in a wading pool, but Pollard has kids in college. He should have moved on a long time ago.

(xpost haha Ned and a good 30 of them will be "That's because they picked the wrong songs, maaaaan...")

My goodness, the meme is at least that old! Ack!

x-post, do you any other similar indie rock Matos? Maybe it's just not your thing.

Hey, this stuff was selected by the man himself so you KNOW it's dubious!

...flaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

The GbV website has a list of his Fading Captain releases here. There are also two pre-Fading Captain Pollard solo albums (Not In My Airforce and Waved Out) and a Phantom Tollbooth collab.

unfortunately, the version on the 'best of' is the inferior single version. it's higher-fi, but the performance is lacking. the album version is not only more excited-sounding but it's one of "lo-fi" gbv's better production jobs (all in my opinion, of course).

a similarly regrettable decision was made in the case of "game of pricks".

* Freedom Cruise (only two songs, i think. one w/ the Deal sisters)

* Nightwalker (two or three singles and one album. Nightwalker seems to be nothing more than Bob dredging up his sludgier basement tapes and slapping the Nightwalker name on them. One Nightwalker track is a 12 minute drone.)

* Lexo and the Leapers (one EP over four years ago. it's a different band, but the record is almost indistinguishable from some gbv records)

* Airport 5 (Tobin Sprout records complete instrumental tracks and Pollard writes songs over them. two albums)

* Circus Devils (the weirdest - and probably best - side project. GbV's producer Todd Tobias and former bassist Tim Tobias record (bizarre) instrumental tracks and Pollard writes songs over them. most gbv fans (online, at least) don't seem to like this one. three albums, with a new one out just last week.)

* Go Back Snowball (Mac McCaughan records complete instrumentals. Pollard write songs over them. one album.)

* The Lifeguards (Doug Gillard records complete instrumentals and Pollard grafts new songs onto them. one album).

* Phantom Tollbooth (Pollard joins the long-defunct arty punk band by getting them to erase the vocals on their recordings so he can write new songs on top of the instrumental tracks. One album).

Pollard's next project is a collaboration with Tommy Keene, which, it seems, will work just like the collaborations above.

And then there are the solo albums...

Not sure I understand Bob's argument- do you really need permission of the name owner to sell any memorabilia with the name on it?

Yeah I don't understand the motivation to make this public either...

Bob is mean.

i guess it's to show that bob is a dick?

I'm sure it's complicated, Kevin has a history.

who doesn't already know that? bob is a lovable narcissistic dick.

Now that this is public the fans get to provide all of the context that is missing!

I'm going to print out this email and try to get Bob to autograph it.

Then sell it on ebay

for $55k

Reserve not met.

^next album title

J Mascis "who gives a fuck" story

^next album title

Ugh, that correspondence, guys in bands being horrible to each other but not actually in person, what a novelty

Upcoming release:

J Mascis "who gives a fuck" story

1. Being on call at the drop of a hat
2. Too fast (which is the sign of an amateur)
3. $50,000 for the metal trash can
4. There was no attack
5. See the absurdity (and where it can go from there)
6. So-called fucking classic
7. Sense of loyalty
8. I said I wouldn't do it if I couldn't
9. A laugh to begin with
10. Asking price
11. You have made a fool

hahahaha!!

that's making me want to record one of those songs, which in the spirit would sound super shitty and be recorded in a midwestern basement on the most rudimentary of recording devices available to me (my phone)
"4. there was no attack" is my track of choice

Yeah, track 4 is the hit! "$50,000 for the metal trash can" is the rambling nonsense at :34 in length.

Jesus that was depressing. The FB link is dead now; those excerpts are from the FB page or what?

They are, yes.

You're welcome for the copy/paste.

B-)

(hilarious post btw, Evan)

Ha, thanks! Also for pasting, should have known it would get deleted.

God, lesson is as old as the internet: Don't have contentious conversations in email (or text, or writing, etc).

"a laugh to begin with" is a gorgeous acoustic ditty with bob and toby singing together about god knows what the fuck.

"you have made a fool" is, for better or worse, their new "hold on hope."

Got to LOL at Bob Pollard berating someone else for being amateurish

"being on call at the drop of a hat" is a surprisingly good electronic album opener that fools you into thinking this album is going to be their kid a, which of course it isn't.

"I was available for the band but we only played 2 shows this year,"

to be fair, each show was 400 hours long.

"So-called fucking classic" is even shorter and more ironic than "Hit" off of Alien Lanes

glad this got explained because the links I'd seen were to the fb page which was gone by the time I clicked on it. Bob sounds like a dick to to be perfectly honest, that is a ridiculous auction price and no-one gives a shit who drums for GBV.

I think they should let a fan be their drummer.

fennell was the first drummer i ever saw gbv play with and he was most definitely a part of the reason i fell in love with them. he's still my fave gbv drummer. neither he nor pollard seems like they'd be all that fun to be in a band with though.

gotta love that pollard has a 7-inch called "return of the drums" due out in november. seriously.

If I'm not mistaken, he's got a fairly large Guided By Voices tattoo taking up the length of his arm. Wondering if he's regretting that now.

lol Lech

I wonder when he got the tattoo. This isn't the first melodramatic falling out these two dudes have had.

Guys, this is just another classic rock tribute from them, a tribute to The Byrds dust up in which David Crosby the drummer "Michael, play drums right!"

Listening to Lamb lies down on broadway a few times & it seems like a strong influence on GBV?

i think pollard has copped to being a 70s peter gabriel / genesis fan