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That nutty Bob Pollard! He's got at least 5 discs of variously-named material coming out this year, and this is by far the best of the 3 that've come out so far. This 6-song EP was recorded in one day and finds Bob backed by the members of the Tasties, some pals from his hometown of Dayton, Ohio. The recorded-on-the-fly quality and newly-recruited personnel help make this the freshest-sounding GbV-related record since the "Bee Thousand"/"Alien Lanes" era. Bob sounds energized and the songs are confidently realized, with cranked-up guitars, strong vocals, and some of Bob's best lyrics ever. "Time Machines" is an up-tempo, memorably melodic rocker which opens the disc with an accidental burst of distortion and never looks back. The rhythmically propulsive "Alone, Stinking and Unafraid" opens with a strummed acoustic guitar and increases in urgency and intensity from there--there's a great moment where the song pauses and you can hear the guitar volume being turned up to "huge"--until Bob is triumphant in his solitude from "the parade." The intro to "Plainskin" is pretty, but otherwise it's the weakest track (Bob rhymes "amnesia" with "please ya"). "Will You Show Me Your Gold?" is a slow, heavy song with a soaring chorus enhanced by some serious reverb on Bob's vocals. My favorite song on the EP, and song of the year for me so far, is "Fair Touching," which reminds me of something Bob's ex-GbV-mate (and Copacetic Corp. CEO's namesake) Tobin Sprout would write, especially with the killer melodic bass line and the high vocal harmonies. Every year there's one song that totally sweeps me away with its greatness (last year it was Yo La Tengo's "Sugarcube"), and this looks like 1999's. The closing track is "Circling Motorhead Mountain," an enjoyable throwaway with a nasty, swaggering guitar riff.
I would urge any GbV fan not to write this disc off as an oddball side project (like the simultaneously-released Nightwalker LP). It's a totally enjoyable collection of some solid, first-rate material, and one of my fave releases of the year so far! (mike.00)
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