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

Guessing that the "Peep-Hole" naysayers are "I Am A Scientist" fans who think of it as the natural climax to the album? The appeal--Pollard drawing back the curtain at the end of the album with a fairly legible lyric--is pretty much the same. Though the lyric in "Scientist" is a lot more evolved, I always thought the melody of "Peep-Hole" worked better, and I love the inarticulate scatting at the end. (But then, I am the mentalist who voted it #1.)

I love this one even if no one else does.
that's how i feel about "Liquid Indian"
i just LOVE it for no apparent reason

xp hey, did you forget of "You're Not An Airplane"? no hard feelings, I can't really recall this one either tbh

39. "Subspace Biographies" (Waved Out, 1998) [184 points, 7 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U5BWlCBNS0

xp
Nah, just that the album seems to resolve at "I Am A Scientist" (or "Peep-Hole," depending on your taste) and that what follows is for lagniappe, like righteousmaelstrom said.

xp yes!
some of my favorite pollard lyrics, so berzerk

super chuggy too

that one came up on shuffle the other day and oh man

i dropped all the solo pollard tracks from my ballot though since it was the least agonizing way to get it down to 20.

xp yeah, I see (I was also kind of joking)

Subspace was my #2. Thought it would come in higher.

hey, did you forget of "You're Not An Airplane"? no hard feelings, I can't really recall this one either tbh

You will be eating your words when "You're Not An Airplane" finishes #1.

i will have to rep for 'Far-Out Crops' some other time

Waved out isn't on spotify :(

I voted for "We've Got Airplanes" does that count?

Faaaaaar Ooooout Croooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooops that song rules

Only three more for today. I'll do them when I get back from lunch!

I put "Peephole" second. Almost put it first. It's this great love song to his (now-ex-) wife, disarmingly straightforward. Some of his most touching lyrics and melody, I think. It only seems slight if you accept the notion that a song only a minute or so long is necessarily slight - a perspective I can't imagine reconciling with being a Pollard fan. Then again, I voted for "The Ascended Master's Grog Shop". And two tracks off the Get Out of My Stations 7", which I'm sure people think of as a slight release (I would have put it on my albums ballot if I had counted it as an album).

it only seems slight if you accept the notion that a song only a minute or so long is necessarily slight

Nah, the #1 song on my ballot is about the same length as "Peep-Hole" so that's not it. It's a fine song, but the melody just never grabs me. Actually, I've always found it to be very forgettable.

I just got idea we also should have voted for our favourite Pollard track & album names (I like the ring of "Get Out of My Stations")

Peep hole was one of the last songs to be cut from my list. Subspace biographies was quite high on mine.

xp
Yeah! "Deathtrot and Warlock Riding a Rooster" would place high, I hope.

cock of the block

i've had my fingers crossed for "don't stop now"
kinda bummed that i am going to be in class tomorrow during the countdown :(

i've owned you for centuries

Voted Subspace! Such a simple but great rock song. Almost dumped it to stick to GBV stuff, but just found that I still loved it.

Have to think that "Don't Stop Now" will make it. I am holding out for quite a few UTBUTS songs, none of mine have placed yet.

I had 2 UTBUTS songs on my ballot and I would be shocked if they don't both place.

38. "Dusted" (Vampire on Titus, 1993 / Fast Japanese Spin Cycle, 1994) [185 points, 7 votes, 1 #1 vote]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwUgou8yaRQ

amazing song, i had it pretty high up there.
if i drank enough rolling rock, i'd probably argue that FJSC is the best album of the 90s. And it's not even an album.

good vocal quality on "dusted"

I had 5 from alien lanes. Didn't even notice while I was making my list. No other album has more than 2 for me.

tangentially related -- rock n roll hall of fame first-time eligibles this year but not nominated include Crowded House, Guided by Voices, the Jayhawks, Lyle Lovett, Salt N Pepa, Soundgarden, They Might Be Giants, and Yo La Tengo.

Would be surprised if any of them ever make it in.

Soundgarden will, someday.

had never heard the amazing FJSC version, definitely pushed it into my ballot

Mu number nineteen.

Mu My

37. "Jane of the Waking Universe" (Mag Earwhig!, 1997) [190 points, 8 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5cNgnHUevU

Subspace Biographies is awesome. Was hoping to hear some solo/outtake stuff that I was not familiar with.

Really glad this one made it. I think I knew at one point that it was one of the "classic lineup" final recordings, but had forgotten until it was mentioned in the voting thread. ANTHEMIC!

Here's another song I voted for (at around #12 or so). Def. my favorite on Mag Earwhig!, one of the very best Pollard choruses actually.

Didn't vote for 'Jane' but absolutely love that "And undulating always like the tide..." bridge.

i didn't vote for jane either, but the vowel sounds in that song are strange and interesting

Last one for today...

36. "Hot Freaks" (Bee Thousand, 1994) [202 points, 9 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5fB6AyGes8

Too low!

About "Jane," I always liked the structure of that song -- I guess it's chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/solo/chorus, but since the verse only comes in once, it's like the bridge is just a second, completely different verse.

hooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooot!
freaks!

Don't like the recorded version of Hot Freaks much, but it always kills live.

I thought this would place higher.

I love the story about when Pollard was laying down the vocals for Hot Freaks in Tobin Sprout's basement while Sprout's wife was trying to run a garage sale at the same time.

Haha!

"hi, i was just wondering how much this lamp is?"
"this one is on the hoooooooooooouse"