Guided by Voices: Forever Since Breakfast

Y'know what? The blog was feeling a little stale. My output has ground to a halt. Let's spice things up, baby! I feel like doing a project. Here's a big one. I'm going to listen to every Guided by Voices/Robert Pollard album I own in chronological order and tell you my thoughts. GBV has long been my favorite band and I'm one of the rare people who feel Pollard hasn't put out enough albums. And with his 100th album coming up, I felt this would be a good time. It's something I love listening to and talking about. Now keep in mind, this isn't anywhere near a comprehensive Pollard list, this is only what I have, but I do have a goodly number of them, so let's get this rolling...




Guided by Voices: Forever Since Breakfast

1986

I Wanna Records/Matador

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Land of Danger  2. Let's Ride  3. Like I Do  4. Sometimes I Cry  5. She Wants to Know  6. Fountain of Youth  7. The Other Place

The band's debut EP. I got this as part of Matador Record's 2003 box set "Hardcore UFO's." Prior to that, the album was so rare and prohibitively expensive that I could only speculate as to what it sounded like, Common critical consensus was that  it was subpar, overly slick and not indicative of what GBV would eventually become. Still I was curious. 

When the EP was finally re-released in 2003, I ran to the record store and bought a copy the day it came out. And even though it was marked Disc 5, it was the first one I tossed in the ol' CD player. And my opinion on it? It sounded like a long-lost REM EP. A fucking glorious long-lost REM EP. I'm telling you, if REM would have put this out, songs like "Land of Danger" and the life-affirmingly catchy "The Other Place" would be revered classics. Stipe and Co would have been on the receiving end of much critical knob-slobbering. 

As for the overly-slick tag? I don't hear it. I guess I could expect such criticisms when GBV were in their lo-fi heyday but I've heard so much Pollard material that is so much slicker than "Forever Since Breakfast" that I hardly notice the fidelity. Some of it sorta reminds me of early 2000's Doug Gillard-era GBV. Very fleshed-out with lots of guitar detail...

The distant vocals and background noise of "LIke I Do" does give us a glimpse of the airy, home-recorded lo-fi that was just around the corner...And it's the only song on the album under 3 minutes (another signifier of things to come). I'm a big fan of "Like I Do," actually. There's something about Bob's melancholy, quieter stuff from the earlier years. Back when he thought no one was listening. There's something especially isolated and lonesome about it all...

Can this EP be counted among the great GBV albums? Hell, no. But it's definitely a good, little listen.  Pollard was already a fantastic vocalist (he has a much sweeter tone here, his voice deepens and gets a bit grit over the next couple of albums) but he hadn't found his own voice yet. I'd call it an indispensable part of the (honorary) REM Discography though.  One of the top 5 REM releases for sure!

Alright, let's listen to some music...Here's "The Other Place"...Enjoy...