so yeah, PBH is an odd one. Thereās a few lovely tracks, some other very intriguing moments, and then some of the worst stuff Iāve ever heard Bob put his name to ā¦ all on this incredibly messy sounding album, that just puts me off on a pure sonic level
On one level I think I do understand people who rate this quite highly, or who say itās a grower - there is more uniqueness there than on some upcoming GBV albums, it stands out quite a lot within their catalogue, and hearing a creator just do exactly what they want without restraints is always interesting on some level. I can see someone going deep and it opening up a bit, some of the weirder choices becoming little bonus hooks
however, overall I think this is one for the real Bob-heads, who like following whatever whim heās riding at that time. Iāve always been a lot more into GBV as a collective, whether thatās the songs Toby brings, Gregās bass lines, or actually competent drums. Or Iāve loved Bob when heās filtered through another significantly collaborator, like Todd on those 00s solo albums, Mac on Go Back Snowball, Tommy on The Keene Brothers etc. This one doesnāt give me any of that (whatever else its other strengths or flaws are) so it just doesnāt scratch any particular itch for me
basically find it a bit of a struggle to pull out the good parts of this, which only happens on a very small handful of Bob releases - and thatās just no fun when thereās so much instantly appealing stuff heās done over the years/decades. Think itās overall more interesting than Sandbox, but again the few standout tracks on that still give it some extra lift. This is gonna struggle to escape a bottom 3 ranking ā¦
Kid on a Ladder is the standout to me, really just a nice little easy going bop. Feels like itās missing one extra gear, but would happily listen to this whenever. Moving into Come on Mr Christian is the best pairing on the album too, nicely restrained and subtle, probably the best sounding/best sung track on here too. The foregrounded clear vocals against everything else being distant and submerged is a fun effect, and some classic double-tracked Bob harmonies
Glittering Parliaments has a killer bass sound, but again like Kid doesnāt quite kick off as much as I want. Still makes for a solid trio of tracks, good descending riff at the end
Really into the outro of Caterpillar Workforce but that should have been the basis for its own track, wasted when paired with that annoying intro. Really like when Bob does stuff with organs and drones generally
genuinely canāt decide if the two guitars going in and out of sync in I Think a Telescope is deliberate or lazy, and cool or annoying
The vocals on the title track are pretty lovely, sounds very world-weary
The Grasshopper Eaters and Sad Baby Eyes are two of the straight up least appealing things Iāve heard him do - Grasshopper made the worse by wasting that lovely melancholy middle section!
the rest has its moments but yeah, just doesnāt stir much emotion either way overall. One strong pairing of tracks and otherwise doubt Iāll think of this album again
Somebody needs to bang the drum for this album, so it may as well be me! PBH slots into a comfortable mid-table position:
Bee Thousand
Under The Bushes Under The Stars
Propeller
Alien Lanes
Isolation Drills
The Bears for Lunch
Class Clown Spots a UFO
Universal Truths & Cycles
Do The Collapse
Vampire on Titus
Mag Earwhig!
Please Be Honest
Motivational Jumpsuit
Half Smiles of the Decomposed
Earthquake Glue
Self Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia
Cool Planet
Same Place the Fly Got Smashed
Devil Between My Toes
English Little League
Letās Go Eat The Factory
Forever Since Breakfast
Sandbox
Having said that, I still think this album shouldāve been a solo effort, with ESP Ohio being the far more obvious GBV-sounding release from this era.
@JaguarPirate so out of interest, what have you made of these last three new-to-you GBV albums? Am I right in saying Motivational Jumpsuit was the one which stood out the most from your point of view?
Absolutely. MJ was actively good and maybe even above some of the first reunion trio (though might be biased due to the newness of it), Cool Planet was a decent retread of the MJ sound and just nice coming off how bad ELL was, then PBH is what it is lol
Actually never mind that, the best song on PBH would be the third worst song on EG! (Dirty Water kinda sucks and My Son doesnāt really feel like a proper song to me)
good song, I agree, also there arenāt any songs as good on PBH. but I have no desire to revisit Earthquake Glue as an album, whereas I keep wanting to listen to this
(maybe I should be questioning that desire instead of indulging it, who knows)
In fairness to the last two, you could probably cobble together a very decent album from their best tracks, especially if you then included whatever qualified as highlights from ELL too.
Sprinkle on a couple of those lovely obscure Tobes b-sides, and youāve got yerself a legitimately excellent GBV album IMO
prefer the best songs on ELL and Sandbox over this, but it wins over ELL due to length - the back half of that album was a real slog. And Sandbox stands out more for being so unengaging during a very productive part of their career. So think it slots in just behind Cool Planet, a 3 or a 4
I was just about to summon @mark_h and demand to know why you hadnāt been taking part, and there you go popping up in the votes this week sticking around for ABC yeah?
as I said before, I have very fond memories of this album. Since I dived into the first 3 reunion albums but then just totally fell off after that, this felt fun and fresh and I really welcomed having them back - at the time I hadnāt listen to a new GBV album in a whole 5 years! and maybe it felt that way for them too, Bob back with a new cast and new expectations
whether it still stands up now (especially at this length ā¦) we wait to see, but it definitely felt like it was hanging around my top 10 with how much ground it covers and how relatively few duff tracks I can recall
Love this rec! Hard to not stick on immediately but I know it would distract me from work. Think itās the start of a good run too up to and including Space Gun.
new to me this one, and so far I havenāt found much to latch onto songwise. Usually the case with a first listen of non-classic era stuff though.
Dislike the rhythm of the opening track. Liked Dr Feelgood Falls off the Ocean immediately, but of course turns out that was a Suitcase reworking. Amusement Park is Over seems good, the right amount of scrappy.
Bobās vocals sound generally a bit better to me than the last couple of albums (and interesting to hear some people I think we donāt usually), but he also does some weirder things with them which I am on the fence about (usually end up liking anything idiosyncratic though). Calls for a second listen or two!
ā¦ all on this incredibly messy sounding album, that just puts me off on a pure sonic level