Any opinions of Lifeguards CD?

[cungar]

I haven't received mine but it should be coming any time now. Luna usually ships a week before release date.

[cungar]

Hate to say but this appears to be the weakest thing Bob and Doug have done up to this point. In fact I'd rank it as the worst thing Bob's done in years. It seems to be a Doug glory project. It features 3 instrumentals, one of which is basically two chords repeated endlessly that sounds like In Stitches and another of which is a martial drum pattern repeated endlessly. Of the actual songs there are of course a few gems but I have to say fewer than the Airport 5 projects, Go Back Snowball and even Motel of Fools. RED WHIPS AND MIRACLES starts out good but ends with a 5 minute guitsr solo that goes nowhere. Oh well maybe it will grow on me. 6 months to Earthquake Glue.

[James Riot]

That sucks, but I haven't heard it myself yet. I had a feeling before that because Motel of Fools was so short and because Speak Kindly was such a great album, that they should have combined the two works. Although I guess that Pollard wants to keep his postal rock separate from his solo albums. Oh well, now it just won't be as painful waiting until I can get my hands on it.

[cungar]

Unfortunately when you compare this to Speak Kindly, it pales pretty bad. Speak Kindly has at least 7 GREAT songs. This might have 2.

[bitterfruit]

Originally posted by James Riot
That sucks, but I haven't heard it myself yet. I had a feeling before that because Motel of Fools was so short and because Speak Kindly was such a great album, that they should have combined the two works. Although I guess that Pollard wants to keep his postal rock separate from his solo albums. Oh well, now it just won't be as painful waiting until I can get my hands on it.

I was also basing my hope for this collaboration on the merits of Speak Kindly.....

[Jason]

90% of all Bob Pollard music takes some warming up to really get into. For me at least.

I haven't gotten the album yet (the vinyl has been held up until later this week), but I can't wait.

I trust Bob. I trust Doug.

[James Riot]

I really didn't think they could do any wrong either until I heard Airport 5's Life Starts Here. I just think that the postal rock format in general is a really tough way to produce music. The musician who writes the original music should give Pollard at least twice the amount of music needed to fill up an album, that way there is a lot more material to choose from. I mean, it's not like Doug or anyone else will have any idea how good these will turn out once Sir Robert puts his vocals on it.

[cungar]

I agree with you Jason that Bob's stuff needs warming up to. In fact Motel of Fools took about 10 listens to rub off on me. It just seems like Bob really isn't able to totally get into this Lifeguards project. There's a few reasons. First, the number of instrumentals: 3/11 tracks and one is a Doug drum solo. Also there are 2 songs where you can tell he just runs out of a melody and starts talking his lyrics. I also think Doug made it hard for him on this one by producing songs that didn't really accomodate a good melody. One example is Surgeon is Complete where Doug plays a Jimmy Page type riff that just repeats itself. Bob seems like he's trying too hard to stick lyrics onto it. I do like Starts at the River, No Chain Breaking and Society Dome. Believe me, for the amount of stuff Bob's put out in the last 2 years he deserves to make a mediocre album. I just think he could have put the good songs here on Motel of Fools and had one good 50 minute album.

[Jason]

Okay, with the first few listens I was immediately impressed by Doug Gillard's music. Along with the Tobias Bros. stuff on the first Circus Devils album, this is my favorite musical backing for Bob's postal rock stuff thus far (Both are very different so I won't compare them). It's a very rich classic rock sound full of cool 70s references.

Bob's work didn't make much impression and was, at times, kind of annoying.

But Bob's songs have been growing on me. "No Chain Breaking" and "Society Dome" in particular. And I actually like how he doesn't sing much on "Red Whips and Miracles".

Sour points. I really wish Bob had gotten into "Shorter Virgins" a little more. I think that track could've been much cooler than it is. And I woulda left "Gift of the Mountain" on the cutting room floor.

[cungar]

Pretty much agree with you Jason. That's why I originally said it felt like a Doug project with Bob attempting to put songs on top of instrumental tracks. Worked marvelously in the past on Speak Kindly... but fell flat here. I pretty much like the same songs you do.

[RichT]

I just wanted to chime in one thing and I don't want to come off snotty when I say this because I don't mean it this way but no matter how you feel about Lifeguards and Speak Kindly trying to compare the two isn't really fair. Speak Kindly is a Bob solo album. 90% of the material on the album is written by Bob only. Music by Bob, words by Bob. It's completely different from Lifeguards. Doug played all the instruments on Speak Kindly but he only had a hand in writing music for 4 of the 15 tracks. Lifeguards is the second time they have done an album just the two of them together but their two completely different projects.

[cungar]

You don't sound snotty Rich. I understand what you're saying and to my ears, the Speak Kindly method worked much better. I think the best collaboration he's done where he takes music and puts his own words to it was Go Back Snowball - Calling Zero which I think is a fantastic CD.
So if I understand correctly, Bob provided music to Doug on Speak Kindly? What does he do, mail him demos of guitar tracks he's done? I'm pretty sure they worked seperately on that too.
Have you heard the Lifeguards CD Rich?What do you think?

[James Riot]

I'm pretty sure that Rich T. has heard the Lifeguards CD; he runs GBV.com.

[cungar]

Oh that Rich

[RichT]

Hey cungar - The way things worked with Speak Kindly was that Bob sat down with the acoustic guitar and played all the songs on to a tape and sent it to Doug. On the tape there are also parts where Bob will sing a lead or say "lead guitar here". Doug then took that tape and recorded all the music on his own. The 4 songs on that album that were co-written between Bob and Doug were done the same way that Lifeguards is done. Doug wrote some music that Bob had no part of and mailed it to Bob who put a melody and lyrics too.

I do like both a lot. I do think that Bob's solo stuff is better than his collboration stuff though.

[Ladt]

Rich, I wouldn't want to compromise your position, so you don't have to answer this, but are there any of Bob's project you don't like?

[RichT]

I ain't bullshitting when I say there isn't one I haven't liked....that might just be me though.

[bitterfruit]

Rich,

I can admire your dedication to being a fan of Bob, but there are some pieces that just can't be listened to at all.

Whether coincidence or otherwise, I can hardly listen to anything produced by Todd Tobias.

Then I have Speak Kindly and Isolation Drills like the nectar of the gods for more recent reminders of Bob's genius, just to name a couple.

[James Riot]

I don't I have ever been disappointed by an album of songs that Pollard has written himself. I think that even Pollard's b-sides are better than the A-material of most bands (Suitcase would be my desert island GBV CD). It is only this "postal rock" concept that I ever have a problem with, and unfairly, is the major reason for why some people doubt Pollard's greatness.

[Jason]

I'm with Rich. I like it all.

And I'm just fan who's never even MET anyone in the band.

[Radamez]

I've heard people say that this isn't much more than a Gillard Wank. I don't agree. I think that if you've got it, flaunt it. I wouldn't have been horribly disappointed if this had been an instrumental record actually.
Even though now I've come to love everything Pollard sings just because it's Pollard, and being exposed to his personality comforts me.
When Shorter Virgins started it reminded me of You Could Be Mine from Use Your Illusion II.

[Pop Zeus]

I like the Lifeguards. I was a bit unsure at first, but I never got a chance to listen to it all the way through until about a week after I got it. It's grown on me. I saw them in Cinncinnati with my 2 year old this past Saturday. She digs them a lot. She told Bob to "Rock On" and got a couple of kisses.

The new songs from earthquake Glue sound really good live, but they always do. They always end up sounding different on record. That's what I like about Bob's work. He always keeps you guessing about what he's going to do next.

[James Riot]

Speaking of songs that remind you of other songs, for me, the Red Whips and Miracles never fails to bring to mind the Peanuts song. Favourite song off the record is either that song, or No Chain Breaking. I'm reserving judgement on the entire record for the time being, though, at the bare minimum, it is one of the most interesting of GBV releases. Ie. an album that is good to play when you are doing something.

[Scott Frost]

I, on the other hand, love the "And Life Starts Here" CD

[cungar]

I've listened to it less than any Bob release in the last three years. His CD's are usually in my portable CD player for at least 2 months after their release. That usually means 40-50 listens. This one barely made 10.