Round 3 is go with Sandbox
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Will try to give this a few spins either today or tomorrow 
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I think Pollard once said this was the worst album heās made - but Iād wager heās made worse albums since he made that statement.
Remember this one being a definite step down from Devil Between My Toes but there are a couple of songs that definitely grew on me after a few listens. Will revisit today.
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iāve always had it as my least favourite of theirs, but that was only up to the first couple of reunion albums - will be interesting to see if that holds this time
Sandbox!
Itās got a more rockist edge from the get-go compared to the first two records. A Visit To The Creep Doctor reminds me more of SST or Dischord type bands, which is no bad thing, but I guess that straight rock type thing is not really what we want. I donāt think the tracks are too bad, theyāre just a bit forgettable. The album doesnāt seem to have the obvious hits like the first two, nor the quirkiness of some of the tracks from Devil. The very obvious 60s homages on side 2 are a bit cringy, haha.
I think it might be one of the worst albums for Bobās vocal mix. Obviously heās used delay/reverb a lot over the years, but something about it on Sandbox just lacks the necessary attack to give it clarity. Or maybe itād be better just a bit higher in the mix in general. Itās incongruous with the rest of the mix too, which is pretty dry.
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I went with 5 for Devil Between My Toes. Three excellent tracks and a lot of filler/half fleshed out ideas that didnāt really grab me. Better get used to that though huh?
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i straight up hate how Sandbox sounds. Has the (bad) big booming drums of Propeller (but ofc without the masterpiece songs and the weird lo-fi moments for balance) but not as much shine and sheen as FSB, where it actually suited those songs anyway
just caught in this crappy production middle ground that doesnāt suit any of their styles
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yeah, absolutely.
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Selected thoughts on Side One of Sandbox:
āLips of Steelā is a nice punchy rocker to start things off with a bang.
" A Visit To The Creep Doctor" is another quick rocker, already two songs done inside three minutes!
āEverydayā vocally, this doesnāt really sound like Bob at all? Just kinda an okay song which slightly outstays its welcome, which is a rarity in GBV-world.
Selected thoughts on Side Two of Sandbox:
āCanāt Stopā is another okayish rocker, but again it sounds like an imposter has snatched the microphone away from Bob.
āTrap Soul Doorā at long last, some lo-fi crackle & hiss! But the song is a bit of a plodder.
āLong Distance Manā has the brightest, poppiest melody so far. Sounds mega-Beatlesy. The closest to a highlight so far.
āAdverse Windā an insistent, belligerent rocker to close things off. A rather meh end to a distinctly meh album tbh. WTF happened, Bob??!
Overall thoughts on Sandbox:
Nah, didnāt like this one at all tbh. In fact, Iāll make an early prediction and say I fully expect this to finish bottom of the pile on my personal leaderboard, even below Letās Go Eat the Factory and English Little League.
Funnily enough, itās a slightly more consistent album than Devil, but it has absolutely none of the charm or basement weirdness of that album. Whereas both Forever and Devil both had very obvious highlights, this just kinda hasā¦well, none tbh. There was that one tune that sounded like Nowhere Man on side two, but that was about it tbh.
Thankfully, things are about to get waaaay more interesting 
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yeah, a confused album with some good moments but almost no good songs. Think the melodies are the fundamental issue here, thereās a bunch of tracks where the verses and choruses barely belong together!
of the rockers I basically only like Everyday and Adverse Wind in full: the former has some of the jangle charm of FSB plus that cool pre-chorus riff (though where did Bobās vocals disappear to in chorus one??), and AW would fit nicely on Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia if it was gunged up a bit more
Trap Soul Door and Long Distance Man are both very sweet, just beautiful melodies and without the shit rock guitars getting in the way
I love the opening to Barricade, pretty unsettling psych and think Bobās voice is great! itās a shame the rest of the song is ā¦ crap. And that outro doesnāt make sense with the rest of the track at all 
similarly, really like the end to Common Rebels but the start of the track is a dirge
like a 3/10 maybe? wouldnāt care if i never heard these songs again (though guarantee everyone here will have Long Distance Man pop into their heads on and off all week)
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letās not go slandering these two fine albums already!
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Yes, not going to get ahead of the timeline here. But LGETF was my introduction to GBV and hence I think itās great.
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Same! Had idly checked out a couple of the classic albums on Spotify before but found them a bit overwhelming and hard to crack. Bought Factory on a whim not long after release when I needed a new album to cheer me up and a love story began.
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Sheesh, this albumās a bit of a slog.
Just been listening to Barricade and it is all over the place. Swiped to the lyrics to see if there was anything hidden under the murk and handbrake turns and wow, theyāre all over the fucking place too:
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Done. Other than the lost Beatles demo, I did not enjoy that one bit.
Looking forward to the promise things being getting way more interesting soon!
Imho, we have another scrappy up and down one but with much higher highs, then a consistent but still odd and interesting one, then pretty much 7 great albums in a row
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