The Phoenix Network:
 
 
 
About  |  Advertise
Adult  |  Moonsigns  |  Band Guide  |  Blogs  |  In Pictures
 
CD Reviews  |  Classical  |  Live Reviews  |  Music Features

Review: Robert Pollard | Elephant Jokes

Guided By Voices Inc. (2009)
By MICHAEL PATRICK BRADY  |  August 10, 2009
3.0 3.0 Stars

Pollard doesn't care whether you listen to his music. The entire world could be rendered deaf and he'd still put out a half-dozen albums a year, driven by a need to express the twisted melodies and schizophasic lyrics that clutter his brain. Elephant Jokes is his fifth album just this year, and he has another one on deck in his Boston Spaceships guise.

What's truly astonishing, however, is that despite the breakneck pace, the immense number of volumes, and, yes, the moderate amount of half-baked filler, Pollard still turns out some gems. He has an eerie gift for memorable melodies, and it's put to good use on this light-hearted album, which burns through 22 songs in 45 minutes. The perky guitar of "Johnny Optimist" is pure fun, a typically abstract Pollard yarn about a distorted protagonist who nevertheless "comes out on top/Like a post-car-crash Jan and Dean."

He wastes a perfectly good chorus on "Hipsville (Where the Frisbees Fly Forever)," an interlude that would seem insubstantial on one of his many demo collections. Although much of Elephant Jokes is in the indie-arena-rock mold, the ballad "Desiring" and "Tattered Lilly," with its delicate double-tracked harmonies, both provide depth and contrast. No surprises here, just a reliable, workmanlike attitude with a few warm smiles.

Related: A real cut-up, Saving The Past For Last, Robert Pollard(1), More more >
  Topics: CD Reviews , Robert Pollard, Robert Pollard, Robert Pollard,  More more >
  • Share:
  • Share this entry with Facebook
  • Share this entry with Digg
  • Share this entry with Delicious
  • RSS feed
  • Email this article to a friend
  • Print this article
Comments

[ 10/23 ]   Schola Cantorum of Boston  @ Church of St. John the Evangelist
[ 10/23 ]   Opera Boston conducted by Gil Rose  @ Cutler Majestic Theatre
[ 10/23 ]   Musicians of the Old Post Road  @ Christ Church
[ 10/23 ]   Longy Chamber Orchestra conducted by Julian Pellicano  @ Longy School of Music
[ 10/23 ]   Emma Kirkby & Jakob Lindberg  @ First Congregational Church
--> -->
ARTICLES BY MICHAEL PATRICK BRADY
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   THE BLACK HEART PROCESSION | SIX  |  October 06, 2009
    Formed in sunny San Diego, the Black Heart Procession write the kind of gloomy, downcast dirges you'd expect from less hospitable climates.
  •   FOOL'S GOLD | FOOL'S GOLD  |  September 22, 2009
    A big band with a big sound, Los Angeles-based Fool’s Gold come off as self-consciously cosmopolitan.  
  •   REVIEW: CASTANETS | TEXAS ROSE, THE THAW AND THE BEASTS  |  September 15, 2009
    Although based in a rustic, country-western sound, Ray Raposa's Castanets are irreverent, using familiar elements like pedal-steel guitars and gospel choruses in defiant ways.
  •   REVIEW: WILD BEASTS | TWO DANCERS  |  September 09, 2009
    It would be easy to overuse singer Hayden Thorpe's ebullient falsetto and dilute its campy majesty. Wild Beasts, a dreamy English quartet with a penchant for licentious lyrics and showy flourishes, know better.
  •   YO LA TENGO | POPULAR SONGS  |  August 19, 2009
    Yo La Tengo are articulate, thoughtful purveyors of highbrow pop.

 See all articles by: MICHAEL PATRICK BRADY

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed 



  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2009 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group