Why is Robert Pollard the most underrated songwritter ever?

i'd say that first Boston Spaceships record is probably my fave from the last couple years?

I've heard tell that's good. Of the other stuff I've heard, songs seem fussy + overcooked, his voice is not what it was, don't like this Todd Tobias guy playing all the instruments.

yeah, it's true -- his voice does seem a little weak these days.

out of context - but the Owen Pallet cover of Game Of Pricks is really good

Listening to that selection linked above. Holy crap - "First of an Early Go-Getter" sounds like "Hold Your Head High" by Argent!

yeah the owen pallet cover is great -- arthur russell meets GBV. man, "game of pricks" is quite a song isn't it?

"It Is Divine" off this mix really gives me goosebumps....kinda gets me in that classic GBV ballad way like "14 Cheerleader Coldfront"

i'm 4 songs in... songs 2-3 are kinda turkeys. song #4 is awesome though "Frequent Weaver..."

okay this mix picks up after an uninspiring start. but then #6 ("Gold") is kinda sucking the wind out of the momentum that had built with #4-5

this is great tylerw, thanking u

Robert's lyrics may be a bit surreal for mass consumption. That may be one reason. He's really clever. That can be a problem too.

Really loving the new Boston Spaceships record. I feel like this project has a much better hit-to-miss ratio going for it than the stuff under his own name as of late.

circle of trim off of tower in the fountain of sparks

pop zeus as well

those two. those are the answer to the thread title question

always loved the first track off that tower in the ftn of spark record

Hows the new one? Haven't gotten my copy yet. But I am super, super excited by what I read on the (excellent) Wires and Waves blog:

Next month, he releases a new record with former GBV guitarist Doug Gillard under the name Lifeguards, and March will see the release of a collaboration called Mars Classroom, made with the guys from underrated '90s indie-rockers Big Dipper.

all three of his new ones are pretty strong! the lifeguards one in particular.

Oh man, didn't even know the other two were "out there".

yeah i'm on a promo list for him, for some reason ... i just get download links. but yeah, listening to the mars classroom now -- pretty great! straightforward, catchy pop rock.

Glad to hear, can't wait to hear these.

just chiming in again to say i REALLY like the Mars Classroom LP, maybe more than any Pollard LP in a while ...

^ i agree, even though i'm biased (i play drums on some of it)—it's a real grower, too.

whoa, no shit? yeah, i really dig it -- less ummm proggy than some of his other solo joints? just straight-up, simple tunes, with a nice warm (slightly melancholy) vibe.

you see, the thing is, GARY WALEIK is the most underrated songwriter ever.

ha, yeah, maybe. what's the deal with this -- did gary write all the music, and pollard the lyrics?

that's right.

cool. i think i read somewhere that big dipper was one of pollard's fave bands ...

http://music.is-amazing.com/sites/music.is-amazing.com/files/covers/robert_0.jpghttp://images.uulyrics.com/cover/v/vashti-bunyan/album-just-another-diamond-day.jpg

I picked up the Lifeguards LP on a whim. Back in the early 00s I was a Pollard/GBV devotee for a good while but I haven't bought a Pollard release in about four years. Whether it was declining interest on my part or perceived lack of quality on the part of Pollard (probably a bit of both) but I was drawn in by the first song from the new Lifeguards and I have to say I find it quite good. It's much more "produced" than most Pollard efforts, the arrangements are more sophisticated and it is, for lack of a better word "weirder." Some noisy flourishes, proggy parts, over-the-top hard rock vocals by Pollard, etc. I quite dig it. Gillard's guitar work is excellent.

lol just got a promo for another pollard record this year -- a new circus devils record! i want to meet someone who is like the world's biggest circus devils fan. they have nine records now!

best song title so far: Aerial Poop Show (Inst)

ha! what's the album called? i'll be on the lookout for it. pollard's on a roll this year. i've heard four (4!) of his projects so far and no duds among them

Capsized! (exclamation point included)

So the email I got from Pollard just now says that Let It Beard is the last Boston Spaceships record! Was this announced before and I missed it? Really disappointed because I felt like the Spaceships was definitely the best thing Pollard had going right now.

huh, really? i hadn't heard that. with all the hype (relatively speaking to other pollard releases) around this one, seems surprising.

No, that announcement seems to have caught most people out. Real shame, 'cos yeah BS are one of his best, & LiB is probably their best yet.

Yeah, the press release I got had the subject line of "The End is Near..." and here's the pertinent part of the email:

The ultimate (and final) Boston Spaceships album. A 75-minute thrill ride through the many forms Pollard has mastered in his three decades of writing and recording, Let It Beard is the White Album meets Quadrophenia meets Jesus Christ Superstar meets Same Place The Fly Got Smashed.

weird to break up a band that is barely a band to begin with. did pollard and moen get into an email flame war?
still digging into let it beard but it seems pretty great so far.

weird, but kind of great!
http://soundcloud.com/north-of-onhava/robert-pollard-stephanie-1/s-NqdFR
pollard does the soft boys' underwater moonlight

The Vicelords, they come down on a string into your life.

www.rockathonrecords.com
Let It Beard Boombox Demos Pre-Order
Here are the demos for the 26 songs on Let it Beard, as recorded by Bob on his guitar then shipped off to Chris to begin work on their masterpiece.
This release is cd only, a Rockathon exclusive and is limited to 500 copies, hand numbered by Bob himself
The scheduled release date is 10/25/2011
DID I MENTION IT'S ONLY 5 BUCKS?

kind of interesting -- i've been curious as to what bob's collaborators have to work with when they go about making these records.

Let It Beard is fantastic, just like the other Boston Spaceships' albums have been. I'm kinda sad he's done with them but can't wait for the new GBV albums...

Seriously, each BS record feels like a greatest hits. Pollard never ceases to amaze...

Hmmmmmmm, I think he ceased to amaze, and a lot of other people I know, some time ago... sadly

... amaze me that is.

Heard two Boston Spaceships' album and there are just too many mediocre tracks for me to get excited about them... though there are definitely good things on them too, just not enough of them

i enjoyed 'let it beard' as well. it's certainly better than the bulk of his post-gbv solo & side project output. more hooks, more of that late-gbv anthemic guitar riffing. however, it's a rather daunting double-cd set and could have probably been pared down to one cd.

what do people think of Go Back Snowball - Calling Zero? I'm listening to it now for the first time and loving it. It seems to of been roundly panned when released, maybe over hyped expectations?

in case anyone missed it before
North of Onhava offers a limited time re-post of "Walls And Windows," the 1983 GBV song that would alter become "Hardcore UFOs" on Bee Thousand. http://bit.ly/uFsfe3

maybe it's just me but is the new pollard record (honey locust honkey tonk) not just 'the best one in a while' but actually . . . good?

haven't heard it yet, thought it didn't come out until next week. i liked his tossed off Sunflower Logic EP a lot.

haven't heard that. (there's so much pollardia to keep up with . . .) this new one's loose but there are also songs that cohere as, well, songs: "i killed a man who looks like you," "who buries the undertaker," and "airs," to name a few

I Killed a Man... is not just good Pollard, but great Pollard. That one's been floating around for a while, though. I haven't formulated an opinion on the rest of the album yet.