ROBERT POLLARD
Coast to Coast Carpet of Love (Merge-2007)
Standard Gargoyle Decisions (Merge-2007)
Perhaps the world’s most prolific middle-aged rock and roller, Bob Pollard’s recent solo output had us missing and going back to the late, great Guided by Voices, which he fronted for 20 years and released over a dozen albums with. His solo releases—both during and after GBV—may be threatening to catch up and eventually surpass his totals with Dayton, Ohio’s favorite indie rock sons but they lacked the same sort of charm and appeal of the much beloved old combo. Until now. In a move reminiscent of another no-frills rocker, Pollard has released two albums on the same day. Those that may have come late to the party and are perhaps intrigued by the not very indie aspect of a double dose of Bob on the same day, should be made aware of two things: the inexhaustibly fertile well of his songwriting; and that Pollard may be an indie icon but his heart has always beat to the sound of classic rock.
And one of those classic rock standard bearers is The Who. Guided By Voices always bore the imprint of the British quartet’s Tommy-era influence but Coast to Coast Carpet of Love leads off with two of Pollard’s best tributes to the Mod Gods (“Our Gaze”, “Count Us In”) before settling into familiar territory, courtesy of a crisp production by long-time collaborator Todd Tobias that accentuates one of his finest batches of songs ever.
Standard Gargoyle Decisions is a different beast altogether. A lo-fi set of rockers that gets in your face from the get-go (“The Killers”) and does not let up until it’s damn well ready to, the album contains the only example of Pollard’s trademark oddly-titled songs among both of these records—the excellent “Motion Sickness Ghosts”—and is a tad more consistent in the songwriting department than CTCCOL. Glad to have you back, Bob. We missed you.
