I'm pretty sure that Guided By Voices was the band that finally cured me of being a music completist. As I mentioned earlier, I used to be a fanatical about buying up every single, compilation album, or soundtrack that any of my favorite artists used to appear on. Solo albums? You bet. Import EPs? Lay 'em on me. It was an expensive habit, and one that was bound to end sometime.
I gave it the old college try with GBV, I really did. I saw them at the Exit/In on the Alien Lanes tour, and was immediately hooked. I spent a fortune buying up their back catalog, and for a while I managed to keep up with all of Robert Pollard and Tobin Sprout's various side projects and solo albums. But the sheer volume of material Pollard and company have releasaed since 1986 would wear out all but the most dedicated (and well financed) collector. I think it all started to come apart about the time they started the Fading Captain series. Coincidently, that was about the same time my turntable broke, so the vinyl only issues were out. And once you let that little chink in your armor, it's easy to let new releases slide by. I still got all the main albums, but stuff like Kid Marine fell through the cracks.
Now that GBV is no more, Pollard's solo albums are the main outlet for his new material instead of a side road. He has a new one coming out on Merge October 10 called Normal Happiness. While his albums are generally too diverse to judge based on one song, this preview is definately a tasty treat.
Robert Pollard - "Supernatural Car Lover" (mp3)
Marathonpacks has another track from the new album, "Rhoda Rhoda," and its even better.
Uncle Bob and Merge have a free bonus for fans who buy the album at their local independent record store; Moon, a 14 song live CD recorded at Robert Pollard and the Ascended Masters' show on June 24, 2006, opening for Pearl Jam at US Bank Arena in Cincinatti (the same show that produced this duet of "Baba O'Reilly"). I guess a trip to Grimey's is definately in the cards for me next month.
post title by David J.
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