Other Mixes By Pop Kulcher
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Single Artist
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Theme - Narrative
Pop Zeus: The Compete Guided By Voices
| Side A | ||
| Artist | Song | |
| Guided By Voices | A Salty Salute | |
| Robert Pollard | Pop Zeus | |
| Guided By Voices | The Best Of Jill Hives | |
| Guided By Voices | I Am A Scientist | |
| Guided By Voices | Postal Blowfish | |
| Guided By Voices | Underwater Explosions | |
| Guided By Voices | Captain's Dead | |
| Guided By Voices | Tractor Rape Chain | |
| Guided By Voices | Glad Girls | |
| Airport 5 | Stifled Man Casino | |
| Guided By Voices | Surgical Focus | |
| Guided By Voices | Big School | |
| Guided By Voices | Gleemer (The Deeds Of Fertile Jim) | |
| Guided By Voices | I Am A Tree | |
| Robert Pollard | I'm A Strong Lion | |
| Guided By Voices | Quality Of Armor | |
| Guided By Voices | Things I Will Keep | |
| Guided By Voices | Shocker In Gloomtown | |
| Robert Pollard | Zoom (It Happens All Over The World) | |
| Guided By Voices | Motor Away | |
| Guided By Voices | Dodging Invisible Rays | |
| Circus Devils | Bull Spears | |
| Guided By Voices | Don't Stop Now | |
| Tobin Sprout | All Used Up | |
| Guided By Voices | Back To Saturn X | |
| Guided By Voices | Teenage FBI | |
| Guided By Voices | The Other Place | |
| Guided By Voices | Blimps Go 90 | |
| Lexo & The Leapers | Alone, Stinking & Unafraid | |
| Guided By Voices | Wondering Boy Poet | |
| Side B | ||
| Artist | Song | Buy |
| Guided By Voices | Over The Neptune | |
| Guided By Voices | Chasing Heather Crazy | |
| Guided By Voices | Echos Myron | |
| Tobin Sprout | E's Navy Blue | |
| Guided By Voices | Little Lines | |
| Guided By Voices | Game Of Pricks | |
| Guided By Voices | Jane Of The Waking Universe | |
| Guided By Voices | Radio Show (Trust The Wizard) | |
| Guided By Voices | Cheyenne | |
| Guided By Voices | A Good Flying Bird | |
| Robert Pollard | Frequent Weaver Who Burns | |
| Fig. 4 (Tobin Sprout) | Dig The Catacombs | |
| Guided By Voices | Bulldog Skin | |
| Guided By Voices | Jar Of Cardinals | |
| Guided By Voices | Huffman Prairie Flying Field | |
| Guided By Voices | Ha Ha Man | |
| Guided By Voices | Cut-Out Witch | |
| Guided By Voices | Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory | |
| Guided By Voices | Exit Flagger | |
| Guided By Voices | Hey Hey, Spaceman | |
| Robert Pollard | Subspace Biographies | |
| Guided By Voices | Mincer Ray | |
| Guided By Voices | Drag Days | |
| Guided By Voices | My Impression Now | |
| Robert Pollard | Supernatural Car Lover | |
| Guided By Voices | My Valuable Hunting Knife | |
| Guided By Voices | Avalanche Aminos | |
| Guided By Voices | Great Blake Street Canoe Race | |
| Guided By Voices | Choking Tara (Creamy Version) | |
| Guided By Voices | Marchers In Orange | |
Comment:
DISC ONE, CONT:31. Hot Freaks (GbV)
32. My Kind Of Soldier (GbV)
33. How Loft I Am? (GbV)
DISC TWO, CONT:
31. Conspiracy of Owls (Robert Pollard)
32. The Official Ironman Rally Song (GbV)
33. Gonna Never Have To Die (GbV)
34. Please Freeze Me
Let's face it: While I make a lot of them and post them here, single artist mixes are undoubtedly the least "artful" mixes on AOTM. For the most part, we're just taking our favorite songs from some artist and arranging them chronologically (or, at times, more imaginatively for sonic variation). Still, every now and then a single artist mix can turn out as varied and imaginative as any multi-artist mix. Naturally, having a particularly prolific or long-running artist helps, as does an artist with multiple configurations (i.e. band + solo members). But an additional factor in an atypically strong single artist mix is having an artist who is, shall we say, less than consistent. Or, to be even more frank, releases gobs and gobs of utter dreck. Pull one or two songs apiece from a dozen or two albums, and you end up with a work far better than anything the artist managed to cobble together on his/her/their own.
All a long wind up to saying that, for a long time, my all-time favorite single artist mix that I'd burned was my single-cd Guided By Voices disc. Because, let's face it, while Robert Pollard and his rotating gang of musicians may have had a few noteworthy works (primarily 1994's Bee Thousand and 1995's Alien Lanes), they've churned out more useless crap than probably any recording artist since the dawn of modern recording. I've been suckered into buying literally dozens of albums, ep's, singles, and box sets issued by GbV and his myriad solo and spin-off projects since the early 80's, most of which have a couple decent tunes and a whole lot of Pollard jerking off into a tape recorder. Yet at the same time, some of those standout tracks may very well be among the most painfully wonderful, catchy, brilliant pieces of askew post-punk pop ever crafted. Separate the wheat from the chaff and, holy shit, that's some amazing wheat. Anyway, I burned that one about 40 albums ago (albeit 40 largely lame albums), and felt a need to stretch things into a 2-cd set. It may not be as nonstop perfect as the original mix, but it's still 67 pieces of maddeningly delicious music. (Plus, the extra space gave me a little extra room for some stray tracks by one-time GbV tunesmith Tobin Sprout and a few more early GbV pieces.)
Feedback:
I have been trying desperately to like GBV since I read the book from John Sellers.But your recommendation here speaks volumes more than Sellers' man-crush obsessiveness. I'll give them another go.
Excellent summary. Glad I'm not the only one who thinks they have a lot of chaff in with the wheat.
I'd agree that the "Single Artist" mix is, in most cases, a substitute for
genuine creativity. But I'd also agree that GbV can be brilliant @ times (I own only one album, Alien Lanes. In any case...this looks terrific.
genuine creativity. But I'd also agree that GbV can be brilliant @ times (I own only one album, Alien Lanes. In any case...this looks terrific.
i would be more inclined to give them a fairer shot if pollard wasn't such a self-important twat who has the gross misconception that he's god's gift to music - their quantity far exceeds their quality in my eyes, i'm afraid - but hey that's just me, i still salute your endeavor
Mainly because of the same reasons you offered, the only GBV disc I currently own is Human Amusements At Hourly Rates (which is in itself a distillation of their boxed set). Undoubtedly, there is a lot of crap on most of their studio albums, but I chalk it up the chutzpah of Robert Pollard to release half-baked songs as much as anything.
I'm with anthony 100%. For a short while in the early-to-mid-'90s, I had drunk the Pollard Kool-Aid and thought that he was some sort of Pop Genius. Now I just think he's written about one and a half discs' worth (granted, our two discs would be a bit different, although you've hit many of my top picks--"Game of Pricks," "Quality of Armor," "Motor Away," "Jar of Cardinals," "Exit Flagger" and "My Impression Now") of great material. One and a half out of 40+ releases (coupled with the attitude that anthony summarized), however, means that I'm not much of a fan at this point.
I'm hardly a fan of this band but you've done a very thorough job.