So, this idea was discussed over at this thread: Guided By Voices - Recent / Upcoming albums which has sort of become a rolling GBV topic. At the suggestion of @3Dman I hereby present the Robert Pollard solo album by album thread. Calling @Strummergas @guidedbyvoices @3Dman @kdawg @Summer of Malcontent @bzfgt @kouzie @GuidedByJonO))) @DPK @jacethecrowl @yamfox @Sad McBain @modrevolve @dave9199 @guerilla1977 @Echoes Myron @electricmetaphor @trackstar @swazzyswess @generic @jupiterboy @spurious @WJA @sbeaupre @Mother @Auska_Lo @LilacTeardrop @jason202 @bRETT @Lemon Curry @Exit Flagger @Dreaddazzman @Working Pants @TarasO Don't be offended if I left you out, I just picked out the names of those most active in the above topic and/or those that I thought would be most interested. Please tag anyone you can think of who may have been missed off the invite. If you are tagged don't feel any pressure to participate either. Only join in if you want to! This is how I see it working: I think song by song within this would drive us insane, so I plan to take it an album at a time, and will leave each album up for discussion for a few days / a week maximum before moving onto the next one. I will intersperse the few EP’s & Singles as and when appropriate, along with the two full sets of demos. We will start with 1996’s Not In My Airforce and end with 2016’s Of Course You Are. Unless of course another solo album emerges forth in the meantime! We’ll also take a look at the ‘working versions’ of what became a small number of these albums, where appropriate. Though I’d sort of like to include the great ‘Robert Pollard with Doug Gillard’ and ‘Robert Pollard And His Soft Rock Renegades’ albums, I think both are generally considered to be side projects (or collaborative releases, however you see it), which is another topic for another time. Please contribute to the thread however frequently you wish. If you get behind, join late, etc, not a problem. By all means still offer your opinions on an already discussed release. The thread is not a quest to find the biggest Robert Pollard nerd. Nor is it a d*** swinging contest about who has the biggest Pollard collection, even if you have the ultra rare 50 copy only limited edition turd brown splatter vinyl of Bob reading the Dayton phone book out loud whilst plopping noises and toilet flushes are heard in the background. Because it doesn’t exist. Wait, actually it might! I will present the releases in order as accurately as possible. I am not claiming to be the ultimate authority on Bob’s solo work, just a fan who enjoys discussing his music. There is every chance that I may make a mistake as we go along (I apologise in advance). I am open to corrections & additions if I have omitted anything. As great a songwriter as he is, it is my understanding that Robert Pollard is a human being, thus is capable of making mistakes. It’s ok and perfectly acceptable to not like a song of his. Heck, there may even be entire albums you don’t enjoy all that much. It’s all ok. We can express our opinions openly here and still get along. As each album is presented, ask yourself things such as: Is this one of your fave Bob albums? What songs on this release are your faves? Does it contain one of your fist-pumping, tequila-swigging, high-kicking Bob all timers? What lyrics do you love on this album? Does the album hold any special memories for you? Did you see any of these songs performed live, regardless of which lineup played it? Would you love to see the current GBV lineup blasting out any of these songs? Do you have any interesting trivia relating to this release? Share it with your fellow Proud Brothers! A little overview to Bob’s solo output: Bob released a handful of solo albums before the 2004 breakup of GBV. He then released about a dozen more before the so-called ‘classic’ lineup reformed in 2011. Then another handful over the time period spanning that lineup’s 2012-2014 album run & before the current GBV tour de force 2017 to present lineup put out their August By Cake album. And if the casual fan thinks that Bob just put out a bunch of solo albums between GBV stopping in 2004 & restarting in 2011, consider that during (as well as before and after) that time, he was putting out Circus Devils albums (14 in total), 5 Boston Spaceships albums, and numerous side project releases. Also from 2006-2013 inclusive, he actually put out 2 solo albums a year! I am really looking forward to this album run through & hope others are too. Just speaking for myself, I know there will be songs (and possibly whole albums) that I’ve forgotten about. So it will be cool to create some playlists, maybe devise our dream Bob solo setlists, and that kind of thing. I also think it will be great for the casual fan who perhaps is still yet to hear many of Bob's solo songs. If anyone wants to rank the albums later on, even if its just giving their top 5/10 or whatever, go for it! I'll give it til Monday to get some fans on board, hopefully create some excitement, and receive any suggestions, before I begin the Not In My Airforce discussion. The club is open!
Glad you got this going @Pop_Zeus! This is going to be fun. There are so many gems sprinkled throughout Bob’s solo career. Even if this was all he had done, it would be a great catalog. Looking forward to Monday and Not In My Airforce.
@Vangro Welcome on board. I recall as I picked up the solo albums (somewhat randomly) reading some article that indicated there was a bit of a lull during a certain run of albums. There's a good chance that one of someone's least fave albums is one of someone else's faves though, such is the wonderful world of being a Bob fan
I'm on board! Although I'll probably join in once we get to the Pollard/Tobias albums, which are some of my favorites (by anyone).
Welcome. Sounds familiar. I got caught up in the chase of trying to find all the solo CDs, and I know I haven't given every one a really good listen beyond a few that really grabbed me.
Yes, I’m one of those fans who really loved a lot of his stuff (and still do), but the volume of releases, combined with (let’s face it) the spottiness of quality, resulted in my getting off the bus eventually. So there’s big holes in my knowledge of the catalog. Take Boston Spaceships: I’m seriously into Zero To 99, but never gave any of the other BS records a chance, yet. I guess I picked that one because I knew the some of the tunes from Suitcase, and that made it an easier way in.
If you could list say the top 25 or 50 Pollard songs (where he's not performing under the GBV name) and the albums they are from, that would be an accomplishment. There are so many different acts and names he's performed under, to track it all or rate it, seems all over the place.
That really would be an accomplishment. There would be some crossover, but out of the massive number of great songs Bob has done outside of GBV would make it tough. I could imagine four completely different lists with unique songs making complete sense. I don’t know that there solo/project equivalents of Tractor Rape Chain or Game Of Pricks. The non-GBV material is so diverse and diffuse. Individual taste would come more into play I think. The aforementioned tunes also benefited from years of being played live, being compiled on the Greatest Hits, etc. But who knows, maybe somewhat of a consensus could be made! The sheer amount of material makes it a very daunting task for sampling the ‘best’ of his non-GBV output.
I've been giving that some thought. It's a tough one. Perhaps "Subspace Biographies, "Psychic Pilot Clocks Out" or "Tight Globes"?
But I’m thinking of the thread. He was talking about non-GBV Bob so Tight Globes would work. So maybe I Drove A Tank, Frequent Weaver, Pop Zeus and some Lexo stuff would be in there too.
So here we go. Before we get to the debut solo Robert Pollard album, it’s worth a look at the working version in case anyone hasn’t seen it. We did take a look in the GBV topic but it makes sense to start this topic with it too. Original titles in brackets. Not In My Airforce - working version 1. I've Owned You For Centuries 2. The Finest Joke Is Upon Us 3. Get Under It 4. Gods Of Richard 5. Maggie Turns To Flies (Accountant's Wife) 6. Girl Named Captain 7. Chance To Buy An Island 8. Flat Beauty 9. Finks 10. Learning To Hunt 11. Release The Sunbird (On The Ashes) 12. The Colossus Crawls West 13. Psychic Pilot Clocks Out (God Bless The Monument Club) 14. King Of Arthur Avenue 15. The Ash Gray Proclamation (Applehead) 3 of these songs did not make the final Not In My Airforce tracklisting, but instead ended up on GBV’s Mag Earwhig! album of 1997: ‘The Finest Joke Is Upon Us’, ‘Learning To Hunt’ & ‘The Colossus Crawls West’. A really curious addition to the era is the great song ‘Your Charming Proposal’. Whilst listed in the Suitcase 2 booklet as a NIMA outtake, it wasn’t on either the working version or final version of the album. Suitcase 2 also contains the song ‘Searing Tonight’ which is bizarrely listed as being from the ‘NIMA Brain Fart tape’ (does anyone know anything about said cassette?!) and ‘So Roll Me Over’, listed as a ‘NIMA reject.’ There’s a bit of a grey area with a few of these songs in that The Finest Joke Is Upon Us, Learning To Hunt, The Colossus Crawls West, Finks, Gods of Richard & Your Charming Proposal came out under the GBV name, yet could technically be called Bob solo songs as they were recorded by the NIMA lineup. Anyway, onto the album itself: Not In My Airforce Released 10 September 1996 Core Lineup: Robert Pollard: Vocals, Organ, Guitar, Bass Kevin Fennell: Drums & percussion Johnny Strange: Organ, Bass 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 I believe the final 6 tracks were intended to be on a separate EP, not tacked onto the album proper after Prom Is Coming (which was the final track on the Promo CDs that went out). I think they were separated off on a later vinyl reissue. The Ash Grey Proclamation (formerly known as Applehead), was a holdover from the aborted / proposed ‘The Flying Party is Here’ GBV album from 1995, and also was on the 1st draft of the GBV album Under The Bushes, Under The Stars.‘ ‘Roofer’s Union Fight Song’ (originally titled ‘Not In My Airforce’) could also have made its way onto a GBV album, as it was also on the UTBUTS 1st draft. Let us know what you think about Not In My Airforce. I’ll add in my own thoughts later. I will just say now that given the volume of music Guided By Voices released in 1996, its incredible to think that Bob had time to put out his debut solo album! Interesting trivia: NIMA was released on the same day as Tobin Sprout’s solo debut album ‘Carnival Boy’
