Customer Reviews

Planets Are Blasted [Vinyl]

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

 

 

Since the dissolution of GBV, Bob Pollard has tried to reinvent himself by sort-of staying the same and sort-of not. Some lo-fi here, some prog rock here, a mono acoustic track over there and a genuine pop gem in the mix somewhere. Well, for fans who were waning, help is here, both from this disc and Pollard's new "Crawling Distance". The best news is that the new BS CD has more memorable songs than any of Bob's CDs in about 5 years. In fact, for 5 of the album's first 7 tracks, the Spaceships evoke the ghost and spirit of the Zombies, Kinks and Beatles while otherwise conjuring the spirit of Roy Wood's Move & Wizzard days, without aping the mersey era's tricks per se. This is a great record - fans needn't be afraid anymore!

Once again, Boston Spaceships delivers a tight and tuneful, garage-rock-pop-prog-pysch-post-punk record, chock full of classic Robert Pollard nuggets. This band resembles vintage GBV, as a good contrast to Pollard's in-name solo records, with it sounding like a real band rockin' out in the garage. Track 2 & 3 even feature gbv alumni Greg Demos on lead guitar, how cool is that!?! Some of the tunes remind me of gbv's very early period, hence the title of this review. Favorites are the snappy opener "Canned Food Demon", "Dorothy's A Planet", "The Town That's After Me", the multi-section "Sight On Sight", the GBV-esque rocker anthem "Heavy Crown", and the grand, prog-rock gem "Big 'O Gets An Earful". Indeed, this is another diamond in the neverending Pollard collection. Just as good as the first Boston Spaceships cd, "Brown Submarine", and maybe even better.
Rock!

Incredible collection of songs! Definitely some of Bob's best ever! In my opinion Robert Pollard is the greatest singer/songwriter on the planet! And blasted, too! This CD and "Brown Submarine" are both absolutely fantastic. If you are a pollard and/or GBV fan buy them both now! You will not regret it.

Yes, I am a fan of Bob Pollard. This record requires less listens than most of his work to discover its brilliance, but it will grow on you more each time. Bob is releasing his best work now, not that you wouldn't miss having a Tobin Sprout song mixed in here and there like a George Harrison song on a Beatles record. This one makes me miss Guided by Voices less because it is a better and more complete project. I loved the lo-fi era, but this new and bigger sound is impressive. The song writing is epic and Big O gets an Earful is a white hot live show highlight in waiting. This man, Uncle Bobby, has a dynamite live act and is surrounded often by the most beautiful people on the planet. And they're mostly blasted. Fina-music pays artists better if you figure on buying a download, and they have a nice 320 bit rate.