Zero to 99

Boston Spaceships | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 6, 2009)
• Original Release Date: 2009
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Guided By Voices
• ASIN: B002LVS4UY
• Also Available in: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #197,366 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

2009 release from this outfit led by former Guided By Voices mainman Robert Pollard, one of the most prolific artists in Rock music. Boston Spaceships' Zero to 99 is quintessential Pollard, a record that holds its own alongside widely acknowledged classics like Guided By Voices' Bee Thousand, Alien Lanes, and Under the Bushes Under the Stars. One gets the sense that Pollard is having the most fun he's had in decades, before he was pulled reluctantly from obscurity and thrust into the limelight with GBV in those heady, post-Nirvana mid-1990s. The Boston Spaceships have not only landed; they're conquering the goddamn planet.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Radical Amazement!!, October 16, 2009

By 

McSpunkle (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zero to 99 (Audio CD)

This is the best Spaceships record yet, and probably the best album Bob's put out in years. Chris Slusarenko, who covers most of the guitar and bass duties here, seems to understand Bob's vision better than most of his other current collaborators (For further proof, check out The Takeovers and the other two BS records). This album is chock full of the kind of melodies that make you think, "how has no one come up with this before?" Songs like "Let it Rest For a Little While" and "Mr. Ghost Town" will be bouncing around your skull for weeks.

One of my favorite things about this band is how they take old GBV songs and demos, and update them. The first Suitcase boxset seems to be where several of these first appeared. Opener "Pluto The Skate" sounds pretty much like the same version with added "I Am The Walrus" style psychedelic strings at the end. One of my favorite GBV songs of all time, "Meddle" (dating back almost 20 years) is updated from a jangly bedroom demo to a stomping rocker. Simply stellar.

If you're at all familiar with the work of Robert Pollard, you know what to expect, and it's all here: Rock, pop, punk, prog, psych, great hooks, killer riffs, funny, thought provoking, abstract lyrics.

Bob's voice is in excellent form here, and the fidelity has been slightly lowered in comparison to most of his recent albums, leading one to almost believe that this was recorded in the early to mid nineties. Seriously, it's that good. Some of the songs even crash right into each other, ala Alien Lanes.

Guest appearences by Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey bring us one step closer to my dream collaboration of Robert Pollard and Robyn Hitchcock... it'll probably never happen, but you never know...

And do yourself a favor, check out Bob's solo album, Elephant Jokes, released earlier this year. Killer killer stuff.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Pollard, October 6, 2009

By 

E. Reynolds "earinc" (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Zero to 99 (Audio CD)

This is the best Pollard record since perhaps Alien Lanes or Over the Bushes. If this had come out in 1996 as a GBV record it would be talked about now as one of their greatest, alongside Bee Thousand, Alien Lanes, etc.

When Pollard screams "IS EVERYBODY HAPPY NOW?" on the first track, it's as if he knows this is this record that us longtime fans have been waiting for since Guided By Voices broke up in 2002. Track two, "How Wrong You Are" is an anthemic Pollard insta-classic that ends with a refrain reminiscent of the "You Are Forgiven" refrain in The Who's "A Quick One While He's Away".

From the Buzzcocks-esque guitars on "Found Obstruction Rock 'n' Rolls," to the Keith Moonish, Tommy-era drums of "Question Girls All Right," to the McCartney-like bass riffs on "Trashed Aircraft Baby" that would fit right in on Abbey Road, Zero to 99 is a timeless rock classic. This is pure Pollard melodic rock, and easily my favorite Pollard record in a decade.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Pollard, October 6, 2009

By 

John E. "Music Geek" (The Doledrums) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zero to 99 (Audio CD)

For all the naysayers out there, this is one of the best post GbV records in quite some time. All the Circus Devil experimentation has been left behind (not that there's anything wrong with that)in favor of Pollard at his classicist, great pop melody best. Can't say enough good things about this record. How Wrong You Are - Radical Amazement - Question Girl All Right - Let It Rest for a Little While - Trashed Aircraft Baby - Meddle - Exploding Anthills - The Comedian - A Good Circuitry Soldier. Every one of these deserve entry into The Pollard Book of Rock Genius. Nuff said