Guided by Voices: Tonics and Twisted Chasers

Guided by Voices: Tonics and Twisted Chasers

1996

Rockathon Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Satellite  2. Dayton, Ohio—19 Something and 5  3. Is She Ever?  4. My Thoughts Are a Gas (Fucked Up Version)  5. Knock 'Em Flyin'  6. Top Chick Silver Chord  7. Key Losers  8. Ha Ha Man  9. Wingtip Repair  10. At the Farms  11. Unbaited Vicar of Scorched Earth  12. Optional Bases Opposed  13. Look, It's Baseball  14. Maxwell Jump"  15. The Stir-Crazy Pornographer  16. 158 Years of Beautiful Sex  17. Universal Nurse Finger  18. Sadness to the End  19. Reptilian Beauty Secrets  Bonus Tracks: 20. Long as the Block Is Black  21. Jellyfish Reflector  22. The Kite Surfer  23.Girl from the Sun  24. The Candyland Riots


I don't think this album ever made it to stores. I bought the CD copy with the bonus tracks off the Rockathon website back in the late 90's.  This was released after "Under the Bushes, Under the Stars" but I seem to recall a Robert Pollard interview where he states this was the quickly recorded follow-up to "Alien Lanes." Although,that information always struck me as strange, since it contains a song ("Knock "em Flyin'") that would appear on "Mag Earwig" which was released shortly after this. Who knows. Either way, this is technically the final GBV album (pre-reunion) that features Tobin Sprout as a full band member, so it's remarkable in that regard. I think this album is pretty much nothing but Pollard, Sprout and a drum machine. It's very minimalist and subdued compared to the other GBV albums from this time period. It actually sorta sounds like a Tobin Sprout solo album with Bob singing, if that makes sense...

The big, fat classic (and another one I'll toss on the "Best GBV song" pile (along w/ the 20 others I've mentioned so far) is "Dayton, Ohio—19 Something and 5" which is the ultimate distillation of their nostalgia. A wonderful, hazy place where one decade runs into another (as long as that decade starts with a 19 and ends in a 5) as you enjoy the simple pleasures in life: Fried foods, running through sprinklers, and although it's never explicitly stated I'm sure light beer is in there somewhere too...Still the band is canny enough to throw a couple of junkies in the picture for contrast. Some pain bringing the good times into sharper focus...And that simple, repetitive guitar riff...Forever climbing and falling...Yea, a definite favorite. I can't tell you how many drunken Friday nights I've spent saying, "Let's play that one again..." Another song that hits the nostalgia button for me is "Look, It's Baseball" which perfectly captures the feeling of waking up in the back of your Parent's car and groggily looking out at some mundane wonder that you're not cynical enough to take for granted yet...

Best Tracks: The aforementioned "Dayton, Ohio—19 Something and 5" for sure, with the moody "At the Farms" (which resolves into a low-key, yet triumphant climax (which was becoming a GBV trademark by this point)) coming in at a close second. Also toss in the acoustic beauty "The Key Losers," the super-fun "Ha Ha Man," "Unbaited Vicar of Scorched Earth," "Opposition Bases Opposed"...Really a lot of good shit here..."Loads of creamy music and lots of time to make it," as Bob succinctly put it on "158 Years of Beautiful Sex"...  I absolutely recommend finding the version with the bonus tracks, since they're all excellent.  I consider "Long as the Block Is Black," the sleazy rocker "Jellyfish Reflector" and "Girl From the Sun" (which contains the killer lyric, "People who live in glass houses should get stoned!") to be essential GBV tracks...  

Weak Spots: Yea, a few. Oddly enough, the opening track (usually one of GBV's strengths) is one of the weakest songs here..."Satellite" is just a bunch of honking ill-fitting riffs with Pollard doing his best to find a workable melody in this thing but not really succeeding. The version of "My Thoughts Are a Gas" included here is a million miles removed from the creamy goodness of the "What's Up Matador" version. This version is a shouted mess, but at least it's interesting... I've also always felt that Tobin needed another minute or two to work out "Sadness to the End" but it still mostly works...

Overall, this album was much better than what I was expecting from a fan-club-only release..It has a real "anything goes" feel that makes the moments where they land a direct hit especially rewarding... It also works as a perfect, final reminder of all the simple pleasures that made this era of GBV so  great...

Hey! It's Friday night! Let's bust out the beer...

...and rock out to some GBV...Here's "Dayton, Ohio—19 Something and 5"...Be sure to play it at least 3 times in a row...

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Alright, here's the revised ranking...I'm putting this one pretty high...Just below "Same Place" and right above "Sunfish." I think outside of "Dayton, Ohio—19 Something and 5" the highs aren't as high as "Sunfish," but the generous length works in "Tonics and Twisted Chasers"s favor...

1. Guided by Voices: Alien Lanes

2. Guided by Voices: Bee Thousand

3.Guided by Voices: Under the Bushes, Under the Stars

4. Guided by Voices: Propeller

5. Tobin Sprout: Carnival Boy

6. Guided by Voices: Same Place the Fly Got Smashed

7. Guided by Voices: Tonics and Twisted Chasers

8. Guided by Voices: Sunfish Holy Breakfast

9. Robert Pollard: Not In My Airforce

10.  Guided by Voices: King Shit and the Golden Boys

11. Guided by Voices: Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia

12. Guided by Voices: Vampire on Titus

13. Guided by Voices: Sandbox

14. Guided by Voices: Forever Since Breakfast

15. Guided by Voices: Devil Between My Toes 

Guided by Voices: Sunfish Holy Breakfast/Plantations of Pale Pink

Guided by Voices: Sunfish Holy Breakfast

1996

Matador Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Jabberstroker  2. Stabbing a Star  3. Canteen Plums  4. Beekeeper Seeks Ruth  5. Cocksoldiers and Their Postwar Stubble  6. A Contest Featuring Human Beings  7. If We Wait  8. Trendspotter Acrobat  9. The Winter Cows  10. Heavy Metal Country



Guided by Voices: Plantations of Pale Pink

1996

Matador Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Systems Crash  2. Catfood on the Earwig  3. The Who vs. Porky Pig  4. A Life in Finer Clothing  5. The Worryin' Song  6. Subtle Gear Shifting


"Sunfish Holy Breakfast" is a 1996 EP that I sorta consider an album, since it's over 20 minutes, which means it's only 5 minutes shorter than say, "Sandbox." Considering most other GBV EP's run around the 10 minute mark, I tend to think if it as a mini-album...

This was released the same day as the 12-minute "Plantations of Pale Pink" EP (which also has a naked dude on the cover. Although the Pale Pink guy isn't as well-fed as the Sunfish hippies). Theoretically, they could have combined the two releases and put out a curiously patchy (but still interesting) full-length. These releases see the band squarely back in "lo-fi" territory after the cleaner recording of "Under the Bushes, Under the Stars" and the two solo albums.  I dunno, maybe some of this was recorded prior to those works? Maybe their home-recorded qualities are the reason they weren't' released as a full-length?  Of the two releases "Sunfish Holy Breakfast" is the clear winner even though "Plantations" boasts "The Worryin' Song" which is fucking amazing, for sure...It's just Bob and a guitar but it turns unexpectedly epic when Pollard sings:

"And that's what bothers me Like my father before meAnd the mothers that bore me..."

The guitar and Bob are just playing off of each other perfectly at that point, with big, sweeping strums punctuating the proclamations.  Just a head-slappingly great moment. Oh yea. And "Systems Crash" has a wonderful hook. The rest of the of  "Plantations of Pale Pink" EP is oddly hookless...It's mostly churning, noisy, psychedelic rock...Interesting, but not on the level of "Sunfish" which has a handful of all-time classics on it...

"Sunfish Holy Breakfast" kicks off with my all-time favorite Tobin Sprout track, "Jabberstroker." The song begins with someone boisterously shouting, "One more!" to a flurry of handclaps that always bring to mind the introduction of "Over the Neptune/Mesh  Gear Fox." This imaginary crowd sounds much smaller, which makes sense considering "Jabberstroker" is a much more intimate production that the laser-lit "Over the Neptune." The song is just Tobin and a clankety electric guitar, but the results are mesmerising. The melody is his most solid and his performance is completely enigmatic. To this day I still don't exactly know what is being sung but I hang on to every word...

The remainder of the EP largely follows the "just guitar and vocals" template, but most of them are so catchy you hardly notice the lack of drums (Jim Greer's "Trendspotter Acrobat" is pretty rough though...If ever you're questioning the writing and performing abilities of Pollard and Sprout, spin this real quick and it'll readjust your alignment).  The other big classic here is "If We Wait" which is a lovely, stumbling "Rubber Soul"-esque 6/8 acoustic rocker. Bob's vocal is really sweet-sounding and hits you right in the feelies...

I'll also single out "Cocksoldiers and Their Postwar Stubble" as a minor classic. Slow, syrupy, grand. I like it. The noisy, scratchy "Stabbing a Star" feels like it could have wandered over from "Plantations" (I think this song is about anal sex or something with all the talk of shallow manholes, rockets in molasses, star-stabbing, fur rubbing, etc) but its inclusion early on "Sunfish Holy Breakfast" livens the EP up, I think. Let's hear it for rocking without abandon...

So yea, two more GBV albums released on the same day...Pollard would continue this practice a couple more times throughout his career. I think "Plantations of Pale Pink" is skippable (as long as you track down "The Worryin' Song") but "Sunfish Holy Breakfast" is a must-have...

So let's update the rankings...Today we get one item added to the "Full-Length and 20-minute-ish EP's" category and one to the "Singles and 10-Minute-ish EP's" category...I'm putting "Sunfish" between "Same Place the Fly Got Smashed" and "Not in My Airforce." It just has that classic GBV glow that appears only sporadically on "Not In My Airforce." 

1. Guided by Voices: Alien Lanes

2. Guided by Voices: Bee Thousand

3.Guided by Voices: Under the Bushes, Under the Stars

4. Guided by Voices: Propeller

5. Tobin Sprout: Carnival Boy

6. Guided by Voices: Same Place the Fly Got Smashed

7. Guided by Voices: Sunfish Holy Breakfast

8. Robert Pollard: Not In My Airforce

9.  Guided by Voices: King Shit and the Golden Boys

10. Guided by Voices: Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia

11. Guided by Voices: Vampire on Titus

12. Guided by Voices: Sandbox

13. Guided by Voices: Forever Since Breakfast

14. Guided by Voices: Devil Between My Toes 

"Plantations" has the # 5 spot on the singles/super short EP's list...I personally think the "Freedom Cruise/Nighwalker" split is more fun. 

1. Fast Japanese Spin Cycle
2. The Grand Hour
3. Get Out of My Stations
4. The Freedom Cruise/Nightwalker Split
5. Plantations of Pale Pink
6.. Guided by Voices/New Radiant Storm King split 7-inch

Alright. Let's listen to some music...Here's "Jabberstroker" by GBV...

..and "The Worryin' Song" by GBV...Enjoy...

Robert Pollard: Not in My Airforce/Tobin Sprout: Carnival Boy

Robert Pollard: Not in My Airforce

1996

Matador Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Maggie Turns to Flies  2. Quicksilver  3. Girl Named Captain  4. Get Under It  5. Release the Sunbird  6. John Strange School  7. Parakeet Troopers  8. One Clear Minute  9. Chance to Buy an Island  10. I've Owned You for Centuries  11. The Ash Gray Proclamation  12. Flat Beauty  13. King of Arthur Avenue  14. Roofer's Union Fight Song  15. Psychic Pilot Clocks Out  16. Prom Is Coming  17. Party  18. Did It Play?  19. Double Standards Inc  20. Punk Rock Gods  21. Meet My Team  22. Good Luck Sailor




Tobin Sprout: Carnival Boy

1996

Matador Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. The Natural Alarm  2. Cooler Jocks  3. E's Navy Blue  4. The Bone Yard   5. Carnival Boy  6. Martin's Mounted Head  7. Gas Daddy Gas   8. To My Beloved Martha  9. White Flyer  10. I Didn't Know  11. Gallant Men  12. It's Like Soul Man  13. Hermit Stew  14. The Last Man Well Known To Kingpin



Two solo albums by GBV's head songwriters released on the same day. This shit is Christmas. 

I guess it could be viewed as a competitive gesture since these releases fall right on the cusp of the big breakup , but it's just as easy to view it as a nice gift (and a memorable record store trip) to the faithful. That's why I'm covering these two together, cos they're inseparable in my mind. Listening to them back to back provides an interesting juxtaposition of the two artists strengths and weaknesses. You get to view GBV pulled apart and view the separated contents. Whee! 

Here's my take. Listening to "Not in My Airforce" shows Pollard as the more experimental of the two, which results in a lower hit-to-miss ratio than "Carnival Boy." But boy, when he hits, he hits. There are very few artists that can match Pollard firing on all cylinders. The highs here (as I hear them, GBV fans tend to have different hits and misses) are the opening run of tracks from "Maggie Turns to Flies" through "Release the Sunbird" which rival any stretch of songs from any GBV album. Every one worthy of the repeat button. I also love the hypnotizing acoustic beauty "The Ash Gray Proclamation" and "Psychic Pilot Clocks Out" which gets my vote as the album's MVP. The moment when Bob belts out, "I FEEEEEL LIFE PASSING ON BY US!" over a rush of fuzzy rock never fails to raise those ol' hairs on the back of my hairy-ass neck. 

The original CD version of "Not in My Airforce" made the album seem more inconsistent than it was by including a 7 track run of acoustic song fragments. The album up to that point is so varied and such a good sampling of Pollard's various modes that the stagnation at the end was always puzzling. The recent vinyl reissue rectifies this by ending the proper album with "Prom Is Coming" and placing the acoustic ditties on a separate 7-inch. Effing brilliant. It makes "Not in My Airforce" a stronger start to finish album and I appreciate the acoustic 7-inch as a little side door full of humble, knotty curiosities. 

Sprout's "Carnival Boy" shows Tobin as being the more sensitive and consistently tuneful of the duo. "Carnival Boy" is a warm, welcoming little album full of instantly appealing little melodies. It sorta reminds me of a little woodlands gnome opening a tiny music box full of crackling, twinkling, winsome songly-songs. And although it's got some stiff competition, it's maybe the best of Sprout's solo albums. There's some really lovely stuff here. Like "Gas Daddy Gas" "To My Beloved Martha," "I Didn't Know" and the spirited Syd Barrett tribute "The Last Man Well Known To Kingpin" that instantly give you an overwhelming rush of comforting nostalgia, even upon first listen. He has a way of nailing the feeling of looking at an old hazy polaroid of bygone days. It's hard to explain...There's also a fine re-recording of "It's Like Soul Man" that loses some of the bassy murk of the original while losing none of the soaring melody. 

I should probably mention that there is some cross-over between Pollard and Sprout's solo outings. Sprout provides backing vocals on Sprout's "Roofer's Union Fight Song" and Pollard plays guitar on Sprout's "E's Navy Blue." And man, when "White Flyer" starts out I could swear to God that it's Pollard singing, but he's not credited as such. It's an incredible approximation...

So ultimately, Pollard's album contains all the rocking weirdness, brevity, and the occasional stumblings into transcendent genius that characterizes the classic-era GBV and Sprout's album contains all the fizzy, poppy warmth that also characterizes the classic-era GBV... That big "POP" sprawled across the cover is no coincidence. There's also something inherently, gloriously  GBV-ish about Sprout's strummy and wandering guitar-lines throughout "Carnival Boy". 

Here are the revised rankings of my personal fave GBV/GBV-related albums. I'm putting Sprout's "Carnival Boy" at number 6. It's a super close toss up between it and "Propeller," but I'm giving "Propeller" the very slight nod due to the grandiosity of its highpoints ("Over the Neptune/Mesh Gear Fox," "Exit Flagger," "Weedking," "Quality of Armor" etc.) even though "Carnival Boy" is the more consistently pleasurable experience. "Not in My Airforce" gets the number 7 spot. There's a bit of a routine feel to it when compared to "Same Place the Fly Got Smashed" which feels like more of an event record to my ears...Even though I'm unsure if the Pollard of "Same Place" could have pulled off something as masterful as "Psychic Pilot Clocks Out" or "Maggie Turns to Flies"...Again, really close call and I can totally understand someone who views it differently...

1. Guided by Voices: Alien Lanes

2. Guided by Voices: Bee Thousand

3.Guided by Voices: Under the Bushes, Under the Stars

4. Guided by Voices: Propeller

5. Tobin Sprout: Carnival Boy

6. Guided by Voices: Same Place the Fly Got Smashed

7. Robert Pollard: Not In My Airforce

8. Guided by Voices: King Shit and the Golden Boys

9. Guided by Voices: Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia

10. Guided by Voices: Vampire on Titus

11. Guided by Voices: Sandbox

12. Guided by Voices: Forever Since Breakfast

13. Guided by Voices: Devil Between My Toes

Alright, let's check out some music....Here's "Psychic Pilot Clocks Out" by Robert Pollard:

And here's "The Last Man Well Known To Kingpin" by Tobin Sprout...Enjoy...