So it turns out I own a digital copy of How Do You Spell Heaven, I have no memory of buying it, it must have been one of my monthly eMusic hauls! According to Last.FM Iāve listened to it all of two times previously, I guess it didnāt impress me much at the time.
Going back in now to reassess.
Updated personal leaderboard.
Itās a shame Heaven didnāt find more love on here, Iāve always really enjoyed it.
Getting another listen on the train home now
time to democratically vote on HDYSH!
I quite enjoyed HDYSH, more than August by Cake anyway. I need to go and have another listen before scoring, will do that today at some stage.
bah!
Relistened to Heaven after writing the above post and itās more consistent than I remembered - I remember getting reasonably into it a few years ago but looking at the tracklisting I had a feeling there were a fair few I didnāt like, but I enjoyed the vast majority of it when listening again. Forgot how good Boy W is.
so I liked Heaven a decent amount in the end! doesnāt have the highs to lift it above most of the other reunion stuff so far, but very consistent and with lively production that just makes it fun to listen to. Somewhere between a 6 and a 7, havenāt quite settled on where yet. Inessential but absolutely enjoyable, and if this was my first GBV album I could see stuff here that would make me sit up and pay attention (a standard I quite like measuring all the reunion albums against)
Democrats and Diver Dan are two pop gems, amazing he can still chuck a couple of these onto basically any album without thinking twice. Steppenwolf is a little long with that not-great verse section, but itās a properly great chorus when it kicks in. Cretinous Number Ones is another fantastic chorus, gets through a lot of cool sections in under 2 mins - glad they can still do this so well when some of the other tracks around this time can get ponderous and sneak past the 3 or 4 min mark. How to Murder a Man covers a load of ground in that run time too, think the first restrained section is lovely, then pounding straight into those big rolling toms is just fun.
Enjoy Pearly Gates quite a bit and it has some excellent riffing - just did not need to be 4 mins in the slightest. Either add some vocals and make it the standout track of the album or cut it back a bit guys. Tenth Century is pretty beautiful, sweet and necessary change of pace - really like the spacey synths floating about in the back, and then the full band kicking in for a pacy ending, though do wish it had kept kicking on a bit more instead of dropping off weirdly.
Surprised Paper Cutz hasnāt been worth mentioning for anyone else, instantly caught my ear. Strong bass, fun winding guitar lines, the lovely chiming bit just before the outro, anthemic tbh. The ending trio are all very pretty with the jangle of Nothing Gets You Real being my standout - but agree with @XenoPariah that it makes for a bit of an odd pace-change to close the album when thereās been so many rockers before
think They Fall Silent is the only one Iām not into, but its short and weird so thatās all fine.
Just randomly remembered that this album, which obviously includes a song called Steppenwolf Mausoleum, came out just a few days after one of the original members of Steppenwolf passed away.
Always feels a bit spooky when that sort of thing happens.
love the idea anyway pal, chrz
So this oneās not for me, probably my least favorites. It continued from ABC to have the worst run of GBV cover art.
I remember before this came out someone in the FB group had heard it and said ABC was just this line getting going and this one they nail it with some of Bob best melodies that soar and you canāt get out of your head*. Then I listened to it and thought Diver Dans alright canāt remember the rest. This is still pretty much my thoughts after a relisten.
If this had turned up on a Suitcase (havenāt checked it hasnāt!) with some extra hiss or bits dropping out Iād really be into it!
Agree with that tbf, wouldnāt work in that format on a modern day studio album but itās always a sound I love from them
Yeah thatās a common issue with the FB group IMO, itās a fun community but thereās a lot of āBob can do no wrongā stuff that goes on as well.
now time to blast off with SPACE GUN
just realised after all these albums that I should launch polls on sat or sun to give people a little time to discuss before straight onto the next album - lol
Am I being a tad controversial when I say this album is ever so slightly overrated?
I mean donāt get me wrong, itās a really excellent album and loads of fun. But Iāve seen some people list it as their favourite ever GBV album, which just seems wild to me.
Yeah I stopped looking at it after someone ,who seemed a genuine fan just suggested that maybe after 10 albums straight with the same producer, it would be nice to change it up for an album and use a different producer . They got absolutely piled on , for what seemed like a pretty reasonable suggestion.
another one Iād listened to maybe once or zero times before this morning, so I had no idea it had such a good rep
I loved todayās listen though! pretty killer really, maybe into 2nd place for the reunion on first impressions
the way some people overrate the new stuff eh 
I reckon one of the reasons for Space Gunās popularity is that, for some fans, it correctly proves a popular theory about Bob and the band i.e. that they put out too much stuff each year, Bob should be a bit more patient, why donāt they just put out one album a year etc. And the excellence of Space Gun gives credence to that theory, with it being the solitary GBV release of 2018.
Iāve never totally gone along with that idea, to be honest - for me, the prolificness of Bobās output is all part of the fun of being a GBV fan, and is simply a built-in feature of the band.