POLLSTAL BLOWFISH - ILM Artist Poll #8 - Guided By Voices

OK, I'm going to try to do this, even though it will be next to impossible if I include solo stuff as well... and I probably only know about 10% of his solo output! Oh but I suppose only GBV era solo stuff is allowed? Please say yes.

Where should ballots be sent to?

Sorry: just saw where.

I think my #1 is "Sot"...

Love that "Green Grow The Rushes" rip at the end! I definitely want to show that all the bleary depresso material on Titus some love.

Not sure if I'll include any of these but here are some good ones from the first Suitcase...

Thanks!

my 20 tunes ended up being kinda boring -- all 1992-1996ish stuff. I like a lot of the later period, but when it comes to favorite stuff, that's the era for me.

another two fine cuts from the first Suitcase:
"Perch Warble" - a rocker with an incredible melody. the false end is a great touch, an excellent trick that enables a merely 1:36 song to gain some extra awesomeness: http://grooveshark.com/s/Perch+Warble/3QLuet?src=5

"My Feet's Trustworthy Exsistance" - another one featuring solely Pollard with his guitar, some of my favourite lyrics (less gibberish, more philosophy) http://grooveshark.com/s/My+Feet+s+Trustworthy+Existance/3QLDQX?src=5

A scan through my GBV collection and uh oh, I'm voting for the songs with drum machines

So it only took four ballots to arrive at no unanimous tracks.

I'm about to send mine but I'm kind of afraid that I forgot something major. I guess I should just send it.

no, i am not ready.

"barricade" is one of my favorite old school longsongs

im not going 2 vote in this cuz i dont really know this band that well but my #1 would be goldheart mountaintop queen directory ― Lamp

I don't know GBV especially well and none of the albums outside of Bee Thousand and The Grifters split have ever clicked with me but I'll try listening to all of them just for this poll. I did that for the Beach Boys poll. Other albums probably won't have songs that click with me so my Bee Thousand picks are gonna be at the top of the list. I'll put Goldheart Moutaintop pretty high.

I think a lot of the non Bee Thousand stuff is neutral sounding and hookless

^^ have you tried Alien Lanes? it sounds like all of power pop compressed into one album, songs are even shorter, are equally good and there's more of them

I believe I have tried that album but I'll be listening to it again over the next couple weeks

pollard straight up lookin like alexander hamilton in that top photo. great poll; been wondering for a while if this would even be possible. excited to send my ballot off. hope nobody actually bothers to include solo/peripheral material.

I voted for one Tobin Sprout solo song, but it was 20th place on my ballot.

yeah i just did GBV proper, no solo/side stuff. things are already overwhelming with just those records! did vote for two tobin tracks.

(that appeared on GBV records)

I'm gonna binge on these over the next week and a half. Hard to believe that my list won't be dominated by 92-96 too though. We'll see.

My ballot:

pre-1992 : 0
92-96 : 13
post-96 : 6
non-GBV : 1

so nothing from Same Place? :( this album is so under-appreciated, so I'm going to rep for it on every step

ballot sent!

i voted for "the hard way" and "pendulum" btw but "mammoth cave" got cut

ALTHOUGH i can heartily recommend both Mammoth Cave and Circus World as tourist destinations :)

I almost picked one from King Shit, although I'm not sure when it was actually recorded. Either way, it didn't make the cut.

"blatant doom trip" is so good too but i didn't have roo

i voted for same place (the album) though!

bottomless hole: rock and roll

rooooom

Or maybe I'll pick all covers.

glad i remembered DO THE EARTH

xp so glad to hear :) I'm sure I'll put "When She Turns 50" on my ballot, "Mammoth Cave", "The Hard Way" and "Pendulum" are under heavy consideration too

One of my favorite GBV subgenres is the "song that sounds like a plane taking off", of which EARFUL O'WAX is a primo example (also a classic gbv longsong):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOtYZbg_8f0

note the takeoff at 2:53

Just a quick pass through all of the GBV I own netted 30 tracks so I don't think I'll be exploring Suitcase or any of the post Universal Truths albums. Nice to have almost all of the GBV catalog on Spotify to slowly digest.

Even if you don't plan to do it for polling purposes, make a point of hearing those final two GBV albums sometime.

yes they're really worth it, some great stuff on them

will probably be voting for both these Earthquake Glue singles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BndAytmV9_g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3taP429rFg

Gah, this is going to be so hard, I know my ballot will be very heavy on tracks from Alien Lanes but other than that I've no idea how it'll look. I'm not a huge fan of the pre-Propeller albums as albums but there are still three or four songs from that era which could make my ballot. There'll be at least one song off Isolation Drills on there too - not sure I'll go for anything later than that.

Is Half Smiles of the Decomposed one of the last two? I listened to that while making dinner last week and it sounded pretty good.

I can't read that GBV slagging thread anymore. I don't count GBV as one of my favorite bands but how can you deny Chasing Heather Crazy or Best of Jill Hives?

Whoa, The Pipe Dreams of Instant Prince Whippet is actually really cool. Never even heard of it, but just checked it out on spotify.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuM93kbttqY

I still carry a torch for Christian Animation Torch Carriers

Is Half Smiles of the Decomposed one of the last two?

It's the final one.

i do think Speak Kindly of Your Volunteer Fire Department is better than a lot of official records

YES. Even if you are opposed to including side project albums on your ballot, make an exception for Speak Kindly...!

glad i remembered DO THE EARTH

― tylerw, Thursday, September 15, 2011 3:44 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

That songs is so great! Definitely in my GBV POX.

Seriously, if you haven't heard the last two albums, you need to hear them. All the way through! For me, Half Smiles and Earthquake Glue were so much better than Universal Truths and Isolation Drills because it sounded like the band had a heart again.

I like EG, but ID is in my top 3 GBV albums of all time. Maybe top 2 depending on which day you ask me.

Never could get into half smiles.

Does anyone really really really like Universal Truths? 'Everywhere with Helicopter' is a good song, but I could probably live without the rest.

I like the live version from the box set better than the one on the album too. That album was depressing.

i remember liking the title track? i remember liking all those post TVT recs when they came out, but don't actually remember too much about them in this day and age.

'Everywhere with Helicopter' is a pretty good Husker Du tribute song, certainly beats the shit out of any Foo Fighters tune.

When I saw GBV during the tour for Universal Truths, they started the set by playing the whole album front to back. Ugh.

I saw them on that tour, but thankfully after they'd decided to stop doing that. Only things I remember them playing from that album are Back to the Lake, Cheyenne and Helicopter.