Customer Reviews

Let's Go Eat the Factory

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am amazed at how much this album's aesthetic feels as if it were plucked straight from the Vampire-Bee-Alien era. Their deliberate attempt to return to the "primative" recording methodology of their past is a complete success. It is great to hear the guys of the early 90s lineup rocking out again. As always Pollard's lyrics and melodies are top notch. This album is cause for celebration... GBV has definitely returned!!!

with GBV you have to listen to stuff a bunch of times.. one can't pop it in once .. .. just a cautionary tale for those that may be giving them a first chance or streaming a song here or there while at work.. the albums grow on you and the half fleshed out lo-fi vignettes that pepper the album and may seem like throwaways eventually - in a way by feeding and building off of the album- eventually mean something..

The first two songs that really grabbed me where Pollard's Imperial Racehorsing (love the bass/fuzzed out guitar) and Sprout's Waves.. two songs that stand next to anything else they've done in my opinion..and that was the first listen!

Is the album a very conscious attempt to sound like the classic albums?.. yes... I know for some thats offputting but for me its a good thing..I don't believe - like many- that bands must always be evolving or changing.. If the Stones could go back and record an album like Let it Bleed in sound and character with say a good percentage of songs sharing the high level of songwriting would that be a bad thing?

The Pollard chorus on the last track:"If you want some, if you need some.. " and the harmonies "AAHH AHH AAAH.." are classic GBV

The album is full of moments like that.....the bass guitar on Waves for example which recalls many such great moments on Alien Lanes..and in my opinion it stands up to Guided By Voices 1993-1996 stuff...

Other highlights are Either Nelson (I assume he's talking about Rick Nelson but can't tell who the other is) and Cyclone..

The more immediate songs like Unsinkable Fats Domino, Doughnut and Chocolate Boy are typical catchy creamy hook laden GBV...but its the deeper cuts mentioned above, and others, that make the album for me..

To have Demos, Sprout, Mitchell and Fennell with JIMMY POLLARD too.. recording a classic type old school GBV album is a good thing! Can't wait til they tour...

Tobin Sprout is all over this album!..Doing what he does best which is playing the George Harrison to Pollard's Lennon/McCartney... he has 6 songs he wrote but maybe even more importantly he did a lot of production work on the rest.. Mitch Mitchell's guitar sound is instantly recognizable also..and there are writing contributions from everybody but Fennell..meaning Demos, Mitchell, SProut, B. Pollard and his brother.. so this album sounds like a classic GBV album which is a good thing! I can't imagine any GBV fan that liked the early GBV run not liking this album.. Now if you go into it expecting it to instantly sound like Bee Thousand well that won't work.. how could it?

Note on LP; it is a gatefold with lyrics, artwork..sort of reminds me of Alien Lanes in its presentation. Also not sure if its mentioned but the LP comes with a download card in case that sorta thing floats your boat.

When I heard there was an album of all-new material to be released by the Guided By Voices "classic lineup", I wondered if it would sound like a whole band in which Robert Pollard was just the vocalist, or if would sound like another Pollard solo album or side project.

I was happy to find that with "Let's Go Eat The Factory" Pollard is not the focus. The focus is on the band as a whole, and the band is marvelous.

This album has some songs that will rank right up there with the best in the Guided By Voices canon. Long-time fans should rejoice over gems such as "Chocolate Boy", "Doughnut For a Snowman" and "Waves". These tracks are beautiful. Then in true GbV tradition, there are some wonderfully off-kilter moments such as the teetering "The Room Taking Shape", the strange "Big Hat And Toy Show". A few songs clock in at over three minutes, but many of them are under two minutes in length, including several at under a minute.

Stylistically speaking, Tobin Sprout's contributions seem to come from someplace between what he did with GbV in the Nineties and what he has done during his solo career. Pollard's songwriting here has a similar feel; he has refined his songcraft over the years, and some of his writing here reflects that. Advancements in home recording equipment during the last 17-18 years give "Let's Go Eat The Factory" much less of a low-fi sound than "Alien Lanes" and "Bee Thousand", and the band also uses some loops here and there. Strings are even heard in a couple of places. So while it all may sound a little different, it's all good, and it's all definitely GbV.

After the masterpieces this lineup put out long ago, I wasn't sure they could pull this off. But I figured there was a good chance they could, given that they are who they are. And I'm thrilled to know they can still do what they do, and do it so well!

Congratulations to the band on a fine effort! Listening to "Let's Go Eat The Factory" is like sitting down with old friends I haven't visited in a long time, and getting caught up... and finding that the best things about them haven't changed!

In a recent interview, the guys in the newly reunited GBV (I saw 'em live last year, and they were incredible) said that they would be releasing three new albums, released six months apart. That's great news for this huge GBV fan, mainly because they also said that the next one would be better and rock more than this one. Obvious prog-rock influences such as King Krimson, Perter Murphy, Peter Gabriel and even Strawbs abound.

About half of this new record appeals to me. Much of the material sounds like discarded Circus Devils material, and the snippets are hit or miss ( How I Met My Mother could be terrific if developed beyond a few seconds), as is to be expected. Of the half I liked, only perhaps half of those could stand beside the best material of this lineup. "Chocolate Boy", "The Unsinkable Fats Domino" and "Waves" are standouts. Here's looking forward to the next box of GBV chocolates. You never know what you're going to get, but it's always exciting to know a new GBV record is on the way.

From the second the guitars come crashing like a brick cast out by Robert Pollard's static howl on "Laundry and Lasers" the opener of Guided By Voices latest LP "Let's Go Eat the Factory", it becomes immediately clear that this is the most daring, experimental and energetic rock music made by a group of 50ish men that you'll ever hear. It's been 15 years since ringleader Pollard has played with the classic GBV lineup here, aside from Airport 5, his sometime side-project with the invaluable Tobin Sprout, and a few appearances by classic lineup wild-man bassist Greg Demos on Pollard solo outings and Verde-era GBV LPs (most of which are readily dismissible). What's amazing is all this time later this album, from beginning to end, displays that this particular incantation of the band have lost none of their chemistry; it's a near miracle that "LGETF", while not the masterpiece that is their 'watershed' album "Bee Thousand", is every bit as good as "Alien Lanes" or "Propeller" or "Under the Bushes Under the Stars" or "Vampire on Titus" or (the underrated) "Tonics and Twisted Chasers".

On first listen, it's quite easy to pinpoint the songs chosen as official singles. "The Unsinkable Fats Domino", the closest the album comes to a traditionally catchy and hi-fi track, is almost something you'd expect from the post-classic/Gillard years if it wasn't for the low-key minimalist precision of drummer Kevin Fennell and guitarist Mitch Mitchell's relentless Who-homage shredding making the song a classic Pollard rave-up. "Doughnut for a Snowman" is Pollard at his most whimsical, and like for instance, the Keene Brothers standout track "Island of Lost Lucys", it's a show for the genius songwriter at his most vulnerable and faux-sincere. The third single "Chocolate Boy" is vintage indie pop-rock ala GBV.

Other standouts include the pure post-economy and punk-exhilaration of "The Head" and "God Loves Us", both a wee-bit over a minute, but nonetheless rare minutes of rock bliss worth returning to again and again (like so many songs off their mid-90's classics). "My Europa" is a brilliant throwback, utilizing an 'aerial nostalgic' reverb guitar/vocal effect over a cryptic love ballad.

While Pollard, like 95% of all his GBV (and solo work) does have a few misses (what's with the bluesy jam session that is "Big Hat and Toy Show"?), Sprout contributes 6 tracks (as well as does most of the production work) and goes 6-for-6 hitting a career high with "Waves", a perfectly weird Sprout-patented pop song that will instantly draw fans back to "Vampire on Titus" favorites "Gleamer" and "Sot". Sprout's gift for short bursts of melancholic pop-song beauty are in full bloom with "Old Bones" and "Who Invented the Sun", and the contained-expansiveness of Sprout's "Spiderfighter" with its shift from chaos to comfort, is matched in the end by the chugging progression of Pollard's stunning closing number "We Won't Apologize For The Human Race". It can almost be said that the album is a blending and tweaking of both Pollard and Sprout's best most recent solo work, filtered through a hi-to-mid-to-lo-fi production aesthetic that sometimes feels like a band that intentionally can't decide to produce a record on a laptop or on a four-track, so they flip flop between the two always in unpredictable ways.

All in all, "Let's Go Eat the Factory" is the definition of a new classic and a sure-sign that GBV has found new direction by retreating back to its old muses. And in the true spirit of this band's greatest and most prolific era, we have another full-length album coming this spring and probably a few EP's to cover the spread in between!

While I'm kind of sad that the music press excitement over the new GBV has eclipsed what was in fact the real gem of 2011, coming from another of Robert Pollard's assortment of projects-- the timeless rock epic Let It Beard (buy this as a companion to Factory; you'll be delighted)-- it's not without excitement that I've listened to the first new 'classic' GBV album in over a decade on repeat over the past month since it's digital debut. The album has its shortcomings, but the sense of adventure, in light of the fact this is supposed to be a 'reunion' album, is astounding. As someone who's listened to to the old-school GBV quite a bit, I can't honestly say this sounds like a throwback to the old style. They're clearly doing what they want to do now, and not what fans of old might expect (particularly the effortless lo-fi, beatle-esque melodies), which is a testament to both their artistic integrity and to their growth as artists and musicians.

I think every review I've read of the album lists different favorites. I, for one, am not that satisfied by some of the slower numbers like Doughnut For A Snowman, for example. Honestly, I think in some ways is one of Pollard's worst songs ever, while, on the other hand others (who must not cringe so easily) consider it a favorite. But with GBV, it doesn't matter, because if you don't like it, it'll be over in a minute or two. The songs that everyone lists are Unsinkable Fats Domino, Doughnut, Chocolate Boy, Spiderfighter (a rocker with its piano finale) and the complex We Won't Apologize For The Human Race, the long final track that somehow is able to summarize all the album's strong points in one sweeping statement. Aside from the more obvious gems are a number of small pieces that jump out for their stylistic or lyrical uniqueness: the first two tracks are pounding, somewhat intimidating lo-fi rockers. God Loves Us, written/sung by the deservedly revered Tobin Sprout, is startling for its overt religion-- something I don't think we've heard before from GBV. Imperial Racehorsing, with a deep dark blues distinction, along with the oddball racket of Big Hat and Toy Show, make for a perfectly weird and interesting bridge between sides A and B. How I Met My Mother is good pop-rock in Pollard's later style. And that's barely into side two... The only other track I don't like besides Doughnut is Sprout's Old Bones, which sounds too much like a bad Xmas song and for that runs a little too long even at 2 min.

If you're walking into GBV blind, and I'm guessing that there are some who still have not at least heard Alien Lanes or Bee Thousand (long considered canonical masterpeices of the 90's lo-fi boom, and indie music in general), I might not hesitate to suggest going back and starting with those, or picking them up alongside the current release. And their Best-Of record from 2005 or so, Human Amusements At Hourly Rates, is a long must-have collection of singles for mp3 player consumption. While GBV went through many line-up changes, these five musicians come from the time when GBV was breaking the most ground and producing the most solid material. Most went into 'civilian' lifestyles except for Pollard (though the exceedingly talanted Sprout continued producing unfortunately-neglected material under his own name and as eyesinweasil for a few years), who continued to grow and evolve through countless consistently good-quality records with a talented and revolving cast of musicians and under many various names.

The new record is thankfully well-received despite that while it doesn't sound defiantly like a 'classic' GBV album, it's sense of adventure, as I referred to earlier, which is also one of the best traits of the classic GBV era, combined with the overall above-average quality of songwriting, makes it a record you can listen to over and over, hearing and enjoying new elements on each listen. For that, I give it five stars and highly recommend it. Also, this looks to be the first chapter in a series of new albums, with Class Clown Spots A UFO already completed and scheduled for late spring, and yet another one confirmed to be in progress.

Like others, I was pretty excited to hear that GBV was putting out a new album, as they're absolutely one of my all-time favorite bands. However, I presume I was unlike many others in that I was also a little scared and disappointed to hear the news, too. GBV came to end their storied career on a rather underappreciated gem: "Half Smiles," which was the closest the band had come to their more traditional sound in a long time and their most sincere and consistent album in nearly half a decade. It seemed like a nice place to end and put their legacy in the history books to look back fondly on and reminisce.

To go back so intentionally to the classic lineup seemed gimmicky, and I've seen other great bands fail when they forced a concept too much to go back to their own glory days. Upon first listen I came to think that "Let's Go Eat the Factory" was a terrible album and that they marred their legacy. Not a single gem popped out, which is disconcerting, because even on their weakest albums, GBV always knew what songs were their anchors and released those as singles. The singles on this one are adequate tracks, but not strong singles. There's no "Motor Away," "I Am a Scientist," "Best of Jill Hives," or anything like it, regardless of what anyone says to the contrary.

We all know that every Pollard release reveals its charm after repeated listens. After a couple more listens my anger melted away and I began to appreciate the album as a collection of decent songs and a few throwaways (as always). This would be an excellent album if it had some truly strong songs to anchor it. There certainly are a number of really nice tracks on this one, most of which are Sprout's offerings, and while those songs would be welcome companions to a few standout pop tracks that absolutely every other full-length has, they aren't enough to make this album work the way it really could and should. It would be like if "The King and Caroline" was the standout track on Alien Lanes. A cool track for sure, but not an anchor. Wish as anyone might, "The Unsinkable Fats Domino" and "Chocolate Boy" don't rank with GBV's rich history of singles, pleasant though the songs may be.

I'll confess that I'm still relatively new to this album, and I hope that one day I'll come to suddenly "get" this album like I did with "Vampire," an album that took years to really blow me away. In the meantime, I rank this with "Universal Truths and Cycles," a too-conscious effort to go back to the good-old days without really creating anything wildly interesting. "Let's Go Eat the Factory" seems to suffer from the same overall lack of real inspiration that "Universal" suffered from, but it also seems to lack some of the effort, too. This one feels rushed, and as a big GBV/Robert Pollard fan, that's saying a lot.

I don't adivse anyone not to get this, and I'll certainly be pre-ordering the newest one when it comes out, but this is absolutely not a starting point for someone, and I'm comforted to know that it's not their ending point, either. Every real fan of this band knows that all that GBV does isn't gold, so it's foolish to pretend that this one is. Here's hoping the next one adds to their legacy--a band like GBV must go out with a bang, not with a whimper, and "Factory" whimpers a bit.

Once I heard about this whole GBV reunion/new album thing it was like when the Who played the 9/11 show and everyone was like, "they are going to keep doing this until they [literally] die," and thank God for that. Same with GBV. What makes this different than your typical Robert Pollard solo or Robert Pollard band (Boston Spaceships, Lifeguards, etc.) outing is Tobin Sprout, who was always a great balance for Bob's writing and voice. Like every one of their albums there are highs (incredible rockers, sublime pop, brutal punk) and lows (need I even point them out?). Bob said it best: He can write five songs sitting on the john and three of them are good.

So far I have listened to the new album about 4 times and it is starting to get better every time. Now here is where I stand apart from most. I am a huge GbV and Pollard fan. I have seen GbV 5 times and Pollard once and met Uncle Bob several times, although no shock to most fans he was pretty drunk at the time, and I may have had an adult soda or two myself. I have almost all GbV and Pollard related side projects, most on good old fashion vinyl. Alot of Pollard's songs on the album sound like it could be another Pollard solo or side project and one song sounds like GbV circa Isolation Drills. This album probably has the most Tobin songs on one GbV album at any one time. Wish he would record again. I stopped trying to remember all GbV and Pollard titles years ago. So I wont do a song by song. If you put this album next to the classic era lineup albums it is nothing like the lo-fi days of the 90's. And I would not expect it to, and that is neither good nor bad. I had hoped for a little bit better record IMO. The album isn't awful, but it is not the best or close the the best GbV has ever done. But in music there is only two kinds (music I or you like and music I or you don't like). GbV fans will enjoy it. I just want to see them live again. One thing is for sure it is better that 99.9% of the junk coming out these days. Bob could have made a better album cover though. 3 different angles of 45's, come on Bob you can do better. You had years to think up this cover and that is what you came up with?

GBV going old school. old school in the sense of making creative and original and totally kick ass music! You can hear that this is a group of old friends having a great time making music together, so it's amazing how much artistic ground is covered in the process.