It's a nice organ part!
― Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 20 April 2021 12:50 (three years ago) link
Mitchell > Gillard
― calstars, Tuesday, 20 April 2021 13:18 (three years ago) link
Count me in the Isolation Drills>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Do the Collapse camp. Isolation Drills is probably top 5 GbV for me.
^^^This. Isolation Drills production served the songs, but Do the Collapse seemed that it just added a couple keyboard presets to some of the songs.
― i bought biden some thin mints with my stimmy (PBKR), Tuesday, 20 April 2021 13:50 (three years ago) link
Isolation Drills was my favorite those late-period (pre-reunion) albums for years, but the last couple times I listened to it it felt kind of monotonous in a way the others aren't. I think it's a combination of the production and the songs themselves. Still don't love the production on Do the Collapse, but I think the songs themselves are generally more interesting. "Bride Have Hit Glass" is all-time though, of course.
― Vaguely Threatening CAPTCHAs, Tuesday, 20 April 2021 14:50 (three years ago) link
On Isolation Drills, a lot of the expensive production seems to consist of "let's overdub the same rhythm guitar part eight times", which contributes to a monotonous sound.
― Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 20 April 2021 14:59 (three years ago) link
To me that's preferable to eight overdubs of Doug Gillard running through his favourite licks.
― Authoritarian Steaks (Tom D.), Tuesday, 20 April 2021 15:05 (three years ago) link
Which Do the Collapse songs do you feel have this particular problem?
― Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 20 April 2021 15:07 (three years ago) link
I think he overplays throughout the entire album basically. I'm sure that's more down to Ric Ocasek thinking, "Oh this guy can actually play, I should use him wherever possible".
― Authoritarian Steaks (Tom D.), Tuesday, 20 April 2021 15:10 (three years ago) link
Poor man's Ohio indie The Who < collection of basement anthems bookended by weirdo lo-fi cut and paste tape experiments.
― Evan, Tuesday, 20 April 2021 15:10 (three years ago) link
i like Do the Collapse way better than Isolation Drills personally.
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Tuesday, 20 April 2021 15:12 (three years ago) link
I mean I love a lot of the Gillard era stuff but I took my old VOT/Prop CD with me driving up to in-laws at the weekend, and was just astonished again at how brilliant those albums are, how unique and constantly inspired. Felt like I was transported back to hearing them for the first time as a teen again.
― Fine ham abounds, mom (stevie), Tuesday, 20 April 2021 15:55 (three years ago) link
“And oh, mesh gear fox”
― calstars, Tuesday, 20 April 2021 18:59 (three years ago) link
There’s just no comparing pre and post 96. Original stuff shits all over gillards robotic playing and mainstream production. Same planet, different worlds.
― calstars, Tuesday, 20 April 2021 19:00 (three years ago) link
teenage fbi is all time, chasing heather crazy is good
― brimstead, Tuesday, 20 April 2021 19:01 (three years ago) link
never really listened to those albums though never listened to mag earwig either
New album Earth Man Blues can be listened to here: https://www.grammy.com/grammys/news/2021-guided-by-voices-earth-man-blues-premiere-remote-recording
First impression: this could end up being my favorite post-reunion album? I don't know, I really loved Surrender Your Poppy Field. That album felt kind of like a musical to me, which is something Bob's explicitly aiming for with this one. It also kind of gives me Mag Earwhig vibes, probably just because I always thought of that one as a loose concept album about growing up in Dayton, and that's supposedly the concept here.
― Vaguely Threatening CAPTCHAs, Thursday, 29 April 2021 15:47 (two years ago) link
I've heard only good things about this record so far.
― it's like edging for your mind (the table is the table), Thursday, 29 April 2021 16:32 (two years ago) link
xp As someone whose favorite post-reunion record is by far Surrender Your Poppy Field, I am very excited to read that.
― cwkiii, Thursday, 29 April 2021 23:27 (two years ago) link
OK yeah, after one listen, this is definitely top tier for this lineup. Much better than the last two records.
― cwkiii, Friday, 30 April 2021 12:28 (two years ago) link
oooooh this one sounds genuinely different. I can't help but wonder if Pollard heard the Heidecker bit and decided to mix it up lol
― intern at pepe le pew research (Simon H.), Friday, 30 April 2021 12:41 (two years ago) link
I genuinely wondered that
― PaulTMA, Friday, 30 April 2021 15:50 (two years ago) link
Hmm I wasn’t too enthused by it. I had the same reaction I’ve had to most of the recent stuff—excited for the first few tracks but it starts to become tedious as it goes. It’s just... more.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Friday, 30 April 2021 15:54 (two years ago) link
Needmore records was their early “label” if I recall
― calstars, Friday, 30 April 2021 15:56 (two years ago) link
I think it was their/his publisher, as in Needmore Songs. Named after a street in Dayton.
― Authoritarian Steaks (Tom D.), Friday, 30 April 2021 16:10 (two years ago) link
Earth Man Blues does sound different, kind of a patchwork prog thing going on, probably due to the quarantine recording process covered in the grammy article linked above, but I wouldn't say that the songs are necessarily better than ones on the albums leading up to it. I'm not buying the hype in the Rolling Stone review. But it might grow on me after repeated listens and uncovering the "story" that supposedly ties these songs together. I googled John H. Morrison wondering why he was called out as the album presenter on the cover and it is the name of an elementary school in Bob's neighborhood so I feel like that is a big clue in the unifying concept. I'm just not sure how much time I want to put into searching for the payoff of a record that didn't really grab me on the first listen.
― BrianB, Friday, 30 April 2021 16:57 (two years ago) link
I wasn't struck by any conceptual stuff, but I did notice the lyrics and song structures seemed more immediately accessible than a lot of recent-ish Pollard stuff I've heard.
― intern at pepe le pew research (Simon H.), Friday, 30 April 2021 17:10 (two years ago) link
Jen from the IT to thread:@I know every song by Guided By Voices. I shouldn'teven knowWHO THEY ARE#
― Dr X O'Skeleton, Friday, 30 April 2021 17:25 (two years ago) link
I'd love to be able to put my finger on what it is about these recent albums that make them so polarizing...like, I've seen a lot of people going nuts for Styles We Paid For, which I've listened to probably 4-5 times and it does absolutely nothing for me. Similarly, it seemed like Space Gun was a consensus favorite and I didn't care for it at all. On the other hand, I think Surrender Your Poppy Field is the best one since Isolation Drills, and I'm in the middle of my second listen to the new one right now and I think it's really, really good.
― cwkiii, Friday, 30 April 2021 17:36 (two years ago) link
I can’t listen to anything post Under the Bushes
― calstars, Friday, 30 April 2021 18:38 (two years ago) link
I am sorta the same. I like space gun though.
― brimstead, Friday, 30 April 2021 19:03 (two years ago) link
I kind of liked some of the ones around when Ric Ocasek produced that one but otherwise just can’t keep up sorry
― A Stop at Quilloughby (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 30 April 2021 20:39 (two years ago) link
For whatever reason I was really into Earthquake Glue, but otherwise the only post Under the Bushes album that is special to me is Mag Earwhig! I guess cause it's so close to the golden era, still has a good amount of weirdo charm. Not that I don't enjoy any of the rest of the post 96 stuff at all but my brain categorizes it as a different band entirely. Tobin Sprout element is pretty critical to me.
― Evan, Friday, 30 April 2021 21:06 (two years ago) link
Isolation Drills was the last great one for me. I am kind of enjoying this new one.
― bookmarkflaglink (Darin), Thursday, 6 May 2021 00:14 (two years ago) link
Isolation Drills was my favorite after the early run. Still haven't listened to this new one yet.
― A Stop at Quilloughby (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 6 May 2021 03:47 (two years ago) link
Any Cub Scout Bowling Pins fans here? Fun new bubblegum/psych band that happens to have the exact same members as Guided by Voices? New album doesn't start off strong but it's pretty solid after the first four tracks or so.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TLP9_n1_fA
― Vaguely Threatening CAPTCHAs, Friday, 9 July 2021 19:57 (two years ago) link
Still waiting for the full-length to get here, but I loved the EP. Really fun stuff and one of my favorite new Pollard side projects.
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 9 July 2021 20:00 (two years ago) link
Yeah tbh I think I like it as much as or more than all but a few of the post-reunion GBV albums
― Vaguely Threatening CAPTCHAs, Friday, 9 July 2021 20:18 (two years ago) link
A new gbv album you say? Thought I’d never see the day
― calstars, Friday, 9 July 2021 20:41 (two years ago) link
someone blasting 'game of pricks' just drove by
― mookieproof, Saturday, 2 October 2021 23:05 (two years ago) link
👍🏽
― Legalize Suburban Benches (Raymond Cummings), Saturday, 2 October 2021 23:06 (two years ago) link
Cool. In the running for their best song.
― He POLLS So Much About These Zings (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 2 October 2021 23:28 (two years ago) link
Lot of competition of course.
― He POLLS So Much About These Zings (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 2 October 2021 23:31 (two years ago) link
Both in the sense of good songs and sheer amount of songs too numerous for most sane people to ever evaluate.
― He POLLS So Much About These Zings (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 2 October 2021 23:32 (two years ago) link
GoP overrated. The lazy choice.
― calstars, Saturday, 2 October 2021 23:55 (two years ago) link
Salty Salute ftw
― calstars, Saturday, 2 October 2021 23:56 (two years ago) link
At the moment for me, it's "Twilight Campfighter."
― I'm a sovereign jazz citizen (the table is the table), Sunday, 3 October 2021 16:51 (two years ago) link
that changes every week or so, tho
I'd nominate "Redmen and Their Wives" from Under the Bushes, Under the Stars as their best song. It seems typically perverse GBV procedure that they'd bury their best song as track 23 of 24, and then conclude with the only throwaway on the whole record.
― Halfway there but for you, Sunday, 3 October 2021 18:06 (two years ago) link
Gold Star for Robot Boy
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Sunday, 3 October 2021 18:07 (two years ago) link
Everybody Thinks I'm a Raincloud
― jmm, Sunday, 3 October 2021 18:12 (two years ago) link