Earplugs in, kids!
Two noisy blighters this week. First up it’s Neil Young & Crazy Horse from 1991 with Kicker’s favourite, Cinnamon Girl. Then it’s Godspeed You Black Emperor with a typically dystopian view of the future.
But, what is it that links these two masterful works?
In this (sort of) belated Halloween Special the wizards try to settle a number arguments for ever. Progressive Rock? Is it rubbish or not?
Are there too many American Jewish Rap Reggae artists out there? How do you kill a Robot Vampire? Also are Robot Vampires really Vampire Robots or Rampire Vobots? Does Kicker’s heart beat in four four time?
A spooky castle full of excellent eclectic music, chat and hoopla rewards the curious who dare to click here to listen to the podcast or right click and download the linked file to save it in your music library.
If that was too cryptic, click here Podcast 16
Please be warned that the podcast does contain scenes of extreme violence and if you are of a nervous disposition please listen with a trusted friend and hold their hand.
*Body count does not exceed 6.
Here are a few of the records we played on the podcast:
Having disappointingly failed to come up with tickets for Nick Cave’s recent tour, Chorizo Garbanzo has finally made good and has sorted all the wizards with backstage passes tickets for Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks at Manchester’s intimate Gorilla venue in January.
Excited as we are about this forthcoming gig, we thought it appropriate to put together our 14 (herewith, a wizard’s dozen) top Pavement and solo Stephen Malkmus songs on Spotify.
So here are my Pavement selections:
And here are Chorizo’s favourite solo works:
Oh, and here’s a track Garbanzo will tell you I should have included. See what you think.
All the way back to the 80s this morning, kids, with a couple of stonewall classics.
First up it’s Australian haircuts and big cuffs, The Triffids, followed by top-button done up tight crooner and friend of the pod, Lloyd Cole.
The question is, what links these two bands from opposite sides of the world?
(Oh, and if you haven’t done so already, check out Lloyd Cole’s new LP – Standards – it’s really great.)
Everybody knows Boy George’s story. However, it is a classic. Let’s see, from a guest starring role in the most popular TV show in America to a prison sentence for violent assault and in between drink, drugs, sex and much, much more besides. If you want the full story, buy one of the books. But one thing to mention, George was surely the first transvestite to get a number one hit on both sides of the pond.
On a personal level, as discussed on the Funeral Podcast, George is the hero of my partner. He spoke to the teenage her and gave her permission to be different and the courage to fight against her circumstances. She has carried him with her ever since and we have been waiting for a decade for George to rise again. So we snapped up tickets for this gig (a measly £28.50) and hot footed it to the RNCM. A strange venue for George. I wondered whether his reputation would earn him a big arena gig, but I suppose when you have not been releasing records for 19 years and much of the public last saw you being bundled into a police van, you need to ‘re-engage’ with your audience. As for me, Boy George was a bit too pop for this punk rocker to appreciate. However, I was as excited as everyone else when the epic Victims video was premièred on The Tube back in the day and I am fascinated to see what George is up to today.
A quick word about the support band, The Featherz, a full on rock and roll 3 piece. They looked great with 2 females out front, one looking like a Pin-ups era Bowie and the other like a Runaway. They played some great songs and the voices were searing, but the ‘climax’ of “When Did You Last Have Sex” was priceless.
From the first note to the last George was charisma personified and played all the new album for the first hour. It was clear that the audience was wondering if he still had the voice and the confidence and whether the tunes would stand up. It was not long before the crowd were reassured that the voice was, if anythin,g stronger than before, certainly more mature, maybe slightly deeper, but really strong and powerful. I was reminded that the core of the Culture Club sound was reggae and this influenced much of the songs. George can skank the life out of tunes and as the dub got deeper and deeper George’s Kingston Carnival rolled on and on sucking us all into its vortex.
Just when we were reeling from the wild echoing of the whoops and brrrrrrs of George’s rastaman antics, the horns were dismissed and good old country music breaks out. The song “Any Road” is a highlight and the beautiful idea that any road will do if you don’t know where you’re going gives us a hug. The on-stage banter from George was always entertaining as he introduces songs wrongly and bickers with the guitarist John “(John be quiet, I’m speaking.”).
There was a moving tribute to Lou Reed and George explains that when he heard “Walk On The Wild” side he was dancing on clouds because “someone finally gets me” and the cycle turns around again.
The new album and the covers were aplenty and I don’t think George needed to play the hits, but he seems now so comfortable in himself and his talent and ability that, of course, he didn’t mind playing the hits. Church Of The Poison Mind was the highlight for me, but Do You Really Want To Hurt Me and a slower reggae version of Karma Chameleon were also excellent with communal singing and dancing breaking out all around the hall.
The last song was a Hari Krishna chant that, as an atheist, I didn’t enjoy. It’s a corny song in any case, but the idea that someone would join in with a chant for a particular religion seemed odd. Still, that should not detract from a great night and it did make me wonder if George had maintained this level of creativity and performance for the last 19 years, whether he would have been playing in a football stadium rather than the RNCM in 2013.
Earlier this week, I waxed lyrical about The Wedding Present and their magnificent Hit Parade singles from 1992 on this blog post.
The following night I went to see them play in Liverpool. We sometimes do gig reviews on this site but I really don’t know what to say about this gig other than it was FUCKING BRILLIANT! The new single “Two Bridges” is an instant classic.
Before the gig I gave David Gedge a printout of the infographic thing I made. Not quite sure what he made of it but it was good to have a little chat with him and also with top blokes Patrick (guitar) and Charlie (drums) after the gig.
Here’s a picture of the man himself with my creation.
Thanks to New Zealand’s number 1 Wedding Present fan for that photo.
And here’s the obligatory poor quality gig photo.
Here’s the graphic thingy again and here is a hi-res PDF version.
Whilst you’re here, don’t forget to vote in our Wedding Present poll below.
Pow!! On this day in 1894, Thomas Edison (him of fluorescent tube fame) films the American sharpshooter Annie Oakley (getcher gun), which is instrumental in her being hired by Buffalo Bill (no doubt taking a break from adding up the cost of all that bison) for his Wild West Show and in time begets the hit musical by, er, Squeeze.
Neigh!! On this day in 1938, Seabiscuit (not a biscuit and not from the sea) defeats War Admiral (disappointingly also a horse) in an upset victory during a match race deemed “the match of the century” in horse racing and is the start of Moby’s musical soundtrack career. Possibly.
Woof! On this day right here right now, yet another Monthly Mix is launched on an obscure musical blog and is listened to by literally tens of people.
Yes, boys and girls, mums and dads, it’s the first of the month and time for a listen in on the musical world of me, Kicker of Elves.
This month my mix starts with a track from Sheffield’s synth pioneers, Cabaret Voltaire, which features a myriad of strange noise, voices and a killer bass line. Nice. And then nicely on its heels comes a classic from Nick, er, Nicely from his album Psychotropia. A highly recommended bit of psychedelia with a top bit of overly loud something or other (probably synthesised horns, to be fair) at just the right points. Then we are bang up to date with one of Pixies new tracks from their 10″ EP1, a song we wizards and a number of friends of the pod are very keen to hear live later this month.
Back to 1979 next with some power pop from Ellen Foley, who shouldn’t be dismissed for being best known as Meatloaf’s better-looking foil. I reckon her first solo album, Night Out, is pretty damn neat. Retro mod stylings from The Past Tense, who seemingly ‘used to be a haircut’ are up next. This is a band who definitely look worth catching live and should not be confused with definite article lacking Past Tense (a mask-clad bunch of chancers by all accounts). A great song from Californian cult artist, Cass McCombs, follows from his new album Big Wheel & Others on which he asks the question we all want to know the answer to “What’s it like to shit in space?”
As our regular listener will fully be aware, all the Wizards have a huge mancrush on Chuck Prophet and have loved seeing him live many times over the last few years. Time now, though to give it up for Chuck’s erstwhile partner from tip top band Green On Red, Dan Stuart, who’s here with a song from his criminally overlooked album from last year, The Deliverance of Marlowe Billings. The reformed Scots, De Rosa, are next with a moving track from their 2009 album Prevention, where they ‘give in to reverie’. More Californians up after that, this time it’s those noisy buggers, Thee Oh Sees, with a killer track from their new album Floating Coffin.
‘What no GBV?!’ I hear you cry. Worry not faithful follower, as right now we have back to back tracks from Tobin Sprout and Robert Pollard. First, we have Tobin’s solo version of ‘It’s Like Soul Man’ from his Carnival Boy LP and then from Bob’s Not In My Airforce comes a great little acoustic number ‘Roofer’s Union Fight Song’. I remember John Peel similarly playing back to back tracks from these albums back in 1996 and saying he preferred Tobin’s album. I’m not so sure about that, but see what you think. Time then for more Ohioans, this time, the band Scrawl, with their great post-punk influenced sound. This is followed by a song from former Husker Du man, Grant Hart’s latest (whisper it, concept) album, The Argument, which is based on Milton’s Paradise Lost, but sounds a damn sight better than that might suggest.
After all that, we have another favourite of the pod, The Handsome Family with their version of the EC Bell song, ‘Jenny Jenkins’ from a fantastic compilation, the wonderfully titled Face A Frowning World. Then a track from clearly deranged (in a good way) Deerhunter, fronted of course, by the wonderful Bradford Cox, which is surely too much of a gift to this son of Leeds to miss out on*. The track here is from their 2010 Halcyon Digest LP, but their new one is pretty neat too. It’s uber 60s girl band, The Marvelettes next, and they advise us that ‘You’re The One’ and who are we to argue. Then, where Bradford has its cocks, Leeds has a thriving DIY music scene, and a big part of this scene are Hookworms, with a typically noisy blast from this year’s LP Pearl Mystic.
Bradford cocks
* It was.
Kicking off the last four songs this month, all the way from New York City, are Vampire Weekend with a song from this years’ great album Modern Vampires Of The City. ‘Wotcher on about?’ After them it’s Unknown Mortal Orchestra, who hail from New, er, Zealand. This song is from their second album, surprisingly entitled eleven. Eh? Oh. Then a track taken from my favourite compilation set this year. Released by the very wonderful Fruits de Mer Records, the Strange Fish collection came in the form of a vinyl only package of 2 single LPs and 2 double LPs. Oh, and an additional CD from which this track, an excerpt of ‘Floating With’, by The Golden Cake Company was taken. I have the feeling it is long gone now though. Finally, rounding things off with a song that is clearly 2 months late, is the very fragrant Katie Malco of Alcopop Records fame.
Full tracklisting:
1. Black Mask – Cabaret Voltaire
2. On The Coast 2 – Nick Nicely
3. Indie Cindy – Pixies
4. Hideaway – Ellen Foley
5. Angel Face – The Past Tense
6. Morning Star – Cass McCombs
7. Can’t Be Found – Dan Stuart
8. Under The Stairs – De Rosa
9. Toe Cutter Thumb Buster – Thee Oh Sees
10. It’s Like Soul Man – Tobin Sprout (The GBV version is on Spotify, but this is Tobin’s solo version)
11. Roofer’s Union Fight Song – Robert Pollard
12. Standing Around – Scrawl
13. Is The Sky The Limit? – Grant Hart
14. Jenny Jenkins – The Handsome Family (The original EC Ball version is on Spotify, but you can hear Brett & Rennie’s fantastic version here)
15. Revival – Deerhunter
16. You’re The One – The Marvelettes
17. Form & Function – Hookworms
18. Step – Vampire Weekend
19. No Need For A Leader – Unknown Mortal Orchestra
20. Floating With – The Golden Cake Company (There’s no TGCC stuff on Spotify so I have included another Fruits De Mer band, Vespero, in their stead. Find out more about the Strange Fish compilation here.)
21. September – Katie Malco
Only No-ones Get Through The Gate
Spotify Playlist
Previous Monthly Mixes
Tomorrow, I’m going to see The Wedding Present playing in Liverpool. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen them over the years. This time around they are celebrating the 21st anniversary of the uniquely interesting “Hit Parade” singles and will be playing all 12 of them in the set. More on that later.
In the late 80s and early 90s, I used to go and see The Wedding Present on every tour and I have great memories of gigs in Brighton, Portsmouth and lots in London. Not such a great memory of their 1990 Reading Festival appearance where they were 2nd on the bill to Inspiral Carpets. I’d worked my way right down to the front and whilst we were waiting for them to come on, it was pretty chokka and for a shortarse like me, hard to stay on my feet at times. I remember them coming on and opening with a cover of the theme from “Cheers”. But the next thing I knew I was lying on the floor near the back of the arena with the concerned face of a total stranger looking down on me. I’d blacked out about 2 songs in and been carried to safety by some helpful goth.
£35 was lot of money back then!
I also saw the “Hit Parade” tour the first time around at the Astoria. I don’t remember much about that one other than that we somehow ended up with “upstairs” tickets and spent a lot of the gig trying to find a way to get downstairs. It wasn’t loud enough upstairs. The Wedding Present need to be listened to at high volume.
More recently, I’ve seen a couple more of these “21st anniversary” shows.
In August 2010, I was having a party for my 40th birthday and I managed to persuade a couple of my oldest mates, Mike and Rich, to come over to mine a couple of days early and drive over the Pennines to take in a gig at the Holmfirth Picturedrome. This was the 21st anniversary “Bizarro” tour. The 3 of us were all 40 within a few weeks of each other and we had all seen the “Bizarro” tour in Kilburn back in 1989. So this was a great opportunity for us to laugh in the face of the aging process and jump around down the front pretending we were 19 again!
Go and see Littlepixel‘s wonderful re-imaginings of record covers as Pelican paperbacks.
By the time the band got into the middle of Side 2, Mike and Rich had decided they couldn’t take the pace and had gone to stand a bit further back.
As the band finished the relatively gentle-paced “Bewitched” it dawned on all of us in the middle-aged moshpit that next up was the twin guitar onslaught of the 9 minute epic “Take Me”. The feeling was much like I imagine it was in the WW1 trenches just before the order to go “over the top”
The bloke next to me, a total stranger, gave me a pat on the back and said “see you on the other side!”
Oh and just in case it wasn’t clear, I was joking about the trenches. I’m not REALLY suggesting that spending 10 minutes purposely bashing into some sweaty bald blokes to the accompaniment of some manically-strummed electric guitars is actually comparable to facing almost certain death.
At the Edge of the Peaks 2011
That gig in 2010 was my first re-acquaintance with The Wedding Present live experience since the mid-90s but since then I’ve taken in another show at the same venue (the all-day Gedgefest known as “At The Edge of the Peaks”). Then last year, I went with the other 2 wizards to the Manchester gig celebrating the 21st anniversary of my favourite album “Seamonsters”. In fact, it was after that very gig that the 3 of us (but mainly Rebel) came up with the idea of this very podcast / blog.
But anyway, back to the Hit Parade singles I mentioned before. In 1992, The Wedding Present hatched a plan for a record-breaking attempt. Having learnt that Elvis held the record for the most top 40 singles in a calendar year (he did it in 1957 fact fans), the band decided that they could equal this record if they released 1 single each month, limited to a pressing of 10,000 copies on 7” vinyl. No 12”s, no CD singles, not even a cassette single. (The cassette single was at its peak in the early 90s. The previous year Bryan Adams’ Robin Hood song had sold 700,000 copies in that format, enough to make it a platinum single without even counting the 7″ 12″ and CD single versions. In fact that cassette single became such a cultural icon that someone’s made it into a bag. Frightening stuff!)
A clutch bag (whatever that means!)
That limited pressing meant that these singles were in very high demand. In those days, I was working behind the counter of a suburban HMV shop and we only got 3 copies of each of these singles. As soon as they arrived I made sure I bought one straight away and as soon as I got home, I’d record both sides of the single onto a tape. That way I could just listen to the songs on the tape and never play the vinyl again. By the end of the year, that C90 tape had 12 original Wedding Present songs as well as 12 b-sides which were all covers. A diverse mix of covers too, David Bowie, Altered Images, Isaac Hayes, Neil Young, Bow Wow Wow, The Go-Betweens, Mud and more. Have a listen here, some of these are just brilliant.
Through the year, the singles were also compiled onto CDs which of course I bought. The albums were called Hit Parade 1 and yes, you guessed it, Hit Parade 2. This came with a bonus CD of “BBC sessions” which featured alternative versions of all 12 of the a-sides. Some of those were actually better than the single versions. (Sticky and No Christmas re-recorded as an instrumental)
But over the last 20 years, the Hit Parade singles have kind of slipped off my radar. Whenever I’ve wanted to listen to some old Wedding Present stuff, it’s usually been Tommy, the under-rated Watusi or the Seamonsters CDs that I’ve taken off the shelf.
A few weeks ago, I decided to give the Hit Parade stuff another listen and I was quite shocked at how amazing they sounded. Back in ‘92, I loved most of them but I remember being a bit disappointed with some of them (Three, Queen of Outer Space, Loveslave).
But somehow all of the songs sound even better now than they did then and I am genuinely excited about hearing ALL 12 OF THEM on Tuesday night. I can’t decide at all which are my favourites so I’ve put a poll at the end of this post.
So what will you choose? Listen to the playlist above and have a look at this thing I made to help you decide. (Click here for more hi-res PDF version)
Unlike my fellow wizard Kicker I’m no vinyl fetishist so I’ve sold off a lot of my vinyl collection over the years and replaced them with CDs. (sacrilege to many I know!) But I’ve still got all 12 of those singles and unlike the rest of my music collection, they are in tiptop mint condition. They are packed away safely in a box on the top shelf of a wardrobe next to some infrequently-used camping equipment. I don’t think they’re worth much and I’m sure I’ll never sell them, even though these days I don’t even own a record player that will play the damn things.
Anyway, vote here pop pickers.
And I’ll see you down the front in Liverpool.
What a start to the week we have for you today.
Two real legends of rock ‘n’ roll and both huge favourites of all three wizards. We have the late great Joe Strummer and, with a song from their first and, in my view at least, best album, it’s R.E.M.
As always, we ask you to find the link between the two.
(The link came to our attention after reading Morrissey’s fantastic Autobiography.)
This evening brought news that Lou Reed had died.
Unlike other wizards, I never saw Lou Reed perform live and looking at my record collection I can only find a handful of his LPs. I do own all the Velvet Underground albums, but, if I am being honest, rarely listen to them now. And yet, Lou Reed’s passing has touched me.
Within an hour of first learning of his death, I saw comments on social media from musicians whose full discographies I do own and who I do listen to regularly. Artists such as Chuck Prophet, Edwyn Collins, Stephen Jones, Luke Haines, Amy Rigby and Darren Hayman. All clearly upset by his death. And I guess this is the point. Without the music Lou Reed made and the influence it has had, those artists and virtually all those I love would not sound the way they do. So, thanks, in a very real sense, for all the music, Lou.
The Velvet Underground album Loaded is my favourite. It might not have all the coolest songs on it, but it was a cassette version of the album that was permanently played in the car as me and the future Mrs O’Elves first drove away from the UK together. Only as far as Germany, to be fair, but still. It’s one of our ‘important’ albums.
My fellow wizard, Chorizo Garbanzo, tells a good tale about nearly meeting Lou Reed:
“I very nearly met Lou Reed once. I saw him play at the Shepherds Bush Empire in 1996.
After the gig, me & my mate were getting some drinks at the bar and we noticed that the man himself was standing very close by smoking an enormous cigar and chatting to someone.
Me & my mate had just worked out how we were going to start the conversation but then we realised that the bloke he was talking to was Salman Rushdie!
So we decided to let Lou carry on with his discussion rather than interrupt him to ask if whether he wanted a pint of Stella.”
I also happen to know that Rebel Rikkit did, at one stage in his life, own all Lou Reed’s records, and that these once, very literally, kept him from a life of poverty. Today Rebel describes Lou Reed as “[a] very bad influence on me but a genius none the less.”
Sounds about right.
Undoubtedly there will be better placed people who will share more poignant memories and insights into the passing of Lou Reed, but when it really comes down to it, for us wizards, it was all about the music.
Here are our favourite songs.
Rebel and Kicker made it through the maze of Manchester streets to see pod favourites The Lovely Eggs at The Ruby Lounge last night.
Have a listen to their pre-gig hopes and post-gig reflections right here.
Rebel also rather artfully captured these tasteful images and kept his hand from shaking long enough to video a full song.
Have a look here:
King Champion Sound with Eccentric Dancer
Holly explains the Olive Thing
Shock! As tumbling onto the stage, Holly spills half a can of woodpecker cider!
Dave’s lovely drum and the set list
As Robert Pollard reminds us in his masterpiece Psychic Pilot Clocks Out, there are times when we “feel life passing on by us”. No time to waste, better get on with it.
Just as well then that the man has the ability to pen great songs that cut to the chase without any superfluous distractions. I reckon that Guided By Voices have released 160 different songs of 90 seconds or less. Here are the 50 best.
Only got fifty-eight minutes to spare? Let the countdown begin.
50. Canteen Plums (Sunfish Holy Breakfast EP) – a great strumalong melody with the drawn out delivery of “it’s a sign of the times” a favourite bit.
49. Amanda Gray (Down By The Racetrack EP) – the highlight of this EP for me – Tobin’s vocal is unbelievably delicate.
48. Delayed Reaction Brats (Superchunk/Guided By Voices Split EP) – I love the manic guitar that comes in after the line “You’ve got the right to bite / The hind that feeds you”. Yes, hind.
47. Please Freeze Me (King Shit And The Golden Boys) – another beautiful song this time sung by Bob. “She’s a little disturbed again oh no / And I’m feeling down again so it goes”.
46. Starfire (Class Clown Spots A UFO) – another Tobin vocal and a great keyboard (strings?) riff that follows the line “worlds are falling down like raindrops”.
45. Mag Earwhig! (Mag Earwhig!) – I love the ‘wahhh’ sound and the line “the bastard of an ex-warhorse kicks”.
44. Jar Of Cardinals (Vampire On Titus) – a tumbling guitar riff and the pay off line “Hush now seedling, don’t you cry / Maybe I’ll be coming home quite soon for you”.
43. God Loves Us (Let’s Eat The Factory) – a hidden treat on the first GBV comeback album. What a riff. They are, indeed, living proof.
42. Matter Eater Lad (Clown Prince Of The Menthol Trailer EP) – Bob’s super-hero song. Suitably mad and singalong. Excellent astronomy knowledge too “Now he’s eating Ansonia / Now he’s eating Andromata”.
41. Bite (KIng Shit And The Golden Boys) – I love the full-force vocal on this and the really dirty guitar sound on the solo. “I drink myself into a drunken mess”. Hmm.
40. Look, It’s Baseball (Tonics And Twisted Chasers) – This song has come to mean more and more to me as I have discovered baseball over the last few years. A story of life and relationships.
39. Wire Greyhounds (Universal Truth And Cycles) – yes, it’s about cunnilingus. Yes, it fucking rocks. One of my favourite GBV album openers.
38. Ha Ha Man (Tonics And Twisted Chasers) – the great 40 second version isn’t available online, so here’s the epic 2 minute version – “It’s a ridiculous concept, and everyone’s laughing but me”.
37. Top Chick Silver Chord (Tonics And Twisted Chasers) – a haunting guitar line and great lyrics taking us up to the line “Embraced, released and then ignored”. Bob’s vocals are sublime.
36. How Loft I Am? (Same Place The Fly Got Smashed) – Once heard you can’t get this out of your head. “Maybe baby, maybe baby, you will see”.
35. Straw Dogs (Alien Lanes) – “We are the willing supporters / And we’d like to know / Why everything is so unkind”. Damn right.
34. White World (B-side to Keep It In Motion) – great bass line and trumpets. Trumpets! Fucking trumpets!! “As good as gold.”
33. Tropical Robots (Hold On Hope EP) – just beautiful. “Let them go on their way /Don’t spoil their fun”.
32. North American Vampires (B-side to Glad Girls) – the guitar sound suggests some terrible foreboding that is never explained. “On the westbound trail / The wind in their sails / On the other end of the spectrum, tainted blood”. Some films take nearly 3 hours to do this and rarely do it as well.
31. Indian Fables (Fast Japanese Spin Cycle EP) – I love the ‘yeah’ on the end of the first line. A strange little song that I have heard hundreds of times and still don’t know what it’s about. Possibly Incas.
30. An Unmarketed Product (Do The Collapse) – great lead-in guitar that rockets us off into a rant against commercialisation. Possibly. Ironically, this song appears on the most ‘commercial’ sounding GBV album. “How do these things come in to our lives so obtrusively? / Why do they change their prices so accordingly?”. Well?
29. They And Them (Class Clown Spots A UFO) – Tobin again. This time with a cello backed ballad with, yes, more trumpets. A really lovely coda.
28. You’re Not An Airplane (Bee Thousand) – The finest GBV closer to the best GBV album. I love everything about this 33 seconds.
27. Demons Are Real (Bee Thousand) – “Squeaky was a sad child – the product of neglect”. This is one of Rebel Rikkit’s favourite GBV songs. I love the wild vocals and all the fantastic background noises.
26. Choking Tara (Mag Earwhig!) – great guitar sound and more fantastic lyrics, like “Today when every “fake it” decides to make it / They just can’t take it away / Shove it, cus I’ll just stay like an ugly unwanted stray”.
25. The Ascended Master’s Grogshop (B-side to I Am A Tree) – great piano and an unusually high vocal. Over before it really begins and still really moving. I think this is basically a ‘fuck you’ song.
24. They’re Not Witches (Alien Lanes) – More great peripheral noises on this one. “Don’t seek to burn them / They are not witches / Just spoiled little children / Out on a lucky streak”.
23. The Head (Let’s Go Eat The Factory) – this is all about the keyboard sound that comes in just the twice at around 40 seconds for me. There was a fantastic video on youtube that used images of Keith Emerson giving it loads at just the right time, but I can’t find it anymore. Listening again as I write, I think this should be higher. They found a fucking head for fuck’s sake!
22. A Good Flying Bird (Alien Lanes) – a real Tobin-led classic, with great harmonies from Bob. “Fools and kings decide / Ways to live your life / This is just the way we want to be”.
21. Zap (Universal Truths And Cycles) – another killer bassline and some great percussion. A melancholy song that questions “And if you sleep / And the pressure is then off / Where has it gone?” before giving us hope with the pay off line.
20. Volcano Divers (Fast Japanese Spin Cycle EP) – this was the first GBV song I ever heard. I love the strange echoey noise and the line “You’ve got a lot to say / But, hey, don’t say it”. Then there’s the weird guitar solo. I was smitten. The late great John Peel played it on his World Service programme and I chased the record down. Of course, I had never seen pictures of the band and so I assumed the bloke on the back was probably Bob. He wasn’t.
19. Red Gas Circle (Propeller) – another beautiful vocal on this and some strange lyrical images that still continue to move me. “You see it falling and now it’s crumbling to the cold unforgiveable ground”. I really like the electric guitar that comes in for the last 20 seconds or so too.
18. Lethargy (Propeller) – a very different song from the same album as the previous selection. This is fist-shaking chin-jutting GBV with one of my all-time favourite lines “I wish I could give a shit / Just a little bit.” Mega guitar on this one too. A real killer live.
17. Marchers In Orange (Fast Japanese Spin Cycle EP) – the Vampire On Titus version is on the playlist, but I prefer the EP version – what a great guitar riff and opening line of “The white lines are tracers for the facers of the aftermath / Positioned in the situation, lost in battles of love”. Yep, that’ll do for me.
16. Blue Babbleships Bay (Class Clown Spots A UFO) – another great new song. “Get out your Cleopatra shoes”. Oh, yes. Great spindly guitar lines underneath a really angry Pollard vocal. Difficult to know what exactly has got to him, but whatever it is, it really has.
15. Awful Bliss (Bee Thousand) – more poetry from Tobin. “I wouldn’t dare to bring out this awful bliss.” It is also the beautiful bridge between Goldstar For Robot Boy and Mincer Ray.
14. Bright Paper Werewolves (Under The Bushes Under The Stars) – another heartbreaking delivery from Bob, particularly on the section of the song that starts with “they want to get out of here, but they can’t find the exit”. A real lyrical tour de force.
13. Kisses To The Crying Cooks (Fast Japanese Spin Cycle EP) – Played over and over as part of my first GBV record. I love this song, mostly for the opening line “Onion lady blows her precious prose /And so it goes”. Indeed, it does. I also really like the snippet of electric guitar at the end.
12. Auditorium (Alien Lanes) – Bob’s delivery of the title of this song is magnificent, but it is mostly up this far in my list because it is irrevocably linked with the following song on Alien Lanes. Have a listen below. Oh, but then there’s the opening punch of “Post-punk X-Man parked his fork-lift / Like a billion stars flickering from the grinder’s wheel” and the funny ‘echo’ joke in the middle. Yep, it’s pretty damn good.
11. Aim Correctly (Guided By Voices/Cobra Verde Split Single) – I really love the urgent guitar on this and it’s another song I have listened to over and over on first hearing it. “It’s a bullet investment from a bleeding heart”.
10. Yours To Keep (Bee Thousand) – just this:
“To see you sight unseen is worse
Then pick you up because you’re first
And go where the whistle blows
And go where the captain knows
Is just a lie
To train the bear to not get up
Slay the beast and win the cup
And stay with the sweet flesh prize
A necklace of 50 eyes
Is yours to keep”
9. Kiss Only The Important Ones (Tigerbomb EP) – an oft-overlooked gem with some great J&MC type feedback and a great vocal that peaks with the line “You’ve always been a marionette / So go alone / Cut your own strings”. It really gets to me every time.
8. Mute Superstar (Mag Earwhig!) – what a killer opening guitar riff. And there’s whooshing noises. And there’s “We hope these cables will serve you well / We hold these truths and they’re not to sell”. Great drumming too. Even in a song 84 seconds long, there’s a key change to stop you in your tracks. “Approach me now!”
7. I Am Produced (Mag Earwhig!) – great droning keyboard sound from the outset and the fantastic lyric:
“I am pressed, printed, stomped
And strategically removed
I am everybody
Insane without innocence
I am trapped, tricked, packaged
And shipped out
I am produced.”
6. Wondering Boy Poet (Peel Session, 28/7/96) – the Vampire On Titus version is on the playlist, but it’s the piano-led Peel Session version that kills. I taped it off the radio 17 years ago and it still sounds great. THIS is poetry and it would work just as well a cappella.
“Dream on child of change
Throw your javelin through the sun
Pierce the heart of everyone
Though we push to slave the days
This is not reality, this is just formality
The cup is only being filled
For a chance to have it spilled
Flowing–just like the days
Sailing–just like the days”
5. Pimple Zoo (Alien Lanes) – “Sometimes I get the feeling that you don’t want me around.” I get that. I also really get the emotion in Bob’s delivery. The fact that the recording is so lo-fi just makes it even greater.
4. Kicker Of Elves (Bee Thousand) – “Dee dee dee dee dee dee dee, kicker of elves…” Yep, I really really like this one. An early favourite, this song has buried itself deep into my consciousness over the last 17 years never to leave. A bit like “The parasites, the bugs of gold.”
3. A Salty Salute (Alien Lanes) – I very often start introductory mixes to Guided By Voices with this song as I try to convert just about everyone who crosses my path. I remember giving one such mix CD to an Irish jazz fan and telling him he’d find something to like. About a week later I asked him what he had thought of the CD. He told me that he had been unable to listen to more than the first song because he wanted to keep listening to the bass line. In any case, “proud brothers… the club is open”.
2. Peep-Hole (Bee Thousand) – it’s the line “I’m looking inside your brain / and Christ it’s a cluttered mess / I love you, I must confess” that makes me love this song so. I also like the strained vocals and the slightly out of tune guitar. Fantastic.
1. Shocker In Gloomtown (The Grand Hour EP) – the most exciting 86 seconds can get in my world with or without chemical assistance. The Breeders do a great job with this, but this is the dog’s bollocks. I have just had to temporarily stop typing to leap around the room while this song is on. “Were you there / Were you kicking / Alive in aisle twelve / Gimmick of the century / In boxes and jars / And giveaway cars”. If you haven’t heard this before… how the hell did you miss it?
P.S. Dump your boyfriend.
The playlist
Other Guided By Voices blogs
Guided By Curses – Robert Pollard IS King of the Cuss
The 50 best Robert Pollard songs – released under the name Robert Pollard
Morning all good kids.
Here are the warm jets of Cydonia. Or rather a couple of videos from the cool one out of Roxy Music, Brian Eno and the slightly less mad one out of KLF, Alex Paterson.
But what on earth links these two bald nutjobs?
Start your week in the best possible way and getcher lugs round these couple of gems.
We have one from the late great Mark Linkous and one from Scottish eardrum botherers, Mogwai.
Both fantastic in very different ways, but can you tell us how they are linked?
We’re back and this time around the wizards find themselves ensconced deep into the night unearthing forgotten gems from the 80s, discussing the merits of bands recording more than one album, and celebrating the nation of Belgium. All without mentioning waffles.
No waffle about waffles
Also you can vote in our poll to settle this debate once and for all.
And here’s a gallery of some of the records / CD we played.
Today brought very sad news that Phil Chevron from The Pogues had died. I was lucky enough to meet him a few times, albeit very briefly.
The Pogues in 1988. Phil Chevron, bottom centre in hat.
In 1988, The Pogues were on tour promoting their magnificent “If I Should Fall From Grace With God” LP. I had a week off work booked with nothing much planned and I already had a ticket for their gig at my local venue the Brighton Centre. But then I noticed an ad in NME or Melody Maker that showed some other dates were not sold out. So me and my mate John hatched a plan to travel up to the frozen north of England by train to see 2 gigs in Leeds and Scunthorpe. John had a mate who was studying at Leeds University so we spent the day drinking in the university bar and crashed out in the halls after the gig.
But it was a bit of a different story in Scunthorpe. The only thing we knew about Scunthorpe was that old joke about name 3 football teams with swear words in their names. (Arsenal, Scunthorpe and fucking Chelsea bastards) We didn’t really even know where Scunthorpe was. Even so, we got there somehow and found the venue, a big shoebox shaped block. We got tickets from the box office but then we had nowhere to go because we’d spent all our money in the pubs and chipshops of Leeds. So we just sat on the steps outside the venue rubbing our hands and moaning about how bloody cold it was in the north.
A few hours later and some cars pulled up containing various Pogues. A few of them said hello as they went in. Phil Chevron and banjoman extraordinaire Jem Finer chatted to us for longer, asking us lots of questions about where we’d travelled from and stuff. I was 18 years old at the time but I must’ve looked younger because then they both started giving me a lecture for telling lies and bunking off school! After a while, I managed to convince them that I did genuinely have a job and I wasn’t at school anymore and they invited us to come inside and watch them soundcheck. I can’t remember at all what songs they played at the (Shane-less) soundcheck but I do remember that we were over-excitedly jumping around down the front of an empty venue which seemed to amuse some of the band.
Phil’s beloved Forest
Fast forward about a dozen years and I was playing guitar in a covers band. Someone booked us to play at a Nottingham Forest supporters club party in a little boathouse right next to the City Ground (the black and white building on the right hand side of this picture). We’d been forewarned that Phil Chevron was a big Forest fan and might be at the party so we put a Pogues number into our setlist but we didn’t play a very good version of it on the night. After the gig, somebody introduced me to Phil and I shook his hand but we were both a bit pissed so we didn’t have much of a chat.
On the back of this gig, we got invited over to a beautiful place called Greystones in County Wicklow to play the end of season bash for the Ireland branch of the Forest supporter’s club. We’d been promised a great night of boozing and we’d managed to get ourselves a gig booked in Dublin city centre the previous night so over we went. Once again Phil Chevron was in attendance and this time I had a bit more of a chat with him. I told him about our previous meeting in Scunthorpe all those years ago and we had a brief chat about Pogues gigs past.
At the time, Forest were managed by fish-faced David Platt (of last minute versus Belgium fame) who was very unpopular with the fans. They all wanted Paul Hart to be the manager. He was youth team manager at the time and was credited with bringing through a very good crop of youngsters including David Prutton, Jermaine Jenas and pie-loving Andy Reid. He was in attendance at this gig to present a few gongs and do a little speech and after many pints and much persuasion from the supporters, he was made to get up and sing a song! He chose to sing “A Hard Day’s Night” with us and he actually did a fairly decent job. After a few more trips on the managerial merry-go-round, Hart pitched up at my club (QPR) about 8 years later. I told my mates that our new manager had once sung a Beatles song onstage with me in Ireland but I don’t think any of them believed me.
Anyway, back to the point. The writer Joseph O’Connor has acclaimed Phil as one of Ireland’s very best and you really need to read this poem.
He’s talking about some records that Phil made before The Pogues there and I know there were quite a few but I’m sorry to say I’m not very familiar with any of them. My main memory of seeing him onstage many times over the years is just how fast his strumming hand could move and still keep in time. Rhythm guitar is an under-appreciated skill, especially playing all them fast Pogues tunes. With a lyrical master like Shane MacGowan in the band, it can’t have been easy to get your songs on Pogues albums when they were in their prime but Phil wrote a great track on the “Peace and Love” album (Lorelei). But I’m going to finish this article with a clip of Phil’s best-known song “Thousands Are Sailing.” I reckon this is a song that will still be sung on both sides of the Atlantic in 20, 50 or 100 years from now because nobody’s going to write a better song about Irish / American emigration than this one.
Thanks Phil.
Aye up you ‘orrible lot!
This week’s videos feature the noise-pop sensibilities of Sonic Youth and the glorious blues shuffle of Taj Mahal.
But can you tell us what links these two unlikely bedfellows?
This is my 4th blog post of Elvis Costello gig memories, you can read part 1 right here , part 2 here and part 3 here.
Concert for a Landmine Free World, Hammersmith Odeon, London. 17th January 2002
This was a charity gig where Elvis shared the stage with Nanci Griffith, Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle & John Prine. I was already very familiar with the music of Nanci, Steve & Emmylou and I’d seen those first two live quite a few times already. But the star of the night turned out to be John Prine. Before this gig, the name John Prine was only known to me from other people’s covers of his songs, in particular “Hello in There” by 10,000 Maniacs and 2 quite different versions of “Speed to the Sound of Loneliness” by Nanci Griffith and Alabama 3. But John’s storytelling and personality stole the show on this night. One of the main highlights of the evening was his song “The Other Side of Town” which we played and discussed on podcast number 6.
My ticket. It says London Apollo here but I’m still calling it the Hammersmith Odeon because I’m old school (or maybe just old?)
Each of the performers was armed with an acoustic guitar and they took their turns to play a song, much like the BBC Four show “Songwriters Circle” or the Kris Kristoffersen episode of Elvis’ “Spectacle” show.
Kris, Elvis and Roseanne on Spectacle Episode 8
As for Elvis, he gave another airing to that unreleased Alibi song that I was a big fan of. He also played an unexpected cover of “Please”, an underappreciated song from U2’s much-maligned “Pop” album (best heard on the live in Rotterdam version)
It was a very enjoyable gig but I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t all that much collaboration onstage. Just like they did on the Gram Parsons tribute album, Elvis & Emmylou duetted beautifully on the Everly Brothers’ song “Sleepless Nights” but apart from that it was mostly solo performances. Emmylou Harris has got to be one of the greatest harmony singers in the world and it would’ve been great to hear a lot more of the performers joining in with each other’s songs.
The Astoria, London, 16th April 2002
Another gem from my ticket collection. I’m really interesting at parties.
Early in our relationship, me and the now Mrs Garbanzo had established a rule that “you can never listen to too much Elvis Costello.” A dozen years of living with me later, she may no longer completely agree with that particular maxim but back in 2001 she was still very much onboard with it. So Elvis’ first album with The Imposters was released on this day and that afternoon Mrs G had been along to the Virgin Megastore to get a signed CD and see them play a few songs. We’d actually already had a copy of the album for a few weeks thanks to a friend of a friend in “the business”.
Good job too because the “When I Was Cruel” songs dominated the setlist at the Astoria which opened with one of my favourites “My Little Blue Window”.
This was the first tour under the banner of “Elvis Costello & The Imposters” and new boy Davey Farragher showed he had the skills to fill Bruce Thomas’ boots with well-loved oldies like “I Don’t Want To Go To Chelsea” and “Lipstick Vogue”. It’s often a bit weird watching a gig when an original member has left a band. I saw The Who at Wembley Arena with Zak Starkey playing in place of Keith Moon but the other 3 guys all there. Now that John’s gone and they’ve gone from being 75% to 50% I have no interest in seeing them again. More recently, I’ve taken the decision not to buy a ticket for The Specials without Jerry Dammers and said “no Deal” to going to see Pixies with a different Kim on bass.
The Real Deal
I think if it had been Pete Thomas or Steve Nieve who had left The Attractions / The Imposters then that would’ve felt like it wasn’t quite the same. As well as being outstanding musicians, both those two give the impression that they’re really an integral part of the team and they’re enjoying playing Elvis’ songs. Most of the time, Pete’s singing along. Maybe it was just in my imagination, but Bruce always seemed to be slightly distant from the rest of the band, in his own world onstage lost in his playing.
Davey’s certainly not like that. He appears to be much more enthusiastic onstage. On some of the “When I Was Cruel” songs like “Dust” and “15 Petals” as well as later songs like “Bedlam”, he shows his versatility as a bit more of a “groove” player than Bruce.
Going back to the Astoria show, it was a really good one but I remember being a bit disappointed that, in comparison to the usual lengthy Elvis gig, this one seemed a bit brief.
Sporting d’Ete Casino, Monaco. 25th August 2002
Or “Chorizo Goes To Monte Carlo” for definitely the weirdest Costello gig I’ve ever been to!
The Mrs and me had a holiday to Italy booked taking in the sights of Rome, Pisa and Florence by train. But when we found out that Elvis was playing a gig on his birthday, we added Monaco to our itinerary.
Before we left, we tried to book some accommodation and it seemed to be quite a battle to find an affordable place to stay and that was our first clue that Monte Carlo might not be the ideal place for backpacking travellers on a tight budget!
My birthday is also in late August so as a treat, Mrs Garbanzo paid for us to arrive in style flying into Monte Carlo on a helicopter from Nice! Nice!
Everywhere with helicopter
I arrived at the gig dressed appropriately for a scruffy bloke on holiday only to be told that I had to wear a jacket to get in to the casino. After a brief panic, they told me that they could lend me one so I put on a jacket about 4 sizes too big and we were led to our seats where I immediately removed it again. Just like most dress codes, this one was completely fucking pointless.
It was becoming very apparent that this place was a far cry from any gig venue we’d been to before. We were in a big round dining room full of long tables populated by the super-rich. There was an absolutely appalling cabaret band onstage and most of the punters were just there to pose and have an expensive meal in a fancypants setting. They certainly weren’t there to see Elvis.
It’s a mighty long way down rock’n’roll from the Hope & Anchor to the Salle Des Etoiles.
Mrs Garbanzo found a drinks menu and we were both freaked out to see the cheapest drink on there cost nearly 30 quid! So we ordered a couple of soft drinks which we made last the whole evening.
The godawful cabaret band announced that Julian Lennon was in the building and proceeded to play a dreadful cheesy version of “Imagine”, quite possibly the least appropriate possible song for such an opulent location. As Elvis once sung “was it a millionaire who said imagine no possessions?”
Thankfully, Elvis & the boys were on soon after, opening up with the classic “Miracle Man” which they played whilst the stage was moving forwards into the crowd. Oh yes.
Later on in the gig, we sang Happy Birthday to Elvis and the roof retracted which explained why this part of the casino building was called Salle Des Etoiles.
Just like the Astoria gig above, it wasn’t a very long set but it was certainly a memorable one.
The setlist
One last thing to mention which was the toilet. I’ve been to Japan a couple of times and seen some toilets than can perform unusual tasks but I’d never seen a self-cleaning toilet like the one in this casino. When you flushed it, the seat and bowl rotated a full 360 degrees going through a kind of miniature brushing car wash device. It must be reassuring for the elite society of Europe to know that they can safely sit on a public lav without having to worry about getting traces of piss from some jacketless prole like me on their immaculate and very rich arse cheeks.
Welcome to the 274th day of the year and also, of course, the 1,054th anniversary of Edgar the Peaceable becoming King of All England.
But, hey, now is the time to give those Eddie celebrations a sidestep because here’s my latest monthly mix for you to enjoy. TFITFOTM*. Or something.
Anyway, this month we kick off with a stellar instrumental from Frank Zappa. Back in the late 90s, I went through a bit of a FZ phase (haven’t we all?) that saw me buy up just about everything he ever recorded. This was made much easier than it might have been by the fact I was living in the Middle East at the time and the single local music store seemingly only stocked Western CDs by Zappa, Madonna and, er, Diesel Park West. Since then most of those FZ CDs have mostly long gone, and the only one I keep going back to is Hot Rats. Still a great listen, especially this opening track. That is followed by a lively new single from the booted and suited coolsters Dexters before our old friend Robert Pollard turns up fully expectedly with a track that didn’t make my top 50 on an earlier blog or indeed the next 50 on a follow-up, but that I have still had in my head for days now. Listen out for Bob’s ‘English’ impression.
Up next is Darrell Rhodes with a song taken from a new compilation, Tick Tock Rock, out on Liverpool’s Viper Records that presents all the time-related songs from the 40s & 50s you could possibly want. Then it’s the stand out track and single from the new LP by The Fall – always different, always the same as John Peel memorably put it – followed by a very timely (or have they all been culled already?) song from The Extra Glenns (the first of two tracks this month featuring the very wonderful John Darnielle).
The extremely difficult to pronounce, Waxahatchee, wow us next and are followed by the shoulda-been-bigger Moose with a song from their always enjoyable XYZ LP. Then comes another mid 90s track, this time from the brilliantly titled debut LP on the indietastic Anyway Records label from Jenny Mae called ‘There’s A Bar Around The Corner… Assholes’. From a little bit further back, it’s 60s legends The Pretty Things, but with a track taken from their 1975 album, their last before their initial split. And here they are, still rocking it, earlier this year:
Then it’s time for the strange and wonderful sounds of Minnaars before the other reformed indie-rock Boston band, Big Dipper, take us to the Faith Healer. Maintaining the faith theme, next up it’s the gospel R&B stylings of Pops, Mavis and the other Staple Singers with a real classic.
A track from the debut album from Warp Records own Maximo Park is next – a band named after a park in Miami despite being sons of Newcastle. More rock n roll than Hodgkin Park, I guess. A move over to the North West next gives us the best Liverpool band from the early 70s (that time between the Fab Four and Echo & The Bunnymen, eh?), Colonel Bagshot, who you might know better from DJ Shadow’s sampling on Six Days.
Another great protest song this time from the fantastic Polly Jean Harvey is next and then, oh, look, it’s yet another reformed indie-rock band from Boston – what is going on over there? Anyway, it’s Come with the marvellously titled Fast Piss Blues. Watch out for splashback, kids! The most mysterious of mysterious Blues singers is next up – a man whose only known photograph adorns his only record – check out Marvin Pontiac. You can hear another classic from the man here and read all about him here too! Then it’s that man John Darnielle again from my favourite Mountain Goats LP. A real lo-fi work of genius.
A track from Neon Neon’s latest concept album follows and then we have a rejection of responsibility from those noisy kids, Peachfuzz. Hot on their tail comes the finest all-girl pop punk band Liverpool has to offer right now – it’s Mean Jean. Grrr!! A real pop treat after that with another mysterious artist, this time from the 70s – it’s Mr Bloe. Time to get groovin’. Then wrapping things up, we have Johnny Vic, recording as Satellites. This emotional and spooky electronica is taken from his first album, the rather brilliantly entitled 01. He has a follow up out this year, which is equally as great and equally as impressively packaged. Bet you can’t guess what he’s called it.
Here’s the full track list:
1. Peaches En Regalia – Frank Zappa
2. Start To Run – Dexters
3. The Accidental Texas Who – Robert Pollard (not on t’net so buy it here IMMEDIATELY.)
4. Four O’Clock Baby – Darrell Rhodes
5. Sir William Wray – The Fall http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kte9aAPlKq8
6. The Badger Song – The Extra Glenns
7. Coast To Coast – Waxahatchee
8. Soon Is Never Enough – Moose
9. Runaway – Jenny Mae (also not available online so buy it here as a matter of priority.)
10. I’m Keeping – The Pretty Things http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10nvqO8gjI0
11. An Open Letter To Andrew – Minnaars http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRB1hBtS2MM
12. Faith Healer – Big Dipper
13. Trippin’ On Your Love – The Staple Singers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1UCVAzZJnw
14. Now I’m All Over The Shop – Hodgkin Maximo Park
15. Six Day War – Colonel Bagshot (I’ve put the DJ Shadow version on the Spotify list, but the fabulous original goes like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP02PlLgJqc)
16. Shaker Aamer – PJ Harvey http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4jQWtoEG_A
17. Fast Piss Blues – Come
18. Bring Me Rocks – Marvin Pontiac
19. The Best Ever Death Metal Band In Denton – The Mountain Goats
20. Mid Century Modern Nightmare – Neon Neon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CsO0wHzy5c
21. Down To Me – Peachfuzz
22. In Your Face – Mean Jean https://soundcloud.com/mean-jean-liverpool/in-your-face
23. Groovin’ With Mr Bloe – Mr Bloe
24. Love Lies Bleeding – Satellites
Shoes For Industry
And here’s the Spotify playlist with tracks where available.
More musical mayhem next month!
* Thank Fuck It’s The First Of The Month or tuhfitfohtum for all the cool kids. (Thanks, Richard Herring.)
Previous Monthly Mixes
Six o’clock already, I was just in the middle of a dream…
Yes, it’s another mental Monday and here’s another pair of rock solid videos for you to enjoy.
Any idea what the link between the two might be?
Howdy pards!
This fine morning we have videos from the wonderful Mr Tom Waits and also the legendary blues singer, Mr Marvin Pontiac.
Can you tell us what links these two fine fellows? Well, can you, punk?
Well, a list of only 50 Robert Pollard songs by Robert Pollard was never going to be enough, was it?
Those knowledgeable types on the Strong Lions mailing-list and more Guided By Voices fans who have kindly made comments on the Robert Pollard Facebook page and even on our very own blog have made it very clear that the jury is still very much out on my original list.
One thing is for sure; such a mammoth back catalogue is undoubtedly an endless source of delight and surprise. You need these songs. Let them in.
Through a raft of correspondence dumped at Wizard HQ, over 50 songs have been nominated for subsequent additional inclusion. These have been collated, pressed, printed, stomped and, er, strategically ordered alphabetically this time. Some key moments have also been highlighted for your disapproval below.
Those missing songs in full
(All You Need) To Know (from the album Elephant Jokes) – the combined guitar and keyboard sound on the main riff is just sublime.
Arrows And Balloons (Moses On A Snail) – the urgent guitar on this is great.
The Big Make-Over (Kid Marine) – a really sad vocal line draws you into this one, “Gotta get spazzed/ And walk into the sunset”.
Boxing About (Normal Happiness) – I love the delivery of the line “I need more defiance”.
Built To Improve (Fiction Man) – the drums that boom in at 40 seconds are fantastic.
Catherine From Mid-October (Zoom EP) – without the military drum of the Boston Spaceships version, this is a much gentler song – the film dialogue at the end works really well too.
Chance To Buy An Island (Not In My Airforce) – great distorted vocals on this, especially on the repeated final line “And hey, don’t think twice”.
Children Come On (Fiction Man) – the incongruous xylophone (?) in the background is great.
Confessions Of A Teenage Jerk-Off (Robert Pollard Is Off To Business) – 2 minutes in and the ‘strings’ kick in and it’s clear you are listening to a major piece of work. Amazingly the song continues to build in drama from there right up to the end.
A Constant Strangle (Moses On A Snail) – “It’s the way I talk to you/ It’s the way you talk to me/ It’s a constant strangle”. Nuff said.
Current Desperation (Angels Speak Of Nothing) (Coast To Coast Carpet Of Love) – Another great guitar riff on this one.
Dancing Girls And Dancing Men (From A Compound Eye) – How could you listen to this and not shake and shimmy? A fantastically upbeat song. Have a listen to it below and decide on your favourite bit yourself. “If you please I may / Escort you all the way/ Just sit you down and say/ Be thankful everyday”.
Did It Play? (Not In My Airforce) – less than a minute, but full of mystery. I love the sound of the line “One year ago today”.
Dr. Time (Mouseman Cloud) – another song that does its stuff in under a minute – the chord changes are fantastic.
Dumb Lady (Coast To Coast Carpet Of Love) – “You pushed me away/ Don’t write me no more” – heartbreaking delivery.
Far-Out Crops (Kid Marine) – This is all about Bob’s singing of the title. From the high notes he effortlessly hits to the extended a cappella vocal at the end of the song. Great stuff.
Flat Beauty (Not In My Airforce) – On reflection, this song should be in my top 50. Great delivery of the line “She’s got a lovely line on her spine” and a neat little guitar solo to boot.
Flings Of The Waistcoat Crowd (Kid Marine) – Great guitar lines throughout this and the layered vocals work a treat. “That is our game/ To brag and complain”.
Folded Claws (Standard Gargoyle Decisions) – About halfway in Bob gives it loads on the line “Heal my head / So scream the masses/ Heal my head” and I believe.
Give Up The Grape (Normal Happiness) – Another definite shoulda been in the original list, this song is probably my favourite track from this bunch. A fantastic vocal performance, especially on the chorus, and on top of that the song includes the word ‘cahoots’.
Good Luck Sailor (Not In My Airforce) – “And now no great philosophy prevails/ May the cold wind always ripple your sails”. Testify.
Hammer In Your Eyes (From A Compound Eye) – a great keyboard hook that features heavily in the extended instrumental coda on this.
I Surround You Naked (From A Compound Eye) – the guitar riff grabs the listener by both ears from the start and doesn’t let go.
Imaginary Queen Anne (The Crawling Distance) – another heartbreaking masterpiece, “The child of our love/ Is going away now/ Out from your head/ Almost like suicide”. Wow.
It’s Only Natural (Fiction Man) – An earworm of a chorus AND the killer line “With an appetite to roam/ Like a narcoleptic truck/ As a 21st century what the fuck/ It’s only natural.” Great guitar solo too.
I’ve Owned You For Centuries (Not In My Airforce) – Some excellent drumming from Kevin Fennell on this, kicking in after about 20 seconds and reappearing after a brief hiatus in the middle of the song.
Jimmy (Elephant Jokes) – At 33 seconds there is a great noise that cuts across the speakers. Nice too to hear a reprise of the ‘supersonic love gun’ line previously heard on the Acid Ranch As Forever LP.
Just Say The Word (Waved Out) – I really like the squelchy percussion sound on this. Sounds like someone getting their chops slapped about a bit. Nice.
Living Upside Down (Kid Marine) – there’s a compelling synth drone throughout this song that merges into a disturbing little riff at about 1’30”. I like it very much.
Maggie Turns To Flies (Not In My Airforce) – I’d really like this song to be about the rotting corpse of Margaret Thatcher, but I have a feeling it probably isn’t. It does feature a great percussion sound courtesy of Jim Pollard though that at 40 seconds launches into a fantastic guitar sound and relentless rhythm. No wonder GBV included the song in their setlist over 50 times (thanks, GBVDB).
Moses On A Snail (Moses On A Snail) – an epic, where “Daddy’s got his laughs forever”, with a demented guitar solo to die for at 2’30”.
Night Of The Golden Underground (Fiction Man) – an uplifting melody despite the resigned vocals telling it’s all about “What I can’t give you/ What I can’t see”.
No One But I (Robert Pollard Is Off To Business) – a great chorus that’s launched into with a great guitar sound and suitably grandiose vocals “No one but I/ Can offer you a practice space/ To question all you can/ On why I’m here and not here”. Exactly.
No Tools (Mouseman Cloud) – I love the fact Bob includes the word ‘onomatopoeia’, and who else would rhyme this with ‘Caligula’? Then, of course, there’s the aspsssssssss.
Obvious #1 (Mousman Cloud) Why is this a great song? “It’s fucking obvious.”
The Original Heart (Robert Pollard Is Off To Business) – great phrasing on this song and it is propelled along by an attractively nagging guitar riff, but it’s the final line that gets into my head “They don’t listen so loud”.
Prom Is Coming (Not In My Airforce) – another acoustic track from the second half of NIMA that is all about Bob’s heartfelt delivery on lines like “And I will stay/ To help you prepare/ For what it was/ You said I could not afford to miss” that leave the listener wondering.
Quicksilver (Not In My Airforce) – from the fist side of NIMA, it’s the line “And then you went away/ And then you dicked my life” that seals the deal on this one.
Rhoda Rhoda (Normal Happiness) – with his anglicised vocals on the chorus, Bob lays another party song on us that I defy you not to sing along to.
The Right Thing (From A Compound Eye) – building on an old demo, this song really kicks in at 1’05” with some bizarre percussion and a great keening vocal line. A key part of Pollard’s live set throughout 2006 – I’d have to say it’s the live version on ‘Moon’ that really does it for me.
Serious Birdwoman (You Turn Me On) (Normal Happiness) – the melody sounds old-timey to me and Bob’s extension of the final syllable of each last line is fantastic.
Silence Before Violence (Lord Of The Birdcage) – Bob goes all preacher on us with his “Make it rain!” Also, I bet there isn’t another song out there that makes use of the hangman’s favourite word ‘syzygy’. (Hangman, as in the game, obviously.)
Silk Rotor (We All Got Out Of The Army) – a great guitar riff on this, but the line “‘cos you’re a rube” makes me think of that Kaiser Chief’s song and the appropriation of that for that no mark Mr Potato Head footballer. So I still prefer the B-side.
Slow Hamilton (Coast To Coast Carpet Of Love) – really beautifully sung this and I really like the chorus “We’re not here without you/ To know without you/ A life beyond slow Hamilton’s scheduled day”.
The Spanish Hammer (Motel Of Fools) – seemingly inspired by a story about, presumably, el martillo, this multi-movement song is not for everyone. For me, it’s the part that starts with “Thrown by a hand/ The ball came down” up to “Are you still there?” with its simple piano backing that works best. Interestingly, the record cover suggests the song was co-written by Rat Bastard. Excellent.
Stiff Me (Elephant Jokes) – saucy Bob at his best here. I really like the stuttery guitar sound on the chorus and the way he sings “expensive heroes”.
Submarine Teams (KId Marine) – with its unique ‘gibberish’ backing vocal, this is a long-time Guided By Voices live favourite – played over 100 times – and, again, it’s the live version that I prefer. There are some stand out lyrics here, of course, like “Shocked by a whaling umpire’s trumpet/ The starter gargles/ The salt brine” and a great guitar sound courtesy of Bob himself.
Supernatural Car Lover (Normal Happiness) – a great catchy riff and the none more Bob chorus of “supernatural car lover”. Of course, supernatural car lover.
To The Path! (Robert Pollard Is Off To Business) – is that another cello? It’s very neat whatever it is. Then there’s the way sings “the water is fine”, makes me feel “I’m hip/ I’m with him”.
Tomorrow Will Not Be Another Day (Normal Happiness) – a great upbeat feel to this song. I really like the little guitar echo at the end of each line.
Touch Me In The Right Place At The Right Time (Space City Kicks) – another great singalong chorus so “don’t think twice”. “That would be nice.”
Wealth And Hell-Being (Robert Pollard Is Off To Business) – From the metaphasis of the title to the use of the phrase “coexistent number”, this song is a lyrical treat. It also has a kick-ass (yes, I have now appropriated this term) refrain that harks back to Alien Lanes.
Zoom (It Happens All Over The World) (Zoom EP) – there’s little else that sounds like this in the great Pollard canon – is that a drum machine? In any case I have been whistling the tune all afternoon. Ah, just have a listen yourself:
Those overlooked LPs
8 tracks from – Not In My Airforce
6 – Normal Happiness
5 – Kid Marine, Robert Pollard Is Off To Business
4 – Fiction Man, From A Compound Eye
3 – Coast To Coast Carpet Of Love, Elephant Jokes, Moses On A Snail, Mouseman Cloud
2 – Zoom EP
1 – The Crawling Distance, Lord Of The Birdcage, Motel Of Fools, Space City Kicks, Standard Gargoyle Decisions, Waved Out, We All Got Out Of The Army
Where possible the tracks have been included in the following Spotify playlist, but you should definitely hunt down the ones that are shockingly unavailable (all those from Normal Happiness, Not In My Airforce, Coast To Coast Carpet Of Love, From A Compound Eye and Waved Out).
So over 100 songs later, have I listed all the Robert Pollard songs you need to hear? Have I fuck.
The man himself has almost certainly written another album’s worth of material in the time it has taken to read down to here. No, you’ll just have to keep tuning in to find out more.
I just hope we get to hear more of Bob on guitar (and Demos on bass) like in this snatched extract from ‘The Who Went Home And Cried’ DVD.
Damn right they did.
Welcome to another working week.
To help you with your Monday, here are two videos chosen by guest contributor, Texas Paul. Yee haw!!
What’s the connection between these two quifftastic artists?
(Texas – you will have to refrain from answering this one.)
Mourn on grievers!
Best epitaph ever!
Related articles
Following in the mighty footsteps of my fellow wizard, Chorizo Garbanzo, and his list of dreary Welsh pop songs, it was obvious to me that what the blogosphere really needs now, more than ever, is a guiding hand through the daunting back catalogue of prolificacy’s own Robert Ellsworth Pollard, Jr.
Consider this. Since 1999, Robert Pollard has released albums (don’t even get started on EPs or individual tracks on, for example, the three 100 track Suitcase collections) under the following alphabetically ordered guises:
Acid Ranch (3 LPs), Airport 5 (2 LPs), Boston Spaceships (5 LPs), Circus Devils (9 LPs – with 2 more on their way next month), Cosmos (1 LP), Go Back Snowball (1 LP), Hazzard Hotrods (2 LPs), Howling Wolf Orchestra (1 LP), Keene Brothers (1 LP), Lifeguards (2 LPs), Mars Classroom (1 LP), The Moping Swans (1 LP), Nightwalker (1 LP), Phantom Tollbooth (1 LP), Psycho & The Birds (2 LPs), Smegma & Antler (1 LP), Soft Rock Renegades (1 LP), The Takeovers (2 LPs) and Teenage Guitar (1 LP).
In addition, there has been a wonderful collaboration with Doug Gillard and 22 albums (including two official live releases) as Guided By Voices. However, this still leaves a massive body of work released under his own name.
According to the Guided By Voices Database there have been 23 LPs (including 1 Live LP and 2 sets of demos) plus 4 EPs plus 17 singles released as Robert Pollard, a total of 403 songs.
Now consider this. The Oxford Dictionary definition of the verb ‘to pollard’ is:- to cut off the branches of a tree to encourage the growth of new young branches. In other words, a form of pruning, of reducing mass. So much for nominative determinism, you might think, but in fact there is something interesting going on here. Could a working back through the songs of the past bring more understanding to those of the present? Not a cutting away per se, but a firing away (of crushed empties?) to give more room for the new songs.
Pollard’s latest collection under his own name, Honey Locust Honky Tonk, comes 17 years after his first, Not In My Airforce. I remember hearing a track from the latter on the late John Peel’s radio show played back to back with one from Tobin Sprout’s ‘Carnival Boy’ (released on the same day) and thinking this is a pretty neat temporary diversion from the real business of Guided By Voices (who were in the middle of a run of fantastic records: Bee Thousand, Alien Lanes, Under The Bushes Under The Stars). Little did I know what my record collection (well, the GBV part of it, anyway) would come to look like.
Listening to the latest record over the last couple of months not only had me thinking that it would inevitably be in my top 5 records of the year, but also got me wondering how much of an impact the more recent Robert Pollard LPs would make on a list of my favourite songs released under his own name. All but 5 of the Robert Pollard LPs have been released since the original split of Guided By Voices in 2004 and now that the reformed band have seemingly stopped releasing records again, maybe we find ourselves in the third phase of Robert Pollard’s Robert Pollard songs. Not really a rebirth, but maybe a pollarding of creative output.
Anyway, whether or not any of that makes sense, here is a list of my favourite Robert Pollard songs released as Robert Pollard. Naturally, presented in reverse order, and with my favourite parts of each song highlighted. Of course, the list is subject to change, not only in terms of order, but I am also sure I have left out songs that should have been included (why not let me know in the comments section below). But, still, here goes…
The Countdown
50. Back To The Farm (from the album Superman Was A Rocker) – Pollard stars as country character Hiram Campbell in an opening skit offering to “beat your head in with both my banjos” before the song kicks into a sublime instrumental that is so good it appears twice in this list. Is it only me that was hoping this same character was going to front the rumoured Pollard country album set for release this year? Honey Locust Honky Tonk is many things, but it isn’t that.
49. No Island (The Crawling Distance) – The chord change as the song goes into the refrain gets me every time, along with the resigned acceptance of “well, at least an outpost” 3 minutes in.
48. Faster To Babylon (We All Got Out Of The Army) – “This will not be the title track..” and then the cello comes in and the song builds with glorious background guitar feedback.
47. I Have To Drink (Honey Locust Honky Tonk) – In under a minute, Bob sums up why any of us Have To Drink. “Alright!!!”
46. Fear Of Heat (B-side to Silk Rotor) – What a great guitar sound there is at the start of this throwaway B-side. The feel is maintained through menacing half-whispered vocals and a pounding rhythm “till the prurient love is gone”.
45. Each Is Good In His Own House (Moses On A Snail) – I love the vocal phrasing that starts with “God drives a cadillac” and the “… in his own house.. and garden” twist.
44. On Top Of The Vertigo (We All Got Out Of The Army) – More crunchy guitar at the start of this one. I don’t remember the ‘Zoom Zoom Room’, but I wish I had been there. Exciting stuff.
43. Science Magazine (Mouseman Cloud) – Pollard’s vocals here have an unusual tremor that suggests something major is being divulged… “I chair the regrettable-act sub-committee”. Top play on words with ‘piece/peace’ too.
42. Conspiracy Of Owls (Fiction Man) – Some great Chris Sheehan piano throughout this one and a rhythm that forces the tune into your head and has it remain there for days.
41. Her Eyes Play Tricks On The Camera (Honey Locust Honky Tonk) – Sounds like a real classic with fantastic vocals right from the off, but especially on the chorus. Got to be from the album of the year, right?
40. Gratification To Concrete (Robert Pollard Is Off To Business) – Oh that wah wah sound and some really powerful drumming. No wonder “she said wow a hundred times”.
39. Penumbra (Coast To Coast Carpet Of Love) – Spooky riff? Check. Silly voice in the middle of the song? Check. Yet another earworm? You bet.
38. Red Rubber Army (Jack Sells The Cow) – Another immediate melody, but it’s the little guitar sounds we first hear 25 seconds in that gets me.
37. Rumbling Joker (Waved Out) – The first song on this list that has Bob on all instruments. At 1’48” the vocals get doubled-up and there is a fantastic crashing guitar (?) sound.
36. Accident Hero (Elephant Jokes) – Some fairly unhinged vocals feature in this track, which combined with a neat little keyboard riff and whistling (?) makes for a fine minute and a half.
35. Who Buries The Undertaker? (Honey Locust Honky Tonk) – Another stand out track from the latest record. It’s the refrain that makes it for me, especially the way Bob sings “And who marries the cakemaker?”.
34. On Shortwave (The Crawling Distance) – Again a cello sets the tone and Bob’s slowed down phrasing throughout draws you in to a melancholy treat “on short… wave.”
33. Pegasus Glue Factory (Normal Happiness) – Do I hear castanets? Probably not, but there are some interesting background noises here. The solo at 1’55” is particularly neat and takes us to a tremendous coda. Oh, and here we also have the best song title on the list to date I would suggest.
32. In A Circle (Lord Of The Birdcage) – Chorizo Garbanzo reckons this is the best Robert Pollard track. Clearly, he’s not right about that. In fact it’s not even the best song on this album, but it is definitely a great song. The circular guitar riff suits the subject matter and I really like the line “in inconstant reverie/ in make shift comfort suites/ in 9 o’clock meetings…”
31. Weatherman And Skin Goddess (Robert Pollard Is Off To Business) – “Yes, no, baby..” What a great start to a song that is. More great vocals on the repeated lines “keep me crying/trying”. The slowed down section that ends with “answer me now” is also great. I have no idea what the song is about.
30. Miles Under The Skin (Coast To Coast Carpet Of Love) – Another killer riff kicks this song off, but it’s the launch into “baby, it’s a free way/ where nothing can destroy you” at 1’03” that gets the hairs on my neck upright.
29. Feel Not Crushed (Standard Gargoyle Decisions) – A great guitar sound on this track and Bob’s vocals are suitably slightly distorted to particularly great effect when again they double up at 1’33” on the line “… by fathers and mothers or those who hand it down…”
28. Dunce Codex (Lord Of The Birdcage) – Note to Garbanzo – this is the best song from this album. A weird guitar riff under some top notch lead work from Mr Tobias and vocals from Bob that are seemingly constantly on the edge of falling apart. “Please excuse me, I lost my girl and I need to go find her”. Heartbreaking stuff.
27. A Boy In Motion (From A Compound Eye) – Recently included on our monthly playlist, I had previously tended to overlook this song when thinking about the FACE masterpiece. But, it is another fine example of a Pollard earworm with its military beat and the great delivery of the line “it’s been removed”.
26. Conqueror Of The Moon (From A Compound Eye) – Also from FACE, this is Bob at his prog-rock influenced best. In a song with distinct sections – movements (?) – it is the searing guitar that starts at 2’05” that goes into the Hawkwind-esque middle section that I really love.
Well, congratulations if you have read this far. We are now half way in our countdown and time, perhaps, to pause and consider how far we have come etc. and so on. Or maybe just treat yourself to a viewing of this (thanks to Jonathan Casey for filming):
25. Girl Named Captain (Not In My Airforce) – Great drums from Kevin Fennell to start this one and outstanding vocals from Bob throughout with my favourite line closing things off: “I’m not in your dreams / Get out of mine.”
24. Snatch Candy (Kid Marine) – A little gem, this one – great bass sound from Demos and Bob sings fantastically, especially on the line “a carefree world / sugarless”, but the highlight for me is the keyboard that comes in at 1’05” and takes us to the close. Beautiful.
23. The Weekly Crow (Moses On A Snail) – Guitar + cello is a combination that, for me, rarely can be beaten. The dual vocal call-and-response with low Bob and regular Bob also works a treat.
22. Sea Of Dead (Fiction Man) – I love the extended intro on this with its strings and things, but it is Bob’s reverb treated vocal that kicks in with “You think you can run / You think you can hide” that really kills.
21. I Can See (We All Got Out Of The Army) – I love the line “look but don’t think” especially as it leads to the section of the song where Bob unleashes his inner Roger Daltrey from 2’30” on. Some great bizarre lyrics here too: “baptized removed all the dross round my brain / a ticket so thick it was flies on meringue”, anyone?
20. Pontius Pilate Heart (Jack Sells The Cow) – Another contender for song title of the blog, this song is all about chiming arpeggiated guitar. However, it is the brief solo at 1’12” that sticks out for me. That, and the brief burst of guitar a minute later and then again when the keyboards come in for the last 30 seconds or so. A really uplifting song.
19. Love Your Spaceman (Superman Was A Rocker) – And here we have a reprise of the instrumental part of Back To The Farm. This time with lyrics like “She said the distance between/ Is quite a distance” that lend themselves to a myriad of meanings. My favourite bit though is when Bob gives it loads on the “love your spaceman” bit 1’30” in.
18. Trial Of Affliction And Light Sleeping (Fiction Man) – The hesitant guitar at the start soon makes way for a great sound that runs at pace throughout this little nugget. I love the vocals that start at 0’44” “burn it in theatre / burn it on cable TV” as the guitar goes fucking mental. Makes me want to jump around and shout, which has got to be a good thing, right?
17. Release The Sunbird (Not In My Airforce) – Another masterclass in how to write a melancholic song. The droning keyboard (or is it a guitar?) in the background is the bit that really does it for me – brings tears to my eyes every time I listen. “… time can only free you when she’s gone…”
16. Harrison Adams (Motel Of Fools) – “Go ‘ding!’ and fall over..” A really beautiful song this – I really like the line “give into the umpire / feel his air”, but, of course, it is the killer chorus that really makes it. I also really like the nice bit of feedback that pops in at 3’13”. This song would be higher if the drunken chat at the end weren’t there.
15. Make Use (Waved Out) – This song is mostly about a great guitar riff courtesy of Bob himself, but Jimmy Mac’s drumming is also superb and the two mesh together perfectly at around 1’30”. Then there is the fabulous distorted synth that is ‘made use’ of only once at 2’13”. Wow.
14. Circle Saw Boys Club (Silverfish Trivia) – Another beautiful song with killer lines like “where x-men saw no heroes / only firemen crossing swords”. Some fantastically emotional singing from Bob – notably at 1 minute in “god almighty / we saw it coming” and on the final lines “in the circle saw boys club / it is vacant / it is.” It melts me every time.
13. Shadow Port (Standard Gargoyle Decisions) – A great ominously building guitar takes us from “it’s gone to hell / you know that it has” to “see – I remember me / love – I remember her” in a, frankly, creepy way before Bob’s evil alter-ego comes to the fore to deliver the line “slashing like razor / design us like you / chosen escaping of the night / out all over”. This is then upped by the closing repeated line “she has wings / are you watching her?”. A complete horror movie in under 3 minutes.
12. Get Under It (Not In My Airforce) – I really like the vocal sound here with its slight distortion and the fact that Bob delivers some of his more direct lyrics that rank up there with Morrissey for social realism “The dress isn’t flattering you / When you don it like you do / You expect me to approve / but I just won’t.”
11. U.S. Mustard Company (From A Compound Eye) – The arpeggio at the start is great, but it is outdone by the fantastic chorus “contain yourself” with its little piano fills. I also love the line “make yourself feel like it used to be / throw away your charts of progress”, which really appeals to my inner nerd.
So here we are then, about to enter the top ten. But before we do, have a listen to this to see what I mean by ‘little piano fills’.
OK, so now it’s time for the top ten. Hold on to your hats!
10. People Are Leaving (Waved Out) – A song unlike any other in the Pollard canon. A haunting piano leads us into dual vocal lines that, like ‘The Murder Mystery’ by The Velvet Underground, gives the listener a choice of which lyrics to follow. At times these come together in glorious harmony, at others snippets of the lyrics fall out in moments of clarity like “The angels are making circles/ A gift to every naked fat baby” if clarity is the right word. The result is a moving masterpiece that a number of GBV nuts on the Strong Lions mailing list have nominated as a song to leave this world to (see our funeral podcast for more on this). Mention should also go to co-writer and multi-instrumentalist, Stephanie Sayers, who appears on just this one Robert Pollard track, but what a track.
9. Love Is Stronger Than Witchcraft (From A Compound Eye) – Again we have a great arpeggiated guitar to start, but it is Bob’s singing that makes this song so great. His delivery is fantastic throughout notably the call-to-arms “damn!” at 1’57” that takes the song into its proggy middle-eight and the partly inaudible exhortations therein. Oh, and the lyrics are fantastic too, not only the positivity of the title itself, but also the opening verse of “What you call this Jesus mind / I can’t focus on it anymore / But I’m doing all the good things you said I should do / To be a damn good model” that speaks to all us fathers out here. Well, this one anyway.
8. I Killed A Man Who Looks Like You (Honey Locust Honky Tonk) – The best song from the best album released this year. I have already talked about this at length on our podcast 13, but let me reiterate. I love the guitars that, with their open chords, seem to fly into the ether. The melody still hasn’t left me since I first heard the song and the lyrics, well, lines like “Sacrificed prodigious son / I innocently drew the gun / To orchestrate no go away / To come too late some other day / And I killed a man who looks like you / I don’t understand the things a man won’t do…” get my imagination racing. Is this, perhaps, the country song that Bob has been rumoured to be making? Well, it sounds like a country fable to me (if not fabled country) and it sure fits a lot into under 2 minutes. I also bet REM are pretty pleased they’ve retired.
7. Their Biggest Win (Fiction Man) – From Bob’s last solo album before the closing of the initial Guided By Voices chapter, and still one of my favourites. This is, in fact, the closing song and yes, it has a great Todd Tobias guitar sound and yes, it has a fantastic racing rhythm, but really it’s all about the chorus “And we say nothing but when we want some / And we do nothing but when we get some” that makes it so good. Then at 2’28” the instrumentation falls back temporarily for that line to really hit home before the psychedelic tour-de-force of a guitar line that blows everything else away for the rest of the song. What a closer! Much like an Aroldis Chapman fastball.
6. The Butler Stands For All Of Us (The Crawling Distance) – A great guitar riff in this one too, but it is the overall feel, a mixture of both sadness and optimism that only Pollard seems to get right, that marks this song out as a classic. I really love the refrain “Arounder and longer and safer and stronger / It pays to know who you are / That’s who you are” without really knowing what it means. The whole song is sung beautifully and also contains the line “Ease off on your querulous sidekicks”, which is sensible advice for anyone, let alone one of three wizards.
5. The Ash Gray Proclamation (Not In My Airforce) – A great loose guitar sound from Bob himself on this classic from his first solo album. It is the way the guitar rhythm and lead meld together in the second, instrumental, half of the song that really makes it for me. Absolutely mesmeric.I also love the opening line: “… the shuttle bus is leaving us / It has collected 50 souls / Who have redefined our roles…” despite, or perhaps because of, again not really knowing what it means or who it refers to.
4. Powerblessings (Kid Marine) – Of course the great thing about Guided By Voices reforming recently was the fact that we got to hear Robert Pollard and Tobin Sprout play and sing together. A magical mix. And here, Tobin brings about 13 seconds of piano to this song at 1’20” that is just right. I really love the keyboard sound that Bob plays on this too and the way it merges with the acoustic guitar at 20 seconds in is just sublime. The lyrics sound like an incantation to me and when I was a primary school teacher, I always thought it was something that should be read at morning assembly. “Powerblessings to you and all of you.”
3. Piss Along You Bird (B-side to Rud Fins) – This is another song that has previously been discussed on this blog – as part of my nominating Bob as the best swearer in rock. However, it is more than just the curious title of the song that sees it at number 3 in my list. I first heard the song as the B-side to the first single released in the one-a-month series of 12 singles in 2007 on the newly established Happy Jack Rock Records label. The A-side was pretty good, but the B-side was fantastic and it took me back to the days when music was much less accessible and when you bought a 7″ single and played it over and over again. This record was on my turntable for weeks, with the flip uppermost. It hooked me from the opening ‘Alright, alright, alright…” and I love the speeding up and slowing down of the song as it builds to reveal the “message to your sender” that arrives at 1’38” “No means no and maybe means no and yes means no”. Damn right. Oh, and “Piss along you bird” is also a fantastic phrase that I spend every working day trying to engineer into conversation, but that might just be me.
2. Psychic Pilot Clocks Out (Not In My Airforce) – 4 minutes of genius. From the opening guitar squalls to the coolest of cool guitar riffs and we’re still less than a minute in. At 1’11” the drums kick in and we’re off with “The sign sheds light on who is lonely / Run and hide / I’m alright”. The guitar comes to the fore again in the instrumental section at 2’03” before more great lyrics “Don’t be defensive / Not with me”. Yet all this is just setting us up for the big pay off at 3’15” when Bob goes into overdrive with, in my opinion, his best phlegm-speckled vocals ever and the clarion call of “I feel life passing on by us, passing on by us, passing on by us”. Life-affirming stuff.
1. Subspace Biographies (Waved Out) – The best Robert Pollard Robert Pollard song and it’s appropriate that the bulk of the instrumentation is from Bob himself. But first, let’s give credit to the drumming of Jimmy Mac, which gets stronger and stronger as the song reaches its climax, and perhaps more so to the bass lines of John Shough that propel the song along at its irresistable rate. After the delicious intertwinning of bass with Bob’s beautifully picked guitar at the start, it is 25 seconds in when the great keyboard sound that dominates this song is heard ‘bup- bup – bup/ bup- bup- bup/ bup – bup – bup- baa- baa’. A sound that now dominates my dreams. Then the lyrics start with as good an opening line as any Bob has come up with (the start to Pop Zeus being my all time favourite) “Has there been a break today / Stoned comedian Ringo?” At the end of the first verse we hear another brilliant guitar line before that keyboard refrain returns and then the pace quickens and we get the mega chorus “I am quail and quasar / I picked you up on radar / I do my job each day / Empties crushed and fired away”. Phenomenal stuff – quail AND quasar? One would have been enough. And then at 1’38” there is the none more profound line “There is nothing worse than / An undetermined person”. All of which is worth repeating before unbelievably the pace is ratcheted up even further at 2’14” with an additional feedbacking guitar in the background. And guess what? What? It’s even better live.
So there we have it, These 50 Robert Pollard songs taken from a tiny portion of his back catalogue over the period 1996 – 2013 and as it turns out pretty evenly spread out over the 20 studio albums. These are the number of tracks taken from each:
5: Not In My Airforce
4: Fiction Man, From A Compound Eye, Honey Locust Honky Tonk, Waved Out
3: The Crawling Distance, We All Got Out Of The Army
2: Coast To Coast Carpet Of Love, Jack Sells The Cow, Kid Marine, Lord Of The Birdcage, Moses On A Snail, Robert Pollard Is Off To Business, Standard Gargoyle Decisions, Superman Was A Rocker
1: Elephant Jokes, Motel Of Fools, Mouseman Cloud, Normal Happiness, Silverfish Trivia EP
plus 2 B-sides
Unfortunately, not all these wonderful tracks are available on Spotify (so go out and buy the albums from long, live Rockathon or elsewhere), but here is a taster:
Also, let us know what you think about the list in the comments section below.
If 50 songs aren’t enough for you, here are 50 more.
Robert Pollard’s Guide To The Late 60s podcast
TRUST THE WIZARDS 