My very first live encounter with Guided By Voices was six years ago on this very day at the Elbow Room in Columbia, SC.
I was blown away, stunned, and hooked by their engaging live performance. I have never seen a band get quite as drunk on stage and manage to somehow play as tight as one might hope.
Do The Collapse had just been released and the critics were ready to pounce considering the immediately recognizable departure from the previous material.
The critics failed to judge the release by itself. They seemed to be put off by the polished nature of the recording rather than appreciate the span that Pollard was demonstrating. Sure, one of the singles from the release, “Hold On Hope,” wasn’t exactly high art compared to songs on Bee Thousand, but when you have literally written 10,000 songs some are bound to be less art-y than others.
Do The Collapse, their first release on TVT, remains one of my favorite Pollard releases next to Isolation Drills. A recent exchange with Fred Wilson has insprired an upcoming “intro to GBV” podcast that I am currently working on.
Stay tuned for that podcast during the week of February 6th.
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