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

Nice! I hope my #1 has a respectable showing.

I hope at least one more person voted for Secret Star. There are SO MANY GOOD LITTLE PARTS, and it starts off kinda boring, but does not end boring. The "man of energy" part reminds me of my dog, "know your conjurer" is yet another awesome Pollard collocation, the "wish for you to fall/burn/return" almost makes me cry.

LOVE this song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZIi97N5sFM&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL6E19A342AF5F3048

OTM everything you said about "Secret Star", rest of the album leaves me cold however. I've decided to drop the idea of having Bob solo tracks in my top 20, which is looking really kinda boring and underwhelming, i hated my Beach Boys top 20 too!

I voted Underwater Explosions in my top 20. I meant to vote for Little Lines. But I got my midpaced big rock chuggers mixed up. Never mind. Mistakes and randomness are in the spirit of GBV.

Has Pollard/GBV ever covered this song? There is a part in the second verse at 1:23 that sounds identical to a GBV song but I can't quite figure out which one (all of them?). I know this is not a AC original, but I would like to hear Pollard sing it anyway why because it is awesome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_nyNy9oAVo

(btw that is hello hooray a la alice cooper)

Not according to the GBVDB, http://gbvdb.com/tracks.asp?x=1&artistpersonid=&artistpersonids=4&cover=true

Love that song

Wouldn't it be a great cover? Speaking of covers...
(pardon the xpost from facebook but it's awesome)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FqhOQLD3t0

xxp lol, and I have thought for like a week now that GBVDB was down for some reason. turns out that the whole time I've been trying to get to the site using http://www.gbvdb.com/ instead of http://gbvdb.com/

So I was sitting in a boring mtg yesterday when a friend fwded me the Pfork article about the new album and I so badly wanted to jump up and high-kick while shouting "FUCK YEAH".

I think that would've been an appropriate response. If your colleagues didn't understand it, fuck em.

My ballot is done, I'm just going to let it season for a couple days before I submit. My guess is that it will be fairly consensus but I'm actually not really sure what the consensus on GBV is.

Demons are Real will probably win.

And why not?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5coiDE7_9Y

Feeling it.

Great chords in that song

Bowiesque

Such enthusiastic singing!

Ok up to this point I have avoided listening to Alien Lanes or Bee Thousand because they rile me up WAY TOO MUCH and I also like to save the big hits for when I need them, which is not right now. But unfortunately, I just listened to that song 3x.

The thing is, you haven't really seen me flip out itt yet. It gets worse. I am controlling myself a little bit still.

is it too close to a ban to ask for a fan-created rarity compilation? just found out about this one http://gbvdb.com/album.asp?albumid=2167 and damn, looks interesting. most of that stuff remains officially unreleased as of today. google doesn't seem to help me at all >:(

Try searching for "Guided by Voices 30 Songs" in google blog search. Certainly seems to be pretty popular with bloggers, I see it get posted fairly often.

One litmus test for the consensus-ness of my ballot is that fully half of it is on the GBV greatest hits album that I just learned 5 minutes ago existed.

I was worried about my ballot looking too much like that too, but, y'know, screw it, its a really well compiled hits disc.

that whole box was a good purchase imo

Yes, well worth the nearly two hours I stood in line to purchase it at Borders. Long story, but I had a gift card to use, it was the only copy they had, and it was two days after Christmas so there was a hella ridiculous line.

What box is this?

This one.

Hardcore UFOs on Matador 2003

best of
matador oop singles, b-sides, etc,
previously unreleased
unreleased LIVE 95-2002 (this is omg must have btw)
forever since breakfast
dvd of watch me jumpstart

Oh yeah. At the risk of annoying everyone, I got that in a car boot sale (American equivalent?) for £5 (American equivalent?). What a happy day that was!

Great score! I'd say the American equivalent would be like $2.50 at a garage sale.

High five for striking the motherlode. I love when that happens.

And in the UK! Have we talked about the book yet? Who else has read the book?

Are you talking about A Brief History? Or the 33 1/3 on Bee Thousand? Or another I'm not aware of?

Have never seen the book. The Jim Greer thing?

Brief History -- I haven't read the 33 1/3 because I, well, I dunno. For some reason I continue to resist the focus on that album when there is so much more to appreciate.

Yes, the Jim Greer thing. It's really really good and gives you an idea of the early days that I think is missing from the general narrative about GBV.

Bee Thousand works so well as an album. So well that I rarely listen to it anymore. I mostly just put a ton of songs on random or listen to comps/dj mixes these days. Bee Thousand songs don't sound as good to me out of context.

Always look for it, but doesn't seem to have made it across the Atlantic, at least not in sufficient numbers (xp)

The GBV song that gives me the biggest jumpstart is "Wished I Was A Giant". When that comes on, I can't help but yell along with the hooting at the end. I have no idea what the song "means" but to me it means release.

I'd venture to guess that 90% of all GBV songs don't mean anything at all.

Like, the best GBV songs have particular phrases you can shout along to while listening and those phrases sound great when shouted (or sung)...but they're absolutely nonsensical.

That is part of what I love so much about them.

i HATE that jim greer book, ugh. such a smarmy tone and boring, "insider" bullshit

It's never quite as poignant as when everyone's shouting along together at a show -- and tbh I don't get drunk (like DRUNK) very much and I don't think I've ever been drunk at a GBV show. I have been drunk at home and singing to GBV and made my neighbor come upstairs on account of the noise though :-/

xp wow, ok we all have our opinions.

I will be plowing through all the suggestions on this thread this weekend before voting, but wanted to rep for what to me is one of their very best:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8Q_XHYV_AY

I could listen to this song non-stop for days and two weeks.

Also unsuspected GBV addition on Propeller: guitar solos.

Just sent mine in. It was really hard to get down to 20.

xpost the live album in the Hardcore UFOs box was in my ballot for top 5 GBV albums ...