Guided by Voices: Devil Between My Toes

Guided by Voices: Devil Between My Toes

1987

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Old Battery  2. Discussing Wallace Chambers  3. Cyclops  4. Crux  5. A Portrait Destroyed by Fire  6. 3 Year Old Man  7. Dog's Out  8. A Proud and Booming Industry  9. Hank's Little Fingers   10. Artboat  11. Hey, Hey Spaceman  12. The Tumblers  13. Bread Alone  14. Captain's Dead


Wow! Is that an actual photo of the legendary Big Daddy on the cover? Alright. I'm adding a point for that...

This is GBV's first full-length. Their debut ep was recorded in a real-deal studio, with polished songs and the fidelity of a sparkling demo. This however is a mish-mash of great songs, so-so songs and a bunch of pointless instrumentals that sound like they were recorded in the deepest, dankest basement known to man. But it does creep the band slightly out of REM's shadow and forward into sounding more like the GBV we all know and love and for that it's notable...

The Great: "Hey, Hey Spaceman" is the sort of top-notch pop fantasia they would soon be tossing off left and right. A blueprint for the creamy goodness to come. The opener "Old Battery" is definitely a by-product of their REM obsession but it's so much weirder than REM ever got. It sounds like Michael Stipe with a fork in a light socket fronting Wire. And the melody is catchy. so it earns its place as an early-GBV classic.  "Dog's Out" has a nice-little choppy riff. The sort of thing they would later nail on tracks like "Postal Blowfish" and the chorus actually manages to muster up a bit of grandeur. They also end on a high note with album-closer "Captain's Dead" where they lay some long, nice harmonies over a bit of punkish zip.

Y'know what? After some deliberation, I've decided to toss "Portrait Destroyed by Fire" into the great category. It's one of those songs that took me awhile to warm up to, but I think it's important as the earliest example of the murky, prog that would become an important part of Pollard's repertoire. Plus it gives us an early sampling of Tobin Sprout's impish vocal stylings (again, a small taste of greatness to come). There's just something about  how it evolves from the long moody intro all the way into the fiery finale where Pollard howls the song's title while the flames surround him...A longform (5 minutes?!?!) hazy epic....

The So-So: Theoretically I should love "Discussing Wallace Chambers" and "Hank's Little Fingers" since they're the type of Pollard-pop that I love so much, but I somehow find them even too fluffy and sugary for me (an Apples in Stereo fan!!). This album contains the only examples of GBV pop songs that tip too much into the lightweight category, btw. Going forward there would be sufficient melancholy to counteract even the bubble-gummiest of melodies..."Cyclops" and "The Tumblers" are just sorta forgettable filler (and at two minutes and forty-five seconds "The Tumblers" still comes off as overlong)...

Pointless instrumentals: Yes, the remaining five songs are all pointless instrumentals. If you're a seasoned GBV fan this will seem weird, since I don't even know if they ever released five instrumentals total after this album Which is a practice I'm glad they quickly abandoned. I guess if I had to pick a favorite out of the pointless instrumentals, I'd maybe go with "Crux" just because it has a bit of movement (some rudimentary riffing over the world's boxiest, most card-boardish drum machine) the rest just sort of hum there and feed back ear-splittingly from time to time...

I do find it somewhat charming that GBV decided to half-ass it for their debut album. I mean, at this point nobody even knew they existed, so nobody was waiting with bated breath for their big debut. I mean, why not take that time to write some songs? Ah, well...Keep it Motion, I guess...

Alright...This is going to be a new feature during these GBV/Pollard posts. I'm going to attempt to rank every record (again, that I own. There are a ton I do not) as we go through them (strictly for selfish and academic reasons)...So here we go...

1. Forever Since Breakfast
2. Devil Between My Toes

There...I like "Forever Since Breakfast" slightly more than "Devil Between My Toes." In fact, "Devil Between My Toes" might be among the GBV records I listen to the least...But they would soon remedy it's deficiencies. Still, the great songs I listed above really are worth your time ("Hey Hey, Spaceman" especially)...

Let's stop talking and start listening. Here's "Hey Hey, Spaceman" by Guided by Voices...Enjoy...