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

The problem with "Glad Girls" is that it goes on too long, which should never happen in a GBV song.

This has been a bad day for me, only one song I voted for and none of the other songs that made it are really anywhere close to my favorites.

there's something really haunting about "My Son Cool" (esp. about the coda) and I can't put my finger on it. those three closing songs AL stand out from the rest of the album in a way I can't really explain

yeah i love my son cool -- decide now!!!!

30. "My Impression Now" (Fast Japanese Spin Cycle, 1994) [241 points, 9 votes, 1 #1 vote]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4_2rjFkPcI

yay

It's another good one... but not better than "My Son Cool"

The first time I heard Glad Girls was at a show in Athens, GA. They were playing through the entirety of ID and after Glad Girls, they decided to play it again! I'm sure that would annoy some people but it was awesome at the time.

... maybe they ran out of songs

^ GBV fan's joke

in those rare events, when GBV run out of songs onstage, they just take a 5 minute break and come back with premiere material

29. "Redmen and Their Wives" (Under the Bushes Under the Stars, 1996) [247 points, 10 votes, 1 #1 vote]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__q87LmkD8Y

Unlike Glad Girls which goes on way too long, I'd be fine with Redmen and Their Wives going on another 3 or 4 minutes.

yeah that one's got some nice catharsis

28. "Chasing Heather Crazy" (Isolation Drills, 2001) [248 points, 11 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7KiLRCxt58

Hooray!

I like this track a lot more now than I did at the time the album was new. It's a remarkably slow burn for such an uptempo GBV song.

isolation drills really came at a low point of my GBV fandom, but i couldn't deny this song.

27. "Blimps Go 90" (Alien Lanes, 1995) [249 points, 12 votes, 1 #1 vote]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cU4NJnK1pvk

Great song.

The rusty violin is a nice touch. Also, Mary Lou Lord had a nice cover of this on one of her albums (can't remember which).

nooooo, "Heather" is criminally TOO LOW :( that was my #2, I seriously thought it's a lock on for a top ten...

Hey, here's 2 songs I voted for, and two of GBV's prettiest tunes. I love the harmonies on "Chasing Heather Crazy" so much.

I almost voted for 'Chasing Heather Crazy' but couldn't really decide whether or not 'Unspirited' does a similar-ish thing better... In the end neither made my final ballot anyway.

yay "my impression now"!! escort you safely away
hey

hey hey

for the record, what i don't like about "Glad Girls" is the same thing I don't like about "Girls of Wild Strawberries" -- plodding undynamic unremarkable generic song about "girls"

26. "Shocker in Gloomtown" (The Grand Hour, 1993) [262 points, 10 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_GO0i0ohbw

(bonus Breeders cover with GBV cameos)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FqhOQLD3t0

yaaaay

love the breeders cover!!!!!

yeah that is a great version. first time i saw gbv, kim miraculously appeared to sing on that and goldheart mountaintop.

According the youtube uploader, that GBV vid is from just earlier this month and was the final show of the tour (maybe the final show ever? well, probably not that.)

how the hell did we miss it
bared his ass for all to see
and no one got to kiss it

The more I think about it, the more I think this song came in too low (I realize that #26 out of a zillion is pretty high, but still...).

Definitely too low.

Glad Girls -- but I was really torn between that and Motor Away.

― righteousmaelstrom, Thursday, June 21, 2007 2:01 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark

Haha. These are neither my #1 or #2.

25. "Cut Out Witch" (Under the Bushes Under the Stars, 1996) [264 points, 14 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjkJIy2vZ2I

This one almost made my ballot and I could have picked one of the lower tracks and replaced it with this one pretty easily. Always great live.

cut out witch is awesome

Gloomtown does feel too low. So much crammed in those 90 seconds.

Cut out witch totally great. Pretty good showing.

Great song!

love the structure of Cut Out Witch - sounds so easy but other bands could try for years and fail to come up with something as snappy and well formed as that.

24. "14 Cheerleader Coldfront" (Propeller, 1992) [281 points, 14 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFvonufcz8A

No love?

Lotta love! I voted for this. Just really busy at work today, so I'm limited in my time for deep thoughts.

Overall I'm pleased that my #1 is still yet to come. Unless ILM will shame me by shutting it out completely.

I don't really like 14 Cheerleader Coldfront very much tbh. It has never really moved me.

It's so delicate, especially in the midst of what's around it on Propeller. It's swoony.

I love this one. I think I had it tops among all the pre-Bee Thousand songs. I am totally out of touch with the greater GBV community, so actually I had no idea everybody else loved it too. I thought it was an unconventional pick on my ballot.

See, for me, Circus World is swoony. 14 Cheerleader -- I dunno -- it just doesn't soar, it doesn't drive, it doesn't even plod -- it just kinda sits there harmonizing like a forgettable pair of strummers singing a coffee shop duet.

I would never get into this much detail with people who hadn't already spent this much time discussing the minutiae of GBV songs, but we have, so I did.

I get what LL is getting at wrt "14 Cheerleader Coldfront", but I voted for it because they always seem to be able to breathe new life into it on-stage.

If I'm in a wistful mood this is the ticket - great lyrics

stay close to locker rooms