The Fading Captain

Many friends of mine also have the same devotion… umm ok obsession with music. Some find themselves listening to artists of the past, and others spend most of their time trying to find the next flavor of the week. All of these have one thing in common, they can write. Something I struggle with, in case you haven’t already noticed. This site will also allow them to voice their opinions and every once in a while we will have a guest writer to keep the content fresh and new.

The following story was originally posted on a blog called Pergonomics. The author has given permission to post it to this site also. So with that, enjoy!

FORTY-NINE YEARS YOUNG

By M.F. Hinds

A couple months ago, former Guided By Voices (GBV) front man, Robert [jm1] Pollard, announced his retirement from touring. Pollard is one of the most daring front men in rock and he is as gifted physically as he is musically. (He once pitched a Division I no-hitter for Wright State.) Initially, he cancelled the last three gigs of his tour as a result of a leg injury; Pollard, however, was reportedly disillusioned by the smaller crowds of his solo shows as compared to the flocks of fans who followed GBV. Without the visceral intensity of his fans, Pollard found it difficult to carry on his live performances. “It’s too hard to psychologically re-energize yourself each night,” Pollard lamented, “with Guided by Voices, it didn’t matter what day it was.” I definitely understand Pollard’s point.

In early 2006, I had the privilege of seeing one of Pollard’s first shows as a solo artist at the 9:30 Club in Washington D.C. Of course the chronically obsessed GBV fans loved it and Bob, as he is addressed by his adoring fans, was “smothered with hugs.” However, after scanning the crowd and peering up at the stage, it was palpable that something was missing. The concert only hinted at the electricity of a GBV show during the encore, when Bob and his band played classic tracks from the Guided By Voices canon. Even when Pollard performed some of his stellar new songs, which mirror some of his GBV best, the crowd’s intensity level was relatively low and very disappointing.

To give some context, Guided By Voices was a musical aberration borne in a basement in Dayton, Ohio. There, elementary school teacher Robert Pollard and his friends ended up creating some of the greatest music in the history of rock and roll. Albums such as Propeller, Bee Thousand, Alien Lanes and Under the Bushes, Under the Stars were otherworldly lo-fi beauties that were quite possibly the missing link between Buddy Holly and the Beatles. Even now, it’s hard to determine the sources of this extraordinary music. Is it a celestial source perhaps? Possibly falling dust from a comet sailing across the fiery, orange Dayton sky on a summer’s eve? Or rather Pollard’s inherent talent for writing timeless pop songs in a dank, wood-paneled Ohio basement, fueled by heroic amounts of cheap beer and good friends. Whatever his inspirations or origins, it is unfair to expect Pollard to replicate on his own, the same dynamism and impact of his work with GBV.

However, this by no means suggests that Pollard is a spent creative force, relegated to spending the rest of his career ad infinitum collaborating with Rob Thomas and Carlos Santana. That night at the 9:30 Club, as I listened to his encore, once again I felt the power of Pollard’s songs. After all, it was the songs that were the catalyst to my typical GBV concert-life-affirming-experience. Understandably, the physical demands of a full blown live rock show may be too much for the 49 year old Pollard to handle night in and night out. Knowing the athletic and competitive nature, which has always imbued him, he probably cannot stand the idea of half-assing his stage performances.

GBV’s live shows have always revolved around the booming voice and presence of Pollard, the furious electric guitar, the steady drums, and the pounding bass. This sonic maelstrom made it impossible to be still and propelled the terrible beauty of Pollard up on stage, literally scissor kicking the jams with a beer and cigarette in hand. No doubt this physical exertion has probably taken its toll. Therefore, Pollard needs to eliminate the electric bombast of his live shows, go wooden, and play acoustic. It makes perfect sense. He has always written simple hymnal-like tunes that evoked surreal worlds: a mop-top Merseyside, a daisy glaze version of Greil Marcus’ “Old, Weird America.” Ultimately, when it comes down to it, Bob is really a folksinger, with a predilection for the 4 P’s: Prog, Pop, Psych, and Punk.

So this article is actually a message to Pollard, who may be reading this because he would appreciate the site’s non-ironic content in reference to 1970’s rock. For all I care Bob, you could perform like Alanis Morrisette circa 1996 MTV Unplugged and just sit and sing from a stool with either Todd Tobias or Tommy Keane while playing acoustic guitar surrounded by dripping candles. An acoustic live show would entice the world to experience Robert Pollard and the legacy of Guided By Voices in its most naked and raw form. At the same time, by playing GBV mainstays as “Echoes Myron” and “A Man Called Aerodynamics” in such a primordial state, it may be the fresh muse that Bob is seeking.