 | Tracklist:
1. Laundry and Lasers
2. The Head
3. Doughnut for a Snowman
4. Spiderfighter
5. Hang Mr. Kite
6. God Loves Us
7. The Unsinkable Fats Domino
8. Who Invented the Sun
9. The Big Hat and Toy Show
10. Imperial Racehorsing
11. How I Met My Mother
12. Wave
13. My Europa
14. Chocolate Boy
15. The Things That Never Need
16. Either Nelson
17. Cyclone Utilities (Remember Your Birthday)
18. Old Bones
19. Go Rolling Home
20. The Room Taking Shape
21. We Won't Apologize for the Human Race
Release Date: 01/01/2012 | |
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On 1 Lists
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| Summary: ...and a very Pollard New Year. |
3 of 3 thought this review was well written
The thing about Guided by Voices is--and I will attempt very hard to tread around cliché here--I’ve listened to barely half of their albums in full and still consider them one of my favorite bands. Is this solely due to the fact that I, like many, would heavily consider Bee Thousand, Alien Lanes, and Under the Bushes Under the Stars for “desert island album” status and could really care little about the rest, a few select tracks aside? Well, yes and no. I haven’t yet developed enough of a craze to force me to get my paws on anything with the name Pollard on it, but it’s more than enough to make two Guided by Voices albums due for release in 2012 a more than entertaining prospect.
So how to approach the band’s umpteenth release, Let’s Go Eat the Factory? GBV, for one, is throwing a bit of a “new look” curve at us. It’s been eight years since an LP was released under the band’s name, nearly twice that since an effort from the now-reunited, classic Pollard-Sprout-Mitchell-Demos lineup, and to top it off, the record is slated for release on New Year’s Day. This in itself is amusing, as the album neither harkens back to the heydays of the classic quartet, nor does it reinvent the wheel-- at all. Factory feels somewhere stuck between the backwash of some latter-day GBV records and an enhanced version of the same old shtick that Pollard was churning out on his own before the reunion.
That, however, doesn’t necessarily prevent it from being enjoyable. At its best, Factory puts together a string of quality tracks-- the giddy duo of “Doughnut for a Snowman” and the three-and-half minute-plus “Spiderfighter”, for one-- and at its worst occasionally rises from the murk and strikes gold. “Waves” is probably the best song associated with Robert Pollard in some eight years (see what I did there?), and the fourth quartile of the album provides more than a few choice cuts. True, it doesn’t work as a whole nearly as well as its predecessors did, but who could have expected it to?
Nothing here near approaches the genius of that fantastic string of mid-nineties releases, or even recalls the energy of the band’s newer, Half Smiles of the Decomposed-era work. Viewed in the shadow of those albums, Let’s Go Eat the Factory could easily be considered a failure. But then why view it as such? It’s a new Guided by Voices album for the New Year. Amplify yourself to rock, listen to it, and consider yourself lucky, punk.
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| Recent reviews by this author | | | |
holy balls a romulus review? merry christmas guys, it's been a year.
i'm trying to touch the point here that if you've listened with baited breath to every single GBV release then you will probably view this album differently than someone like me. as it stands, this is my least favorite album of theirs
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Will probably check this out at some point, although from initial reactions I'm not expecting as much as I had initially hoped for.
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listened to the stream a couple of times, wasn't very impressed but wasn't expecting to be either
you should review more
Digging: Thinking Fellers Local 282 - Strangers From the Universe
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i listened to bee thousand twice like years ago
cant remember what i thought about it
Digging: Ultramontane Northern Winds - kutte hjertet Digging: Ultramontane Northern Winds - kutte hjertet
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nice review there Rom
can't say I've ever listened to GBV and can't say I ever will
Digging: Spraynard - Funtitled Digging: Spraynard - Funtitled
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
I thought this was terrible on first listen but it's grown on me a little since then, still not great, though. The point you make about it not working at all as a whole is spot on.
Digging: The Walkmen - Heaven Digging: The Walkmen - Heaven | | |
anyone with a passing interest in 90's indie rock should listen to bee thousand, alien lanes and under the bushes under the stars
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"I’ve listened to barely half of their albums in full and still consider them one of my favorite bands"
this...review more.
I haven't heard this, maybe I will.
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thanks all. despite the positive spin on the review i really don't recommend this for any purposes apart from finding some tracks you dig and the excitement of listening to a new guided by voices album in 2012. this would be an absolutely dreadful starting point, but yeah at the very least bee thousand is a must-hear
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Holy balls a Romulus review indeed!
Digging: Lemuria (BE) - Tales, Ale, and Fire Digging: Lemuria (BE) - Tales, Ale, and Fire
| | | Album Rating: 3
the unsinkable fats domino had me pretty excited for this, i still haven't listened though
Digging: Beach House - Bloom Digging: Beach House - Bloom | | |
that song isnt very good
| | | Album Rating: 3
there's hope i'll like this, then
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fuck this album
awesome review : )
Digging: toe - The Book About My Idle Plot on a Vague Anxiety
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read it and loved it
| | | Album Rating: 3
robin why the hate
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I'm scared to listen this. Love GBV, but GBV fuck ups are FUCK UPs.
Digging: Peste Noire - La Sanie des siecles - Panegyrique de la
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idk if you're into GBV i see no reason not to check it out. if you don't like it you'll know pretty quickly and at the very least you'll find a couple quality tracks
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
i was excited for this but i don't even think im gonna bother any more
Digging: Sidi Tour - Koima | | | Album Rating: 3.5
and this is why ive learned to never trust anything sputnik says
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