One of the common complaints about Robert Pollard's albums anymore is that if he slowed down a bit and didn't put out a new album every 43 hours, the overall product would be stronger. A lot of times, this reaction is upon the first handful of listens to a new album, and I'm guilty of feeling that way also. In fact, it took me up until this week to get into his previous album, Coast to Coast Carpet of Love, although the effort was well worth it in the end - I can now count it among one of his stronger post-GbV releases.
That said, what if we took his last two full-length solo efforts, as well as his Silverfish Trivia EP, and consolidated the best offerings from those albums into one considerably stronger record? Here's the track listing I came up with, with additional thoughts where applicable. We'll call this one Coast to Coast Silverfish Happiness.
(C2C = Coast to Coast Carpet of Love, ST = Silverfish Trivia, NH = Normal Happiness)
1. Our Gaze (C2C) – This one has a classic GbV "opener" feel to it. Reminds me a lot of "Submarine Teams" from Kid Marine.
2. Whispering Whip (NH)
3. Towers and Landslides (NH) – Top of the Pops!!!
4. Rud Fins (C2C) – If The Who did Pollard's "Pop Zeus," it would sound like this.
5. Circle Saw Boys Club (ST)
6. Customer's Throat (C2C) – Even if it weren't a great song, it would still be included solely for the line that sounds like, "I will take you home and nail you." (GBVDB.com says that it's "I will take you home an alien." Which is not as cool, but is.)
7. Slow Hamilton (C2C) – A "sneaky good" tune from Coast to Coast, this one has turned into almost my favorite from that album.
8. Penumbra (C2C)
9. Accidental Texas Who (NH) – The slot for "opener" came down to "Our Gaze" and this one. I had a hard time slotting this one anywhere else – it doesn't really "fit" anywhere but as an album opener, really! - but settled for it as the opener for the second side.
10. Count Us In (C2C)
11. Supernatural Car Lover (NH)
12. Pegasus Glue Factory (NH)
13. I Clap For Strangers (C2C)
14. Rhoda Rhoda (NH)
15. Cats Love A Parade (ST)
16. Nicely Now (C2C)
Just missed the cut – would have made the "Supernatural Car Lover" single: Youth Leagues, Tomorrow Will Not Be Another Day, Full Sun (Dig the Slowness)
This is a first draft. I'm going to test-drive the playlist and see how it works out.
Update: It's crap!
Nawwww, I'm kidding. But not really. It's really not bad up till "Accidental," which really only fits as an opener, I think. From that point, though, it plays like a bad mix tape. "Cats Love A Parade"? What was I thinking? Oh, wait, here's what I was thinking: "I'll put a 7 minute plodder with noise and shit on an otherwise perfectly crafted album for no damn good reason."
----------------
Now playing: Robert Pollard - Slow Hamilton
via FoxyTunes
Monday, February 18, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I'll have to give this a try, but I have to say that I thought Normal Happiness worked fine on its own.
ReplyDeleteIn reference to the other post, I think that Brutus and Bluto were two different guys. Brothers or something?
Yep, NH does work fine on its own. And so does C2C now, about 2 months after I first heard it. I think the ultimate point that I was really trying to make was this: Don't drink and blog.
ReplyDeleteI checked out the Popeye page on Wikipedia. Bluto = Brutus - they changed his name because there was a fear that Universal had rights to the name "Bluto." or something. Wikipedia knows everything, as you may well know.