When I reviewed Guided by Voices' Hold on Hope EP several months ago, I came down pretty damned hard on it. What I didn't let on in that review was the fact that I, like so many of those who later wrote me to tell me that I "fucking suck," experienced an extended tenure as a GBV fanatic. For years, I spent a good chunk of my spare cash on the band's releases, swallowing up pretty much everything from their early LPs to Mag Earwhig!
And then things started to fall apart. Kid Marine was the first undeniable sign that all was not well in Dayton, Ohio. For perhaps the first time ever, Pollard struggled to find a catchy melody, instead tossing off an entire full-length of uninspired basement jams. Still, I eagerly anticipated Do the Collapse. Unlike many, I was intrigued by the concept of a fully produced Guided by Voices album. Unfortunately, the record was not a fully produced Guided by Voices album-- it wasn't a Guided by Voices album at all.
I dare anybody to disagree that a glossy studio album with songs like "Motor Away", "Gold Star for Robot Boy", and "Smothered in Hugs" wouldn't go down in the rock annals as timeless. The arena rock hooks in those tracks would have lent themselves perfectly to clean, reverb-drenched studio treatment. But instead of upping the ante and rocking out, Do the Collapse wound up limp, closer in nature to a collection of 80s monster ballads than any of their preceding efforts.
Perhaps sensing the relative level of disappointment attached to the new material, Bob Pollard has now released Suitcase, a multi-decade-spanning collection of 100 alternate versions, album outtakes, and other unreleased material. Though the majority of the songs in this four-disc box set have never seen formal release, many of them will be familiar to fanatics. An alternate version of the excellent "Ha Ha Man" appeared on Tonics and Twisted Chasers, a fanclub-only release from a few years back. "James Riot" has been a staple of the band's live shows for years that has cemented itself as a fan favorite and a song title for all true obsessives to blurt out during shows.
The alternate version of "Buzzards and Dreadful Crows", as well as an alternate take of "Damn Good Mr. Jam", both appeared as brief soundbytes on Propeller's "Back to Saturn X Radio Report". And much of the material on Suitcase is the stuff of GBV legends, including a track taken from the famed Power of Suck concept LP, originally to be recorded with Kim Deal and Jim Greer.
The material on Suitcase ranges from "Little Jimmy the Giant", a 1974 Pollard solo track, to early-90s Pollard/Sprout collaborations such as "Mr. Japan", to 1998's "Shrine to the Dynamic Years (Athens Time Change Riot)", which features current Guided by Voices guitarist Doug Gillard and ex-Breeders drummer Jim MacPherson. But despite the vast amount of time covered, every track on Suitcase is decidedly a Bob Pollard song. With titles like "Invest in British Steel" and "My Feet's Trustworthy Existence", Pollard's trademark oddball lyrics are in prime form here. And amazingly, so is his songwriting.
Suitcase is crammed with classic Pollard moments-- those unique occasions where poorly recorded, sloppily delivered songs somehow become transcendent pop genius. It's moments like this that have made Pollard the veritable indie rock icon he is today, and the severe lack of moments like this that have plagued his recent work.
Yet, despite the generally excellent quality of the songs here, there are, of course, a few outstanding flaws that prevent it from achieving the same level of excellence the Bee Thousand era managed. For starters, the insert included is shamelessly self-indulgent, tossing in press quotes that basically amount to "Bob Pollard is fucking awesome." Odds are, if you're willing to drop $60 on four discs' worth of outtakes, you already think Pollard is a pretty nifty guy.
But perhaps the greatest problem with Suitcase is simply its size. At 100 songs, it's practically impossible to digest in one sitting. Of course, the box set isn't designed to function as a singular album. Rather, it's a treasure trove for GBV completists who won't mind scouring hundreds of minutes of boombox recordings for diamonds in the rough. Listening to Suitcase reminds me why I became obsessed with Guided by Voices in the first place-- Pollard's immense talent as a songwriter simply could not be denied.
There's something inherently bittersweet about this massive compilation, in the sense that even the worst of its 100 tracks sound better than, say, "Zoo Pie", "In Stitches", or "Dragons Awake". Of course, I still hold on hope that Pollard will one day regain his title as king of the pop song. Until then, at least we can take comfort in the fact that he probably has enough decent material floating around his basement to keep us satisfied for years to come.
