Customer Reviews

Speak Kindly of Your Volunteer Fire Department

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you are the proto-typical casual Guided By Voices fan, and are afraid to dip your toe into the pool of abundant side-projects, not only are you are lost to a wealth of wonderful music but you are missing the slow and facinating evolution of Robert Pollard as a maturing songwriter. The annual Guided by Voices records, while great in their own right, probably don't make as much musical sense standing alone, without witnessing the often bizzare but consistantly provocative Fading Captain series releases in the intervening months. Now I know what your thinking...'I don't have a million dollars to spend on every Pollard project nor the will to go back and collect and listen to this breadth of material'. Well, that's why I'm writing this review! "Volunteer Fire Department" is your one-stop shopping for everything wonderful about Pollard's solo work. From top to bottom, this record is full of tunes that will never leave your head and heart and is easily up there with the greatest of GBV. Pollard himself has said that he regrets not releasing this record as a GBV record, it's that good. (the distinctions between GBV records and solo stuff is dubious at best, considering that Bob Pollard created GBV and is the only primary songwriter of the group) And the best songs from the record have become staples of their amazing live show, including 'Pop Zeus' (a full-out rock classic), 'Do Something Real', 'And I Don't' and, of course, 'Tight Globes' (about a outer-space race, I think, with the most mind-blowing rock guitar riff that I can think of!). This album surely rocks, and rocks hard, but the quieter moments are some of Pollard's best including the psychedelic and creepy 'Port Authority' and the heart-wrenching 'Larger Massachusetts; And the most amazing thing about "Speak Kindly" is that all the songs, though written by Pollard, are played brilliantly by Doug Gillard, awesome lead guitar player for GBV, but here playing bass and drums and everything else, with a clean power and understated majesty rarely heard. The combination of Pollard's beautious melodies and Gillard's spirited musicianship is on full display and shines like a pure white light. 'Speak Kindly' is a great rock record, and is one of the few I've written a full review for. Please don't hesitate to buy this cd and then tell a friend about this buried classic! Excelsior!

I'm reviewing this record because in his last S.F. show, Rob Pollard complained it hadn't received much critical attention. That's a shame, because Pollard's in the middle of a one-man renaissance. This album finds him in a quieter mood than on Guided By Voices' Do The Collapse. Doug Gillard lends clean, inventive arrangements--heavy on acoustic guitar and '70s-era Townshend-style riffs--to a batch of some of Pollard's most thoughtful songs to date. The sparer treatment (all instruments were played and recorded by Gillard on his 4-track) shows off Pollard's gift for direct, surprising song structures that don't depend on studio effects for their power. Some very catchy tunes here--"Frequent Weaver," "Pop Zeus," "And I Don't," "Life Is Beautiful" and "Tight Globes" are as great as anything he's done with GBV--but I've come to appreciate this album most for the moodier tracks that took longer to grab me ("Messiahs," "Larger Massachusetts" and "Soul Train College Policeman" are all worth the wait, very different from the stuff he's doing with the band).

This album should also help put to rest Pollard's rep as lo-fi posterchild. The songs here are as carefully produced as anything on Do The Collapse, though the studio wizardry isn't as obvious. The more I listen to Pollard's music, the more I'm convinced he's one of the best writers to ever strap on a guitar. I hope this record finds the fans it deserves.

Robert Pollard, who generally seems to feel his last album is his best, was in no way less enthusiastic about this release. Here we find him collaborating with GbV guitarist Doug Guillard who basically played all the instruments, leaving Pollard to handle the vocals and the bulk of the compositions. In the fashion of earlier GbV releases, most of the recording was done on analog cassette four track, with Pollard adding vocals at Dayton's Cro Magnon studio. The results are excellent. Pollard demonstrates measurable growth with a healthy amount of longer song forms and his characteristic harmonic and melodic inventiveness. Guillard here brings his own sensibility into Robert's world and fits like a glove; his formidable grasp of the history of rock music is well in synch with Pollard's. The opener, "Frequent Weaver Who Burns" features crisp steel string acoustic against slinky melodic bass and very impressive Keith Moon-esque drumming -- it's maybe one of the best Who tunes ever written. Throughout the record, potent and interesting lyrics abound, Pollard delivering the goods with impeccable melody and totally groovy-fun rock star attitude. Gillard uses his four track techniques dazzling success througout, creating surprisingly colorful landscapes that bring Pollard's writing to life in a whole new way. But what perhaps drew me in to this recording more than anything else was Larger Massachusetts, a beautiful ballad which appears to be bare bones voice and guitar. Pollard's often cryptic lines seem here to indicate genuine insights and maybe even revelation more appropriate to these times than ever: "The medium-sized world is making a comeback, the larger world is drowning..." The low budget packaging and distribution of this recording offer it little promise of reaching a wide audience that Pollard so deserves. But it does further confirm Bob as one of the most unique and vital voices in the music today.

I truly am sick of hearing of "indie purists" whining. I dig all phases of GBV but you know what? I would rather this (if forced) than anything in Guided By Voices vast catalog.
The guitar solo in Slick as Snails--where the hell did that come from? "Life Is Beautiful" is something else... I saw them live the night before this album came out--Bee Thousand? Pah. This album is beyond belief. Gillard (Death of Samantha, Cobra Verde, solo) recorded the basic tracks and Pollard laid some vocals from what I understand. The result? One of the best albums ever made. It is that inspired, that good. Move over, Whos Next, Pet Sounds, Loveless, Nevermind, Daydream Nation....If you are even reading this please do yourself a favor. I have a life to live too besides posting crap on Amazon--I just want to tell you that this album just needs to be heard. No hype, not opinion, just fact.

Like most GBV/Pollard fans, my budget is much smaller than the available catalogue of their material, so I only just bought this album the other day, though I've known of it for years...

Well worth the wait for me! If you're a Pollard fan already, but haven't heard this album, then you're probably aware that words cannot possibly convey what awaits you until you actually hear it. I was very familiar with "Tight Globes" before I bought this and, believe me, if you liked that one, the rest of the album won't dissapoint you. It stands a lot stronger and is more cohesive than his other solo efforts but, if you're a true Pollard fan, weak and missmatched might be to your taste as well. Just consider this to be on the opposite spectrum of Kid Marine- stylistically speaking.

If you've never heard Pollard before but have had his work recommended to you- well, preparation is rather futile gesture. Suffice it to say that I don't give 5 stars to every work by an artist of which I'm a fan, but Pollard and Gillard earn every star of this album and, on my honor, it's worth a blind leap of faith. If you've never heard this type of songwriting before, you'll either be confused, or feel like you've found something missing in your life. If you're one of the later, it's worth the risk...

That foul breed, the Indie Purist, who gag at latter day Guided By Voices (mainly for employing good professional musicians and producers) generally lap up Robert Pollard's solo work. Odd, since that it's next to impossible to slip a Rizla paper between this album and GBV. The likes of "Frequent Weaver", "Pop Zeus", "Do Something Real" are just as "pop" as most of GBV's most reviled albums like "Mag Earwhig" and "Do the Collapse" - it's all Pollard after all. Here Bob contributes songs and vocals and GBV guitarist Doug Gillard provides eveything else, proving himself quite the little 4-track multi-instrumental wizard and true star in the vein of Rundgren/ McCartney/ Emitt Rhodes (take your pick). The lyrics are perhaps more mind-scramblingly bizarre, the vocals slightly less polished than on "proper" GBV albums - but this is mostly good stuff. It doesn't all work of course but what's most remarkable is how often it DOES, Is there is no end to this man Pollard's bag of songwriting tricks? Why is the 98 seconds of the ridiculously titled "Soul Train College Policeman" so affecting? And why does the closing "And My Unit Moves" MOVE. Only Mr. Pollard knows for sure.

With Guided by Voices working with uber producer Ric Ocasek for their last major label release, those people who found their old "lo-fi" sound very charming and off the beaten path can listen to this record, vaguely similar in tone to "Bee Thousand", as a testament to the idea that less is more. The sound quality is not as muddled as early GbV stuff, but its not overproduced by any means, and Bob's songwriting is actually getting better to boot. How many bands can say that about their umpteenth record?

I've been playing this record non-stop, so pretty much everyone I've seen [people with all different kinds of musical tastes] since I bought it has heard it, and get this, they actually like it. You need to buy this record right now...

there will never be a record like this again. every song is great. the production is simple and relaxed. doug's musicianship is utilized here better than on anything he's ever been on (with the possible exception of do the collapse, on which he dominates.) pop zeus. that was my ex-wife's favorite pollard song. god, i miss her. there will never be a record like this again.

This album still gets high rotation in my cd player. Doug Gillard shines on all instruments and Bob Pollard's lyrics excel without question. This is my favorite non-GBV Bob solo project. So many of these songs have been featured by GBV live they're all old hat to GBV fans by now:

Frequent Weaver Who Burns- Steals the descending riff from "Gold Heart Mtn. Top Queen Directory" to new effect. Great playing by Doug Gillard on all instruments here. Check out his drums on the fade out! ****

Soul Train College Policeman- Always a live favorite! ****

"Pop Zeus" rocks like vintage Mag Earwig material. What the hell does "Electric Newspaper Boy" mean? And how does he make it sound as rocking as anything the Who did? *****

Slick as Snails- This mid-tempo anthem seems to fit the mold for a lot of the Isolation Drills material. My favorite line: "The imprint where you sat, dig the ripples caused by that, I can ride them out." This is some of the finest solo guitar work Gillard has ever done. Gives me chills and a smile every time. *****

Port Authority- An introspective piece with liquid keyboards and a feel that might be borrowed from Bob's love of early Genesis? Good song nonetheless. ****

Soft Smoke/Same Things- Nice short pieces. ***

And I Don't (So Now I Do)- Great piece of pop that probably would have been a 30 second song in the days before Do the Collapse and Ric Ocasek. ****

Tight Globes- Lyrics obscurely tell a tale of a young blonde woman cutting off Bob on the Freeway. Rocks like a classic Who song. A song that gets a shot in the arm live. *****

I Get Rid of You- Dark and mysterious. *** (Can you tell I like the "up" material better?)

Life is Beautiful- I love how this one sounds like they're playing guitar in a small room. Bob touts the wonders of living and it ends with some nice atmospheric baubles and backing vocals. *****

Messiahs- A rocker in 5/4 reminiscent of Camper Van Beethoven with those space cowboy guitars.***

And My Unit Moves- Okay, what "Unit" Bob speaks of. But this stately piano and vocal dirge works surprisingly well. ****

Just when I'm ready to say Pollard's best days are behind him, he cranks out a masterpiece like this. I'm half-tempted to say this is the best GBV related offering since Alien Lanes. This is gorgeous, majestic, old-school Pollard rock. It's like he took a couple huge steps back from the troubled, overwraught Do The Collapse and went back to doing what he does best. I'm still a believer.