Robert Pollard
(Guided by Voices Inc.)
Anyone who thinks that Robert Pollard has been kicking up his feet and resting on his Guided by Voices laurels would be sadly mistaken. Between projects under his own name as well as ones by Circus Devils, Boston Spaceships and Cosmos (with Cardinal's Richard Davies) the guy has got plenty to do so even if he wanted to go back into the classroom, which he probably doesn't, he wouldn't have the time to do it (even with those summers off). We All Got Out of the Army is Pollard cranking out 17 more tunes and truth be told it's a bit of a mixed bag and not nearly his best, but not a disaster either.
Let's start with the high points. The opener "Silk Rotor" has some nice power pop riffage not unlike a tune by his pal Tommy Keene and "Talking Doors" is a nice, short jangly piece with tender vocals. He tucks some of the best songs near the end as the cascading "How Many Stations", the Pollard epic (all 1:51 of it) "His Knighthood Photograph" as well as the final, jagged, folk number, "Faster to Babylon." Aside from those and a few others there's just plain too many unmemorable songs here (like the plodding "Face Down"). Had he cherry picked the cream of the crop here it would have been half as many songs but would have been a much stronger record. The forward-thinking Pollard is none too worried though, he'll have another out by the summer, guaranteed.
Standout Tracks: "Silk Rotor", "Talking Doors", "His Knighthood Photograph", "How Many Stations", "Faster to Babylon" TIM HINELY
