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

mine too. i did not know what to think. can't really remember why i bought that record now -- maybe a review in spin or something? but i really did not know what to expect.

My first was 'Matter Eater Lad'. Think I bought the 'Clown Prince' ep cos I was too stingy to buy an album without hearing them first. Thought it was a bit shit tbh, so I didn't bother buy anything else of their's for ages after that.

My first was song 1 on Bee Thousand as well. Seemingly a common experience. Good song, though I wasn't hooked until later in the album, like song 3 ...

"Teenage FBI" for me, on the radio. Bought Do the Collapse and enjoyed it, then bought Bee Thousand and fell in love.

Teenage FBI is a good song. Under appreciated.

^^^ OTM

I can't help but view people with skepticism when they dismiss the TVT era as completley worthless.

I think mine was the 1st track off bee thousand.

― Jeff, Tuesday, September 20, 2011 3:13 PM (59 minutes ago) Bookmark

Mine too. A girl upstairs in the dorm loaned it to me and I was sold immediately and permanently, for better or worse. My friend and I drove to a record store 2 hours away to get the Scat box set when it came out. (He got something else, I was going for that) I remember making a last minute decision at the counter to get vinyl and I have cherished the crap out of that thing ever since. I even sold my record player at one point, but I never sold that.

I'm 50/50 on the TVT era. Isolation Drills is a great record; Do the Collapse far less great (though it does have the big studio version of Teenage FBI).

Yeah its definitely a mixed bag, but I remember how I used to run into people who were all, "all the TVT stuff sucks because it isn't lo-fi" and I just wanted to rmde. There's some great songs in that period. I like the Hold on Hope EP.

i thought the quality went a bit downhill around mag earwig -- still some great songs, just not at the same level of inspiration as 93-96. production on do the collapse has always bugged me. then again, after that run of records, there wasn't anywhere to go but down. i think it was "speak kindly" that brought me around again.

I really like Liquid Indian, Surgical Focus (aka Searching for Vultures), and Unmarketed Product. DTC is underappreciated for sheer poppitude, I think. Isolation Drills I never liked that much, but I was going through a country phase at the time and it sounded too slick for me. I might like it better now. Hold on Hope EP is great!!

This song is one of the classic "wait the whole song for one beautiful moment" GBV songs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IUYZjr2pMM

for me

I also have STRONG positive memories of DTC because that was the show I attended with an extremely appealing/attractive/smart young gbv fan who is now Mr Lechera. <3 <3 <3
If it weren't for that show, I might not have demanded that he give me his number.

ballot submitted. 16 from "classic" era gbv albums, two from classic era eps, one from guided by verde era, one from pollard solo.

my near-misses, songs #21-27, in no particular order: teenage fbi, hey aardvark, love is stronger than witchcraft, big school, crutch came slinking, matter eater lad, vibrations in the woods. a couple of 'em, namely teenage fbi and big school, are songs i love marred by recordings that are a bit of a mess. though if i had remembered the "wish in one hand" version of teenage fbi before this very second, that probably would have made my top 20. definitely would've, in fact. dear johnny fever, can you please make teenage fbi (wish in one hand version) my #20 song, and drop my current #20 song off the list? pretty please? thanks!

i submitted two most-hated tracks, and they're both from my favorite album, which is perhaps why i hate them all the more.

This thread has inspired me to listen more closely to post-GBV Bob for some reason. The Boston Spaceships albums really are great though I still haven't heard the latest one. Digging Mars Classroom as well...

can you please make teenage fbi (wish in one hand version) my #20 song, and drop my current #20 song off the list? pretty please? thanks!

Can and will.

depends - what was #20?

thanks johnny! the former #20 was "a good flying bird," which remains pretty damn great.

NO! reverse decision plz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9l8nv90N4o

By the way, the o.g. 7" version of Teenage FBI is the version I'll be posting for its placing in the countdown (assuming it places, that is...(of course it will)).

^not so fond of reason xxp

can i just vote for "awful bliss" in all 20 spots?

Since we're talking about Tobin songs atm, plz show this nugget some love ppl!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxCZ0m15_E4

love that clip of tobin doing bird! that one was always better live than on record, methinks. i still stand by tobin. my fave member of the band. which is barely represented anywhere on my list. but still.

Status update: 24 ballots cast so far, 155 different tracks voted for. The #1 has appeared somewhere on 71% of all ballots cast.

if it's not echos myron i will eat a nacho hat

XP I think I had about 5 Tobin tracks on my ballot. I didn't find it appropriate to include anything solo, otherwise 'Hermit Stew' would have been top 10.

Having problems finalising my list, every time I come back to this thread someone mentions a track I'd forgotten

No Tobin tracks on my ballot, if I do the MOST HATED they will all be Tobin. Really can't stand "It's Like Soul Man"! idk maybe it's just his wimpy voice that i can't get past.

http://www.jamesgreer.net/2011/09/21/guided-by-voices-new-album/

My ballot was pretty close to the Human Amusements tracklisting. For all his musical tourettes, Pollard knew pretty keenly which were his best songs.

xp Well shit! One of the reasons I wanted to do GBV was because the catalog of material had a pretty specific end date (even if, yes, we were including solo stuff). Now this poll won't be truly comprehensive!

That said, YAY NEW ALBUM OMG

Who plays the violin/strings on some of that earlier stuff (like Weedking)? I had never really heard a lot of it, and was kind of surprised to hear it.

There are violins on "Weedking"? Greg Demos played a bit of violin... not sure how well.

Don't forget this heavenly violin riff:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4KIlCYyDdw

I think that is Greg Demos

For all his musical tourettes, Pollard knew pretty keenly which were his best songs.
the greatest hits thing on that box set is pretty good -- but i actually think that pollard's greatest (ok, one of his greatest) skills is sequencing. like, the first side of bee thousand is one of the greatest first sides of all time in terms of track order/transitions/rise/fall/etc. same with alien lanes, things like fast japanese spin cycle. the guy knows how to order his songs so that they fit perfectly. no mean feat when you've got billions of songs to choose from. so the greatest hits, great as they are, are made greater by how he places them together on the actual albums.

great! how many times can i say great! greatest greater great!

tracklisting for the new album:
Let's Go Eat the Factory:

01 Laundry and Lasers
02 The Head
03 Doughnut for a Snowman
04 Spiderfighter
05 Hang Mr. Kite
06 God Loves Us
07 The Unsinkable Fats Domino
08 Who Invented the Sun
09 The Big Hat and Toy Show
10 Imperial Racehorsing
11 How I Met My Mother
12 Waves
13 My Europa
14 Chocolate Boy
15 The Things That Never Need
16 Either Nelson
17 Cyclone Utilities (Remember Your Birthday)
18 Old Bones
19 Go Rolling Home
20 The Room Taking Shape
21 We Won't Apologize for the Human Race

Cyclone Utilities (Remember Your Birthday)

This sounds like Bob trolling the world.

goddammit, this is gonna rule so hard! but honestly speaking, "The Unsinkable Fats Domino" sounds like someone trying to hard to imitate Bob's titling style

Either Nelson
Echoes Myron

I knew this was coming, I could feel it in my [stellar astronomy word][animal name][common noun].

No Tobin tracks on my ballot, if I do the MOST HATED they will all be Tobin.

http://imgur.com/B3QyV

http://i.imgur.com/B3QyV.jpg

can i vote for auditorium->motor away as one song

Surely that Jim Greer song will win MOST HATED, what was Bob thinking?

The Sandbox album has not aged well.

my ballot had nothing post-UTBUTS on it tbh

or, wait, is mag earwhig! after UTBUTS? i can't even keep their chronology straight anymore