Guided by Voices: Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia

Guided by Voices: Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia

1989
Halo Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. The Future is in Eggs  2. The Great Blake Street Canoe Race  3. Slopes Of Big Ugly  4.

Paper Girl  5. Navigating Flood Regions  6. An Earful O' Wax  7. White Whale  8. Trampoline  9. Short On Posters  10.

Chief Barrel Belly  11. Dying To Try This  12. The Qualifying Remainder  13. Liar's Tale  14. Radio Show (Trust The Wizard) See, this is one of the reasons I tell folks to listen to Pollard albums a good dozen times before reserving final judgment.  When I first picked up "Box" I would have ranked this one near the bottom, right above "Devil Between My Toes." But over the years, "Self -Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia" has risen in stature for me.  I think this album marks the moment where Guided by Voices completely becomes its own thing. They've learned how to integrate their influences and turn it into their own unique sound. No more REM pastiches.  And it's interesting that this is where GBV becomes a distinct genre in itself, because this album is ridiculously diverse. Maybe because all the seeds of the different facets of GBV are planted here. Pollard's lyrics are also starting to take on the surreal quality that would become his trademark (a quick glance at the song titles confirms this). We also have Pollard's persona shining through at last. The beer-soaked basement rocker who wasn't afraid to fully embrace the weirdness of classic psychedelia and krautrock (but with an uncanny ear for a good, clean hook).  It's also worth mentioning that the polish of "Forever Since Breakfast" and "Sandbox" have been scrubbed away (not forever but for a good ten years) and we're into the raw home-made recordings. But don't take that as these records sound bad. Sure there's audible tape hiss but these are good, clear recordings with a charm all their own. If you've only ever listened to glossy radio music, I'm sure it'll be a huge hurdle but if you've ever laid ears on an 80's indie rock or old school punk rock (or hell, oldies even) record you're not going to be too shocked by what you hear (off the top of my head, I can only think of a couple of Pollard albums where the sound quality is a hinderance, but we'll get to those later. "Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia" isn't one of those.) And we also have our first true-blue, full-fledged GBV classic in "Navigating Flood Regions." From the song's opening (rudimentary) riff, you can tell it has all the trademarks of a GBV anthem. A solid melody, a rocking backdrop, sounds even better live. The dinkiness of the recording quality should theoretically hinder it, but there's so much pure rock flowing through its veins that nothing could blunt its impact.  My other favorites are the lovely Byrds riff in the "The Great Blake Street Canoe Race" (if that song had a stronger chorus it would likely find a place in my all-time top GBV songs). The reverb-drenched "Liar's Tale" also has the ability to give me big fat goosebumps. Again, it's that sense of loneliness, where you're delivering a perfect-pop melody to a hard, uncaring basement wall. There's a sense that he knows nobody is ever going to hear it, so he gives it his all and it gains a weird universalism via its isolation.  There's a few songs on here that seem to divide GBV fans, but I'm all for them. "Chief Barrel Belly" is indeed some ugly ass heavy metal but Pollard's delivery is totally unlike anything else out there. A deliberate cartoonish ugliness. But that chorus is perfect. And I can fully understand somebody being too cool for the sheer whimsy of "Radio Show (Trust The Wizard)" but to me, it captures the unabashed joy of rock n' ridiculous roll. At one point in time, rock music was one of the only musical forms where singing about wizards was a perfectly natural and logical thing to do. But somewhere down the line that sense of wonder had died, but here it was again. Pressed onto 500 copies and sitting in the corner of somebody's room. It makes me laugh and it makes me glad to be alive. There are only a few songs here that I don't really care for. "Slopes of Big Ugly" is based on the ugliest two-note bass riff ever recorded (and does nothing to redeem itself).. And there's something about the vocal delivery and unwieldy melody of  "The Qualifying Remainder" that turns me off.  I'm also not overly nuts about "Dying to Try This" which seems like an experiment in bringing a middle-eastern flavor to acoustic guitar. The sort of thing best buried in an installment of "Suitcase." Other than that, it's all solid stuff. Y'know, for some reason I somehow overlooked "Earful O' Wax" for a decade or so before one day the song decided to reveal its glory to me. I tell you, Pollard is an expert at writing these secret hits. Songs that make no impact at your first round of listens, but when you pull the record off the shelf years later suddenly sound completely different and wonderful. To the point where I had to ponder, "Was this song always on here? How did I miss this?" That's "Earful O' Wax" for me... Enough of my stupid opinions. Let's listen to some rock music. Here's "Navigating Flood Regions" by Guided by Voices...Enjoy... Oh, yea. My soon to become unwieldy Pollard ranking. Here we are so far: 1. Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia 2. Sandbox 3. Forever Since Breakfast 4. Devil Between My Toes So, yes. By a very narrow margin, my favorite GBV album up to this point, beating "Sandbox" by a centimeter, to the point where I almost gave them a tie. Still, I'm giving "Aerial Nostalgia" the edge since it's more original and it better captures the essence of GBV.