Robert Pollard - The Crawling Distance

Another week flies by, and I'm still just now getting around to listen to the new Robert Pollard CD "The Crawling Distance" , which was released this week from GBV, Inc. label.

Matthew Fiander over at Popmatters has been following Pollard's music closely the last few years and hits upon a theme in his great review of The Crawling Distance that I've also felt over the last few Pollard releases, that is...
"It also helps that producer and multi-instrumentalist Todd Tobias sounds the best he's ever sounded on The Crawling Distance. Gone is the cheap sounding production and stop-start drumming, and in its place is a very full-band sound. There is no space between Pollard and the music as there has been in the past, and the cohesion and clarity of the sound really lets the songs speak for themselves."

YES! Indeed, someone in Dayton or Kent figured out the sound structure. Tobias' musicianship is unparalleled, but the CDs seem to show a bit too clearly the Bob Pollard MO of singing over the tracks. Here, on The Crawling Distance, everything feels sweet and full. Nice observation.

And Brian Baker at Citybeat (Cincinnati) offers up this wonderful comparison to Pete Townshend: "Like Pete Townshend, Pollard has a generational voice that transcends generations. Unlike Townshend, Pollard has the unique capacity for incredible clarity and universality when he is at his most cryptic and impenetrable. And also unlike Townshend, Pollard has yet to put out an album of relative mush that has to be atoned for on a subsequent release. The Crawling Distance shows Robert Pollard at the top of a game that he is a long way from finishing."

I love "Imaginary Queen Anne" the early MP3 that's been floating about for a few weeks, but the rockers sound cool too. As with a lot of Bob Pollard's songs, it can take a few listen to dig into the goodness. I'm still in that area. Listening and learning. Hearing the beauty. Goodness prevails.