Author Topic: Where to start with GBV?  (Read 30954 times)

John Junk 2.0

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Re: Where to start with GBV?
« Reply #30 on: December 23, 2008, 04:34:15 PM »
Trail of Dead did a fairly schmaltzy super hi-fi version of 'Goldheart...' on one of their albums.

That's what I said, sorta

Gibby

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Re: Where to start with GBV?
« Reply #31 on: December 23, 2008, 04:35:44 PM »
Trail of Dead did a fairly schmaltzy super hi-fi version of 'Goldheart...' on one of their albums.

That's what I said, sorta


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Rant Jackson

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Re: Where to start with GBV?
« Reply #32 on: January 01, 2009, 11:12:11 PM »
I'd go with Bee Thousand. AND THEN! Get Propeller. Bee Thousand is pretty classic GBV and Propeller is nice and noisy.
P.S. Somebody tell me, is it true the Mr. Wurster toured with Guided By Voices and/or just Robert Pollard?

dave from knoxville

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Re: Where to start with GBV?
« Reply #33 on: January 02, 2009, 12:14:29 AM »
1) Earthquake Glue
2) Do the Collapse
3) Alien Lanes



those are the only ones I know

Jouster

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Re: Where to start with GBV?
« Reply #34 on: January 02, 2009, 01:41:55 AM »
I'd go with Bee Thousand. AND THEN! Get Propeller. Bee Thousand is pretty classic GBV and Propeller is nice and noisy.
P.S. Somebody tell me, is it true the Mr. Wurster toured with Guided By Voices and/or just Robert Pollard?

Toured with Mr. Pollard, played drums on "I Am a Tree" on The Electrifying Conclusion GB(D)V(D).

todd

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Re: Where to start with GBV?
« Reply #35 on: January 02, 2009, 06:12:12 PM »
Big Boring Wedding is pretty much my favorite song ever.

Moondog

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Re: Where to start with GBV?
« Reply #36 on: January 15, 2009, 11:15:18 AM »
Glad to hear you're on board with Pollard & Co. Gibby. I haven't seen anyone recommend the first Suitcase Box set yet. It seems to get dismissed as a "leftovers set", but i think the material is pretty strong & love the fact it's not sequenced chronologically. The melding of the various GBV lineups works pretty darn well to these ears. 4 disks, 100 tracks, 100 fake band names, under $40 bucks. It's a no brainer. If you're still not ready to jump in and plop down the cash for a box, heed Tom's advice and seek out Propeller. If you're partial to the cleaner production, Speak Kindly Of Your Volunteer Fire Department is chock full tasty riffage.
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Gibby

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Re: Where to start with GBV?
« Reply #37 on: January 24, 2009, 07:34:14 PM »
I'm well on board. Heard Mag Earwhig! and Propeller and Pollard's Kid Marine. It's all good stuff. I'm no collector or completist but I can see all this stuff being worth something to me at some point. All these recommendations will pass by my ears when I gots the dough to do so.
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furnstein

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Re: Where to start with GBV?
« Reply #38 on: January 31, 2009, 09:02:41 PM »
I think Alien Lanes is a really perfect introduction to the band, but that may be because it was the first full length GBV album that I heard.  I think the singles and compilation tracks on the Demons and Painkillers disc of the Matador box can win over almost everybody, and it is a great complement to that greatest hits album.

I do think that From A Compound Eye is his best overall album.  His songwriting and lyrics on that album are really advanced.  As some other people have mentioned, there is a lot on that album so it takes a real commitment to really digest everything (especially since most of the songs don't really have big choruses or repeated verse melodies).

sonicdork

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Re: Where to start with GBV?
« Reply #39 on: February 02, 2009, 01:25:58 PM »
I would start with...

Alien Lanes
Bee Thousand
Propeller (my personal favorite)

If you get more of a thirst after hearing those records, go ahead and up into the rest... I would move onto Mag Earwhig from there.

Pollard's latest solo album is pretty solid. Anyone heard the new Boston Submarines record yet?

Matt

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Re: Where to start with GBV?
« Reply #40 on: February 02, 2009, 01:38:32 PM »
I do think that From A Compound Eye is his best overall album.  His songwriting and lyrics on that album are really advanced.  As some other people have mentioned, there is a lot on that album so it takes a real commitment to really digest everything (especially since most of the songs don't really have big choruses or repeated verse melodies).

I think I agree with that. It took me months to be able to listen to the whole thing without wanting to turn it off, but now that I'm there, it's easily his most cohesive set of songs. I think that has a lot to do with what (I assume) was the approach toward making the album, taking elements from other songs and fashioning another sound out of it. Like, "50-Year-Old Baby" is basically "Field Jacket Blues" plus "Kensington Cradle". "Cock of the Rainbow" is "Flowering Orphan" plus "Fresh Threats, Salad Shooters and Zip Guns". "Love is Stronger Than Witchcraft" is "US Mustard Company" plus "The Numbered Head", and so on.

Plus, his singing is so on point on that record. I know polish has never been Mr. Pollard's strong suit, but ever since FACE was released, it's like he's making a deliberate effort to put some of his most half-assed vocal performances on record. I'm looking at you, "Serious Bird Woman (You Turn Me On)"! And I don't like that cartoony "deep" voice he uses on songs like "The Blondes" and "Still in Rome" AT ALL.
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franks.

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Re: Where to start with GBV?
« Reply #41 on: February 02, 2009, 03:37:18 PM »
Pollard's latest solo album is pretty solid. Anyone heard the new Boston Submarines record yet?

If you mean Brown Submarine -- it's great. I saw this tour and had a great time at the show. All but the encore was mostly Boston Spaceships and though I hadn't heard the album yet, it was still some good stuff. There's another Boston Spaceships coming out at the end of the month. Haven't heard anything from that sucker yet.

I got to see Wurster drum with him after From a Compound Eye came out and that was also excellent. That album and the Boston Spaceships one are the best things he's done in the last few years, I think.

And I second starting with Bee Thousand. I'd do that and then King Shit and the Golden Boys (the odds and sods collection from the first box set, you can download it on its own at eMusic). Mag Earwig is one of my all-time favorites.

furnstein

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Re: Where to start with GBV?
« Reply #42 on: February 03, 2009, 12:36:05 PM »
I do think that From A Compound Eye is his best overall album.  His songwriting and lyrics on that album are really advanced.  As some other people have mentioned, there is a lot on that album so it takes a real commitment to really digest everything (especially since most of the songs don't really have big choruses or repeated verse melodies).

I think I agree with that. It took me months to be able to listen to the whole thing without wanting to turn it off, but now that I'm there, it's easily his most cohesive set of songs. I think that has a lot to do with what (I assume) was the approach toward making the album, taking elements from other songs and fashioning another sound out of it. Like, "50-Year-Old Baby" is basically "Field Jacket Blues" plus "Kensington Cradle". "Cock of the Rainbow" is "Flowering Orphan" plus "Fresh Threats, Salad Shooters and Zip Guns". "Love is Stronger Than Witchcraft" is "US Mustard Company" plus "The Numbered Head", and so on.

Plus, his singing is so on point on that record. I know polish has never been Mr. Pollard's strong suit, but ever since FACE was released, it's like he's making a deliberate effort to put some of his most half-assed vocal performances on record. I'm looking at you, "Serious Bird Woman (You Turn Me On)"! And I don't like that cartoony "deep" voice he uses on songs like "The Blondes" and "Still in Rome" AT ALL.

Huh, I don't think I've really noticed connections between the songs.  I'll have to check into that. 

I honestly think his level of songwriting on that album and some of the other recent solo stuff ("Weatherman and Skin Goddess" and "Zoom") are really at a completely different level from the fun and absurd songs he would write for GBV.  He has always been a great songwriter, but with a lot of the more recent stuff he seems to be writing in a style and format that is completely different from what he has done before (and, to my ears, different from any other songwriter).  Something like "Light Show" on From A Compound Eye manages to take a basic prog rock structure and marry it to Fables Of The Reconstruction-era R.E.M.  It's pretty inspiring that he could change up his fundamental songwriting approach at this point in his career.

I also can do without the "deep voice" business, I think it tends to drag down some strong melodic ideas.

Matt

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Re: Where to start with GBV?
« Reply #43 on: April 07, 2009, 10:20:03 PM »
I was listening to Isolation Drills yesterday. You know which song is really good? "Unspirited".

That is all.

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sonicdork

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Re: Where to start with GBV?
« Reply #44 on: April 19, 2009, 02:40:09 PM »
I've always enjoyed "Sister I Need Wine" on Isolation Drills. GBV was mighty fine on that tour. I became a drunken ass at the Black Cat show and heckled The Strokes.