Boston Spaceships: Our Cubehouse Still Rocks

Boston Spaceships: Our Cubehouse Still Rocks

2010

Guided by Voices Inc.

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Track Star  2. John The Dwarf Wants To Become An Angel  3. I See You Coming  4. Fly Away (Terry Sez)  5. Trick Of The Telekinetic Newlyweds  6. Saints Don't Lie  7. The British And The French  8. Unshaven Bird  9. Come On Baby Grace  10. Freedom Rings  11. Stunted  12. Bombadine  13. Airwaves  14. Dunkirk Is Frozen  15. King Green Stamp  16. In The Bathroom (Up 1/2 The Night)


It's too my eternal shame as a GBV fanatic that I had initially missed out on Boston Spaceships. I have been a lifelong Pollard worshiper, unquestioningly  buying every new release but right around "Superman Was a Rocker" and "Elephant Jokes," I started questioning my wisdom. These were a couple releases that I was lukewarm on, so I decided to hold off and read reviews first before jumping into future Robert Pollard releases.

Man, what a mistake. Every post-"Bee Thousand" review appears to be some sort of agricultural report, more concerned with "Wheat" and "Chaff" than about the music contained within...



I tend to attribute this critical reaction to the fact that it takes an abnormally long time to process a Robert Pollard album for some reason...It usually takes me quite a few listens to finally come to a final opinion on almost any of his works. He rarely puts out albums that I flip out over immediately (except for the prerequisite 1 or 2 "IMMEDIATELY THE GREATEST SONG I EVER HEARD!!!" tracks that he puts on every record to keep you hooked) and the ones that do strike me immediately usually tend to be the ones that fade into the back of my go-to Pollard albums in the long run...

I could never get a clear picture of what the Boston Spaceships were, so I played it safe and skipped their albums..So where do the Boston Spaceships fit into the GBV discography?  Well, short answer is they're a sorta indie rock supergroup, featuring Robert Pollard and Chris Slusarenko from Guided By Voices and John Moen from the Decemberists. What do they sound like? Imagine this and try not to drool...They take the poppiest, chewiest, Who-iest, Cheap Trick-iest aspects of Guided by Voices and turn it into ultra-consistent POP-ROCK!!!! My God, this was what I wanted all along. To be honest, I consider any of the Boston Spaceship albums I own (I'm still missing a few) to be the equal or possibly even surpass any Guided by Voices record. That's right. I consider "Let it Beard" and "Our Cubehouse Still Rocks" to be roughly as enjoyable as "Bee Thousand" or "Under the Bushes, Under the Stars"...Maybe not in my favorite top-five GBV records, but in the top 15 Pollard records for sure (which sounds like a bad ranking, but Pollard is so prolific that "in the top 15" means it's the cream of the crop)...

Again, imagine this... A Robert Pollard album where every single track is a heavenly slice of perfect pop designed to burrow itself into the pleasure center of your brain. And if you're into the more oddball aspects of his work, don't despair, it's on display here too, but used to create eccentric pop like "The British and the French" and "Bombadine" which are just as catchy as the more straightforward tracks. These Boston Spaceship albums have also become a repository for "Suitcase" tracks that have been spit-shined into gleaming singles. This album's entry is "Shaved Bird" which is transformed from a melancholy, guitar and vocal fragment into the full-blown arena rock anthem implied in the original.

The best track though has to be "Baby Grace" which rocks so fucking much that I cannot conceive of a single good reason why this isn't blasting from every rock radio station in the world...It's just Pollard at his absolute best; Crunchy guitars, a crystal-clear hook, and vivid abstract imagery. One of is best, be sure not to miss it.

Super highly recommended. I can't think of another GBV-related album that has so few "lesser" tracks. The only song I'm not head-over-heels in love with is "Airwaves" which isn't even bad (it just has a sorta bland melody)...Again, let that sink in...A Pollard album with only one lesser track. I'd find this immediately if I were you...Don't make the same mistake I made and ignore this...