Cool Planet
13 May 2014
Guided by Voices Inc.
2.5 stars out of 5
GBV fans be warned: there’s a song on Cool Planet that is more than three
minutes long. You might have to double your dose of Ritalin in order to
concentrate long enough for that one. Coming less than three months after their
previous LP, Motivational Jumpsuit,
the latest from Robert Pollard & Co. doesn’t quite hit the mark. The songs
here sound tired and derivative, as if Pollard is parodying himself. Still, a
self-parodying Pollard is preferable to the pure persona of many another
performer.
By his own confession, Pollard has developed a formula for
writing songs, which perhaps accounts for the staleness of the material here;
however, since this is his third full-length in less than six months, perhaps
what is needed most is some self-editing. If you took the best five or six
tracks from each of Blazing Gentlemen,
Motivational Jumpsuit, and Cool Planet and threw them together you’d
have a pretty solid LP. In literature, one of the dangers of self-publishing is
the lack of attention paid to editing, which isn’t so much an ego thing as it
is a lack of understanding of why a second or third perspective is important.
The same goes for music.
The closing track here, which is also the title track of the
LP, displays the kind of songwriting genius Pollard possesses. With one or two
other exceptions, the remainder of the LP doesn’t display much else of
interest. For long-time fans, you’ll have another pretty piece of vinyl to add
to your shelves, but for everyone else your time and money is better spent
elsewhere.
reviewed by Richard Krueger
No comments:
Post a Comment