In 2011, the indie rock world was rocked to its foundation (see what I did there?) with the news that lo-fi mad genius Robert Pollard would be reuniting the 'original (basically touring) lineup' of Guided By Voices. Consisting of himself (duh), guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Tobin Sprout, just guitarist Mitch Mitchell, bassist Greg Demos and drummer Kevin Fennel, they spent the early 2010s putting out brand new material and touring with a vengeance. The question on longtime GBV fans' minds was, of course, would the revival live up to the band's legacy? I personally think it overall did - but let's look at the gory details, shall we?
Right at the start of 2012, Guided By Voices came out swinging with their first reunion LP (and #17 overall), Let's Go Eat The Factory. Seriously, the official release date was January 1! Recorded at the homes of Sprout, Mitchell and Demos; and with production work credited to the band.
What I Liked:
Generously peppered with classic pop gems - Pollard's writer's block isn't keeping him out of the game this time. Song length is the familiar mix of typical 3-4 minute rockers with 90-second wonders and half-bakers. Anyone who missed the band while they were away will feel right at home listening to LGETF, with the garage stomper 'Laundry And Lasers' making a strong start. The album's big single, 'The Unsinkable Fats Domino' (which turns out to have been inspired by the aforementioned blues legend needing a rescue from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina) is a poppy, jangly high water mark in Pollard's songwriting. A few strangely ominous tracks get scattered around the disc - the slightly gory 'The Head' and the suspicious, nay, paranoid 'Hang Mr. Kite' on side 1 and the noisefest of 'Either Nelson' on side 2. There are some nice balladish strumfests ('Doughnut For A Snowman', 'Chocolate Boy') and some other bright pop-rockers ('God Loves Us', 'How I Met My Mother', 'Waves'). Some tracks have that delightful 4-track lo-fi charm, others (and generally where appropriate) have bright studio polish - and aside from the last quarter, the track arrangement provides a thorough back-and-forth arcoss this variety.
What I Didn't Like:
Robert Pollard sometimes needs a second opinion on what makes sense to even release. As an example from this album I give you the quasi-psychedelic murk of 'The Big Hat And Toy Show'. If it were a 30-60 second transitional snippet, it might get away with being on this disc. Nope. It's over two minutes. And while we're at it, Tobin Sprout contributes a counterpart in 'The Things That Never Need' - which is less janky at just 1:11. And if only the track order was slightly different - something else should've closed out the album besides the plodding 'We Won't Apologize For The Human Race'. Speaking of, those last five or six songs all have a rundown, goof-offish mood to them (except the strangely moodless and cumbersomely-titled but otherwise listenable stomper 'Cyclone Utilities (Remember Your Birthday)'. Needs a reshuffle or a track dropped.
In Conclusion:
While there are enough gems in the mix to earn my approval, in the long run this was a warm-up for the next couple of albums - a chance to see what the band could still do - and not a wasted chance, either. Only giving a few hints at what lay ahead, jumbled with some missteps. Still, LGETF is a good album on its own merits.
Only six months later, GBV popped out (the beginning of a furious pace of releases) their reunion follow-up, the strangely nostalgically-titled Class Clown Spots A UFO. Released on not-quite-clear vinyl (it's green like the glass in an old Coca-Cola bottle! That's too cool) as standard (even cooler), this album, as hinted before, would take the band's sonic achievements to a new freakin' level my mind is blown oh my god
What I Liked:
THIS. ALBUM. IS. FANTASTIC. I have no idea how but Pollard and crew have crafted CCSAUFO perfectly. This album is basically a new Bee Thousand, and better yet, the songs flow into one another as though there were no other way to do it. 'He Rises! Our Union Bellboy' cracks things open in its own quirky, shambolic glory. 'Blue Babbleships Bay' hits like the footfall of a giant, and fills up the room - probably the most fantastic bombast to ever be crammed into a mere 78 seconds or so. 'Jon The Croc' is at once heavy, plaintive and reptilian ominous. 'Worm W/7 Broken Hearts" (dafuq) comes at you with explosive anguish, 'Forever Until It Breaks' charmingly plods, 'All Of This Will Go' is a perfectly sad/poppy track, and 'Billy Wire' is a a basic, stupid (yes that's a compliment) and unnecessarily catchy power pop-rocker. Interestingly, 'Chain to The Moon', 'Fly Baby' and 'Be Impeccable' all have this interesting hollow, depressive sound that's hard to describe, but interesting. And that brings up another thing that I think makes this album stand out among GBV efforts - the sequencing. If these tracks were in any other order, I don't think they'd have quite the same effect on me. Like I mentioned before, the album flows from idea to idea not predictably but still appropriately. If you front-loaded this album with the rock and the best-executed ideas like a U2 album tends to be, it wouldn't work and I'd be saying this might have been better as a pared-down EP. But no. Hell no. This. Album. Works. And last but most definitely not least, I cannot spend enough time lionizing the title track. 'Class Clown Spots A UFO' might just be the absolute perfect GBV song. Yes, it's a reworking of the older 'Crocker's Favorite Song' (wonder what Crocker, whoever he is, thought of the new version) but it's so much more than that. It's that growing-up sort of emotion, that Pollard surely has drawn from his teaching experience and distilled, crystallized in the lyrics. I mean, think about that title just by itself - what does that say? What does being caught in that position feel like? I'll tell you - it feels like this song. The melody strikes exactly the right tone to match the lyrics, and I cannot get enough of it. Robert Pollard may have thrown one no-hitter in college baseball; but 'Class Clown...' is surely his furthest musical home run.
What I Didn't Like:
Short list. The album drags just a bit around the last quarter. Either 'The Opposite Continues' or 'Be Impeccable' could have been left off and wouldn't have been missed. And it's obvious that the horns on 'Class Clown...' are synths - but it honestly doesn't bother me. It's just... obvious. And that might bother some out there (but I'm telling you, don't sweat it!).
In Conclusion:
Easily in my all-time top ten albums. There's no question about that. Everybody should hear this one.
One more for 2012 -
The Bears For Lunch came out in November, with
Class Clown... only just five moths previous. This one's much more rock-oriented, and I can't quite call it a match to
Alien Lanes as
Class Clown... was to
Bee Thousand. That said, it's still to a very high standard.
What I Liked:
There's still a lot to like here. We kick off strong with the blazing 'King Arthur The Red', end in epic bombast with 'Everywhere Is Miles From Everywhere', and hit most of the usual GBV high notes in between. The first half actually slows down for a while after the opening assault - the slow burn of 'Hangover Child' being a high point, followed by the quirky 'Dome Rust'. 'Finger Gang' and 'The Challenge Is Much More' bring us back to rocking; we get the folky but anthemic 'Waving at Airplanes' and then the strangely somber 'The Military School Dance Dismissal'; and 'White Flag', an upbeat rocker, finishes out side one. Side two, I think, is paced a little better (although 'TMSDD' really comes out of freaking nowhere at the end of side one) and I can't find a bum track here either. 'Skin To Skin Combat' has a poppy beat; 'Tree Fly Jet' and 'Amorphous Surprise' are weird but break things up interestingly; and 'She Lives In An Airport' is a somewhat dark hard rocker that surely must be one of GBV's longest songs (not that there's anything wrong with that). Two acoustic tracks slow things down a bit, both decent gems - 'Waking Up The Stars' is a Tobin Sprout-penned ditty (almost like a lullaby) and 'You Can Fly Anything Right' is basically Pollard's intro to 'Everywhere...'.
What I Didn't Like:
I dunno, there's just not that much to say that I dislike, but that's part of the problem. It's a great album, but something about it just keeps it back from being as great in my mind as Class Clown... and I can't quite put my finger on it. I guess one could say that it's highs aren't as high, although maybe they're a little more consistent? Not sure.
In Conclusion:
A very respectable effort from from Pollard & Co. Certainly a must-hear, probably a must-own, but I don't see it as making anybody's top five albums anytime soon.
