Yeah this needed more plays than most to work out my thoughts ā consistent, and pretty good with it, but the lack of either true standout tracks or weird experiments meant it just drifted by a bit more. A comfy 6 maybe, one Iād always be happy to throw on even if there arenāt the top-level highlights I usually hope for
opening 4 are all good and punchy, fun rolling toms on Re-Develop and moody sawing strings on Climbing a Ramp - really just wish the ending of Ramp went on for a bit longer though. After all those boring mid-paced 4 min tracks you canāt throw another 30 seconds at a track where you have a legit great outro going on??
Enjoy Bob duetting with himself at the end of Birds in the Pipe. Come North Together is one of those that perfectly straddles the line of jangly and rocking, lovely track, though another one that fades out too fast as it gets going. Stop it! Huddled does the same, those ringing acoustic guitars over big rolling drums ā winning combo for me. Enjoy the restraint and build of Forced to Sea
Think Iām losing a bit of interest in tracks like Excited Ones now. Maybe itās clear that it could have been an all-timer in a diff era, so now Iām reminded about how theyāve dropped off a bit? And the pop bops that should be so buoyant suffer from that comparison more than the ambling rockers ā lovely Doug riff in the outro though as I type that
Was quite into Eyes of Your Doctor for some UT&C/Earthquake vibes, but why is this 4 mins long? And another ringing Doug riff as the highlight of the track. Title track is a nice bright way to end things, the massed backing vocals is a cool touch. Yeah itās simple but sweet with it. and here goes Doug again! Never runs out of riffs
Three songs inā¦ This is great!! Will I be bored and slightly resentful I wasnāt listening to something else by GBV by the end? Inevitably; ordinary rock well done isnāt quite good enough, even when there are nice tunes. Songs should be in the 16-18 minute length (can just stitch them together/repeat some bits), a few 8 minuters. I want some real prog from Pollard now.
Tremblers is a bit of a headscratcher for me - I really enjoyed āAlex Bellā as a preview taster, I love the cool collage artwork and the freaky album title, see plenty of people cite this album as one of their faves from the current lineup, and also note that it is the highest-rated post-Poppy Field album on RYM (just ahead of Welshpool Frillies)ā¦and yet itās never totally clicked for me. It seems like another proggy effort to these ears, and I feel Iāve had enough of that sound for a while
Definitely not a bad album, but not one I go back to very often tbh.
do find it funny how many reviews/fans focus on how consistent this line-up is terms of skills or delivery, calling it the best era of the band on that basis - but sort of skip over the fact the songs arenāt there sometimes as if itās a minor detail
Cartoon Fashion (Bongo Lake) - 1
The song is only mucked up by Pollard reaching way back into his bag of vocal buffoonery that he hasnāt bothered to bring to the table in a long time, bending and twisting his way through questionable singing choices
ā¦ the weird vocal choices are the best part of the song! I love when Bob does different things with his voice or does accents, basically guaranteed to make me chuckle. More music should be amusing
also the bass in this one is killer, canāt believe itās ranked so low by him and our Xeno
Back in the game. Loved this when it came out. I think it set the tone for the next few records: i.e. more concise releases, with proggy leanings, and some pretty accessible moments too. So, has it held up?
Lizard on the Red Brick Wall is a hell of an opener with that metallic pulse going through it and some pretty epic Doug guitars. The last minute or so reminds me of Fugazi ā itās very beefy and leads into Alex Bell nicely. So, Alex Bell, I dig it for the first minute or so, and I appreciate itās a heartfelt ode to a couple of musicians Bob loves and is inspired by, but man I donāt need 5 minutes of this. Seeing as it was THE SINGLE, I donāt know why they didnāt whittle it down to something more digestible. Some of the elements I really like. But some are very meh. It should finish at 3:08!
Unproductive Funk comes back with the hard rock thing. But it works. Bobās vocals are pitched perfectly. I like the kinda surprising This is no love refrain and the way it builds towards the end is really nice. Roosevelts Marching Band comes in with some nice jangly guitar riff and itās a bit of a switch up in tone. Again, Bobās vocals work perfectly in this. I could imagine Neil Young or Elliot Smith doing this ā itās got that jangly leftfield Americana thing down. Itās a good example of one of those current-era GBV tracks which is unassumingly classic.
Goggles By Rank is cool. Reminds me a bit of REM (dunno what it is about these 2022 albums that remind me of REM!). Cartoon Fashion has a cool vibe at the start. Again, great vocal performance from Bob as he sounds like Paul McCartney, haha, before the track flips into that descending āI Wanna Be Your Dogā riff which is a bit of a shame. But once it gets to the outro and Bobās great Who the fuck are you lyrics, it works.
Boomerang is great. Love those chiming guitars and Bobās double-tracked vox really work. Another unassuming classic. Could actually go on longer! Focus On The Flock is a nice one too. It jumps around a lot. And the chorus is a bit wet. But itās got some charm. Again, when it fades out, it sounds like Doug is doing some cool riffage I actually wanna hear, haha! Puzzle Two is cool too. Good atmosphere! Who Wants To Go Hunting is the obligatory prog late-GBV closer. Lovely acoustic riff and subtle strings lead into some nice electric guitar. Itās more successful than other attempts at this kind of thing I think. Thereās some relatively straightforward, if slow-burning, verse/chorus/verse/chorus before a rather nice ā almost cinematic ā outro. Not my favourite GBV mode by any means, but pretty cool!
So yeah, I still dig this record. It lacks out-and-out hits. But I think itās very consistently solid and I think itās a lot more interesting than Crystal Nunās Cathedral. There are more textures going on. And more variety amongst the tunes ā even if they mostly lean on the longer side.
I donāt think Iāve got much more to say about Tremblers, unfortunately. Iāve given it some more spins this week, but it still stubbornly refuses to click for some reason. I reckon there just isnāt enough there for those of us who enjoy the poppier, catchier side of Bobās output. Certainly not a bad album to these ears, but itāll probably end up somewhere in the lower third of my personal leaderboard.
The big highlight on this album for me is āFocus on the Flockā, I think I wrote about this song on the main thread a few months ago but to recap - a modern GBV masterpiece, about seven or eight different songs successfully welded into one. I found it baffling to listen to at first, but itās slower revealed itself to be the high point of the album
Caught up today, heard Crystal Nuns this morning and half way through Tremblers as I type this.
First impressions of Crystal Nuns Cathedral were, itās ok, nothing really leapt out at me. I need to give it another listen really I think.
Tremblers though, Iām thoroughly enjoying! Totally agree with @myyada that itās immediately more interesting than Crystal Nuns. I will gladly give this more listens.
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as if itās a minor detail