Carnival Boy
[Amazon]
There's no mistaking this for anything else
but a Guided by Voices solo
project. Granted Tobin Sprout just doesn't have the swagger
in his music that Bob Pollard
does. His tunes are just a little more twee, a little more melodic,
a little less obtusely pounding. He is the Beatles
to Pollard's Stones. He
doesn't want to be the microphone-swinging front man. He wants
to be the singer songwriter who pens beautiful, timeless tunes
through a blanket of fuzz. Despite their differences, it's their
similarities that made Guided by Voices such an indie rock powerhouse.
Like the balance of other bands with dual frontmen, earlier
GBV benefited from the occasional change of pace brought on
by Sprout. The issue for him, of course, was that it quickly
became evident that it was Pollard's band, and that there wasn't
enough room for two top bananas. So Sprout went off and wrote
this quiet little album of pretty pop songs that sound a lot
like tunes he most likely penned for GBV albums that never happened-or
they happened, just without his contributions. This is actually
a decent little album. Not stunning by any stretch, but it makes
you wonder what would have happened if Sprout was allowed to
spread his wings a little more inside of the band construct. |
Let's Welcome the Circus People
Look I'm Pink Floyd
or something. For his third solo album, Sprout returns to the
whole kiddie-themed thing (circuses and carnivals, oh boy!)
I'm not really sure if this guy just ran out of ideas, or was
going for something different, but this album just runs out
of steam about two tracks in. Seriously, he may have blown his
load on his first two solo albums, after being stifled by Bob
Pollard for all those years. His "I'll show him!" turned
into an "Oh, crap, I'm out of ideas." There are actually a few
embarrassing songs on here, like "Liquor Bag," which sounds
like a duet with a drunk Tom Petty. And the rest of the album
just kind of blends into itself and becomes a puddle of mush.
Now I know how George Harrison must have felt. |
Moonflower Plastic
[Amazon]
Sprout's sophomore effort starts in outer
space somewhere, with a hum that made me think my headphones
had broken. The rest of the album just kind of settles into
the post-Beatles thing and rides
the wave of semi-nostalgia to its logical conclusion. Again,
this album isn't bad, but it lacks something that I can't quite
put my finger on. Ooh, I got it: hooks. The guy can write a
nice tune, and really has a nice aesthetic, but he just seems
to swerve when he's about to hit the mark. So instead of being
classic, it's just nice. Toe-tapping? Sure. Head bobbing? Not
so much. There are times where you just want to grab the amp
and crank it for him, add some crackle to his pop. So we have
a nice collection of pop songs, the energy of which ebbs and
flows a little too much, but makes for an overall pleasant record
of relatively memorable tunes that make an impression, but not
much impact. |
Musical Connections:
Airport 5
Fig. 4
Guided by Voices
Robert Pollard
|
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