The Right Thing

One of the most interesting releases of Robert Pollard's career was Edison's Demos, a vinyl-only LP that featured the solo demos Pollard knocked out in a day for the album that became Earthquake Glue. Here, you could hear exactly how the songs started life, comparing that with the finished recordings done by the band with producer Todd Tobias. Most of the time, the kernel of Pollard's demo was still very identifiable, his initial idea simply augmented by the other four players and the producer. With Tobias helming any number of Pollard projects that start with demos -- from Psycho and the Birds which feature Tobias's work directly atop Pollard's demos, to Pollard's most recent solo albums, which find Tobias using demos as a template to create a song bed for Pollard's vocals -- it would be interesting to hear more demos to see how the songs change -- or don't -- during the creative process.

With "The Right Thing" from From a Compound Eye, it seems as if we get the best of both worlds. The song begins with Pollard solo, a recording that sounds like what it most likely is: the songwriter getting down an idea with a minimum of fuss. There is a two-string guitar riff and a shakily sung melody. The words are there, but he doesn't seem entirely sure of them, slurring his way through with more intent on capturing the melody than the lyrics. This goes on for about a minute, then Tobias's take kicks in. Distorted guitar chords taking the place of Pollard's plucked notes. Drums, keyboards and bass are added to the mix, giving the song a beefier profile, but that core guitar figure and melody are still the focus. That initial hook -- the chorus of "I am high, too small in a way. I'm high, you cry and I die" -- while tentative on the demo, is enough to carry a four minute-plus song, as Tobias maintains the groove for a full minute after Pollard stops singing.