Has Robert Pollard been reading his reviews lately? The back cover of 2009's Elephant Jokes, the fifth album Pollard released that year, features the blurb "Another big batch of Robert Pollard songs, a new nadir in patience and delicacy," suggesting he's become aware of the not-uncommon complaint that he's more interested in quantity than quality. But truth to tell, Pollard's joke has been attached to the wrong record: Elephant Jokes sounds more like a Guided by Voices album than anything Pollard has done in quite a while, which is to say the tunes are short, energetic, and hooky as all get-out and he dives into them with a full head of steam. The album was cut using Pollard's now standard working method -- Bob singing and playing guitar; Todd Tobias recording, producing, and handling the rest of the instruments -- but the results suggest Pollard put a bit more thought into his guitar playing, with a larger portion of joyously aggressive slop making its way into the final mix than listeners have come to expect, and though Elephant Jokes still doesn't perfectly replicate the sound of the members of a full band bouncing ideas off one another in the studio, it comes much closer than most of his post-GbV work. And as for the songs, Elephant Jokes is just consistent enough that perhaps Pollard actually threw away a few less than worthwhile tunes for a change; the wordplay is thoroughly cryptic, as usual, but there's actually some sort of point to "Things Have Changed (Down in Mexico City)" and "Hippsville (Where the Frisbees Fly Forever)," and the primitivism of "Jimmy" and "Symbols and Heads" is enough to make you think the man has rediscovered his four-track cassette machine, and likes it. Sure, Elephant Jokes is another big batch of Robert Pollard songs, but it harks back to a time when most smart pop fans could hardly ask for anything more.
Reviewing a Robert Pollard album is a difficult business for me. Given that I own more records by him (predominantly with Guided By Voices) than any other artist I find it hard to give even a semi-objective account, but I'll do my best. Elephant Jokes is his fifth release this year, with another two on the cards. The constant writing, recording and releasing of records is an integral part of wh...
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After the cohesive sound of his recent solo work, Pollard turns once again to his schizophrenic pop muse on the 22-track Elephant Jokes.
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Reviewing a Robert Pollard album is a difficult business for me. Given that I own more records by him (predominantly with Guided By Voices) than any other artist I find it hard to give even a semi-objective account, but I'll do my best. Elephant Jokes is his fifth release this year, with another two on the cards. The constant writing, recording and releasing of records is an integral part of wh...
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Robert Pollard is the worlds greatest living songwriter. That may be a bold statement but it is true. I have many favourite songwriters James Mercer Sufjan Stevens Paddy McAloon but none of them have the longevity and body of work that Pollard has.Paul McCartney is obviously a challenge to what Im saying and Im a huge fan of his work. I love the Beatles and anyone who had the misfortune to spen...
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After the cohesive sound of his recent solo work, Pollard turns once again to his schizophrenic pop muse on the 22-track Elephant Jokes.
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Good weekend! My mailbox last night had a copy the upcoming Robert Pollard CD 'Elephant Jokes', slated for August release. Sweeet. I just plunked it on and am rockin' to the big rock sounds. 2nd track, Johnny Optimist, great song. Big chorus. Robert Pollard is alive. More reviewness coming as I get through it...UPDATE: Here's a bit more on the CD - plus an MP3 from 'Elephant Jokes' below. Rober...
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I've lost count of how many albums Robert Pollard has released over the last little while. Since retiring the icon indie band Guided By Voices, Pollard has unleashed a deluge of solo material as well as stuff with his band Boston Spaceships.The next up is the solo album Elephant Jokes (dudes going to be running out of titles soon). That album comes out on September 11th, but Pollard has made a
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Yikes, this list is extensive. A lot of groups MySpace labeled as punk/country are out there this week as well as ones from North Carolina. We’re not here to focus on things like that though, ...Related posts:New Album Releases For Tuesday 9/1/2009New Album Releases For Tuesday 2/17/2009New Album Releases For Tuesday 8/4/2009
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 "Elephant Jokes")
