đŸ”„ Hot Freaks: the Guided By Voices Listening Club (Final results time! 40 album ranking list! Freedom! - post 2160)

Music
,
1381

Happy to give it another chance 
 Maybe a dubious position to take, but it’s more what it stands for that I’m against! I do admit there are some good songs on it (other than hold on hope)

1382

Hah no worries I think when a band has a catalogue this large it’s very interesting to see what people like / dislike. Plus I’d probably only put it in my top 20 GBV albums anyway :smiley:

1 Like
1383

Yeah, bunging that below Forever Since Breakfast is a scorching take. Unsure some of us in the thread will ever get over it tbf.

4 Likes
1384

They played Littlest League Possible at that big 100 songs show they did for NYE a couple of years ago (2019 maybe?) but only that one time

Pretty sure when they were touring Please Be Honest in 2016 they were playing Keep it in Motion and Authoritian Zoo as well as Planet Score but yeah the first two have been dropped since then.

Good to see Planet Score has made it back into their sets recently though

1 Like
1385

So, I found Cool Planet to be messy, frustrating, half-arsed, but also often a lot of fun. So it’s only fitting it ends up sitting within the run of similarly patchy-but-kinda-cool pre-Propeller releases on my leaderboard:

  1. Bee Thousand
  2. Under The Bushes Under The Stars
  3. Propeller
  4. Alien Lanes
  5. Isolation Drills
  6. The Bears for Lunch
  7. Class Clown Spots a UFO
  8. Universal Truths & Cycles
  9. Do The Collapse
  10. Vampire on Titus
  11. Mag Earwhig!
  12. Motivational Jumpsuit
  13. Half Smiles of the Decomposed
  14. Earthquake Glue
  15. Self Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia
  16. Cool Planet
  17. Same Place the Fly Got Smashed
  18. Devil Between My Toes
  19. English Little League
  20. Let’s Go Eat The Factory
  21. Forever Since Breakfast
  22. Sandbox
1 Like
1386

Definitely seem to be higher on this than most of you, I was expecting some trash from the reputation but feels pretty fun and like it caught the last bits of the OG energy and weirdness.

Gonna be down the list just by default but could see myself coming back to it - though hmm it’s clearly lesser than Motivation Jumpsuit, and since that’s still pretty new to me I’m likely to always reach for it first while I’m still discovering it. Anyway, not bad!

1 Like
1387

Let’s see just how cool this planet is!

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
0 voters
  • Authoritarian Zoo
  • Fast Crawl
  • Psychotic Crush
  • Costume Makes The Man
  • Hat Of Flames
  • These Dooms
  • Table At Fool’s Tooth
  • All American Boy
  • You Get Every Game
  • Pan Swimmer
  • The Bone Church
  • Bad Love Is Easy To Do
  • The No Doubters
  • Narrated By Paul
  • Cream Of Lung
  • Males Of Wormwood Mars
  • Ticket To Hide
  • Cool Planet
0 voters
1388

Once some votes come in on this, would be cool to see how the reunion records rank with the original run :slight_smile:

It’s been cool to see that folks itt have been pretty into them I reckon!

1 Like
1389

New reunion specific table or mixed in with all the rest to get one official mega table?

1390

don’t mind!

1391

Interesting to look at the Pitchfork blurbs on the reunion albums:

Let’s Go Eat the Factory: ‘The reformed “classic-era” GBV have produced an album with the collagist careen of Bee Thousand and Propeller and but it ultimately comes up short in the songs department. The best moments come courtesy of Tobin Sprout.’ - 6.9

Class Clown Spots a UFO: ‘Following January’s Let’s Go Eat the Factory, GBV’s second reunion LP is shorter, punchier, and livelier than its predecessor. Last time, Tobin Sprout’s input felt especially triumphant. Here, it’s Robert Pollard’s show.’ - 7.0

The Bears For Lunch: ‘The reunited Guided by Voices’ third 2012 release is the most consistent of the lot, faithfully approximating the tumbling, track-to-track momentum of the band’s mid-90s masterworks, proving that Pollard and co are determined to make the most of this second wind.’ - 7.3

English Little League: ‘English Little League is Guided by Voices’ fourth LP since their comeback, meaning they’ve now made as many post-hiatus LPs as they managed during their “classic era.” Amidst the booming arena-rockers, swift power-pop, proggy bluster, and wads of bubblegum, it marks the first appearance of recordings from Bob Pollard’s new home-studio.’ - 6.8

Motivational Jumpsuit: ‘While indie rock icons Guided by Voices’ recent albums—five in two years—have by no means tarnished their legacy, they haven’t exactly expanded upon it either. So it goes with Motivational Jumpsuit, though it’s the shortest and strongest of the recent batch.’ - 7.3

Cool Planet: ‘A workmanlike quality—both charismatic and chilling—has grown since Guided by Voices reformed for their lackluster 2012 album Let’s Go Eat the Factory , and it’s carried over into their sixth comeback full-length, Cool Planet. The line between exhilarating and exasperating is still being straddled to the point where it’s starting to chafe.’ - 6.2

2 Likes
1392

Scores don’t line up with my thinking but those are pretty spot on tbh

Apart from way overly generous to ELL

1393

Think Tobin has two lovely and quite diff entires here with Narrated By Paul (gorgeous!) and Ticket to Hide, though the rest aren’t up to his usual standards. All American Boy ends so well but the opening just sounds so messy that I can’t quite get my ears to tune into it

Males of Wormwood Mars (killer drums), Cool Planet (more killer drums), Pan Swimmer and Table at Fool’s Teeth are all good fun rockers that don’t outstay their welcome. That’s a pretty strong top end of the album, maybe adding in Costume Makes the Man too for one of those slightly unsettling melancholy numbers Bob does perfectly

The rest blends together a bit but without many real clunkers imho, and enough changes of style to keep catching your ear. You Get Every Game is another fun entry into the list of half shit/half lovely tracks that they seem to cultivate, and The No Doubters trudges along but in a way that feels deliberate and effective, not just the default that they settle into later

It’s hovering around a 5 or 6, but probably just above the “won’t listen to again” line that ELL and Sandbox are sliding under

1 Like
1394

Powering into the next phase of the reunion with the solo-Bob-as-GBV hits of PLEASE BE HONEST

1395

Here is the writeup for Please Be Honest on the Earful 'O Wax fan blog

1396

So this is the one where Bob plays every single instrument, isn’t it?

In fairness to Bob, I remember his bass-playing on here is actually pretty decent for the most part. But those drums, :grimacing: :grimacing: :grimacing:

1397

Yeah say what you will about Tobin’s solo produced stuff but this is another level

1 Like
1398

I’m always a bit surprised when this album fares badly on GBV album ranking lists, for me it has quite a lot in common with the likes of Propeller and Vampire On Titus. As the Earful guy mentioned, this is definitely an instance of an album requiring multiple listens for its charms to reveal themselves IMO.

1399

So, this is almost certainly the GBV album I’ve most changed my mind about since I first heard it, back during the lockdown era in 2020. Back then, I remember finding Please Be Honest lacking in tunes and offputtingly throwaway. And yet now, just four years later

I think I kinda love it??!

1400

I think your initial assessment was correct!

1 Like