Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Yet but wait!, August 9, 2005
On Guided by Voices' "Propeller" album, Robert Pollard sang, "we conjure ghosts." On "Vampire on Titus" he actually does. Melodies materialize out of ominous white noise, shamble about for a few seconds, then dissipate again. "Vampire"'s structure is similar to "Bee Thousand" and "Alien Lanes," but it is weirder, darker, and less accessible. That is its strength though; as another reviewer said, even after hundreds of listens, this album still has the power to surprise, perplex, and disturb.
The other GBV albums mentioned above are better starting points for the band's lo-fi era, but you may find yourself, as I have, coming back to the shadowy "Vampire on Titus" most often.
To Bob (and Tobin) be the glory.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bob, would you and living praise choir lead us into God Be The Glory?, August 1, 2005
There's a lot to be said about this album. Generally the first impression is that it contains underdeveloped, terribly-produced tracks that pale in comparison stuff off of Bee Thousand, Propeller, Alien Lanes, etc. I suppose there is some truth to that - even as an adamant lover of this album, I admit that I'd rather listen to "Smothered In Hugs" or "Tractor Rape Chain" than the best this album has to offer. And there's no getting around that hilarious metallic reverb that permeates on the vocals on several of the songs or the straight strangeness of things like "Superior Sector Janitor X" and "E-5".
So then, what's so appealing about this album anyway? The first thing is that it's much darker and grittier than anything else in the GBV catalog, and contains some of the best heavy songs by GBV like "Dusted", "Unstable Journey", "Perhaps Now the Vultures", and "Expecting Brainchild" (probably the catchiest of the bunch, and has a hilarious intro). The second is how brilliant the album can be, when it wants to - like the strangely epic "Marchers In Orange" or "Wondering Boy Poet", two of the best songs in the GBV catalogue, and neither is longer than 90 seconds.
The main appeal, though, is the same appeal of Bee Thousand/Alien Lanes era GBV. The songs work so well in fragments, because they isolate the most spontaneous, inspired moments of a song and then jump on to the next one. And even with the less inspired bits, they're generally so short that they become interesting and don't outstay their welcome. But unlike BT/AL, Vampire on Titus has a much more disturbed and outright weird sound than anything else by GBV. "What About It" is more than a little disturbing in how sounds like it was recorded by a completely different band in some mystery bootleg session and such a complete contrast to the song before and after. Even the sachharine pop of "Jar of Cardinals" and "Gleemer" feel more than a little bit disturbing, especially with tracks like "E-5" in between them.
After many listens of Bee Thousand, I think I have the album pretty well figured out. After many listens of Vampire on Titus, I'm still perplexed at what this album is all about and if it really is deliberately done so perfectly or just accidentally ended up working out so well or somewhere in between those two. My bet is somewhere in between, but either way I don't really care. I'm enjoying it too much.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Beginning of It All, February 23, 2002
Looking at the history of Guided by Voices, Vampire on Titus was the first in a string of four albums to really capture the sound that the GBV purist has been after ever since. Most of us outside the Dayton, Ohio rock scene didn't discover the band until 1993's Bee Thousand, an album which was an incredible blend of uplifting songs that were instantly catchy but fleetingly brief. Vampire on Titus is a much darker album than the three that would follow (Propeller, Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes) and it's brilliance is often overlooked. I consider it to be much like the Stones' Beggars Banquet, an album that was the start of a string of albums that captured a sound that marked the band's high point. Although Beggars Banquet is considered by some to be the Stones finest, the same cannot be said of GBV's Vampire on Titus. I would never recommend a newcomer begin with Vampire on Titus, but instead listen to it after digesting Propeller, Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes. There are some gems here, to be sure!!
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