Hardcore UFOs
The first time most people heard Guided by Voices was with the Bee Thousand album, and thus, the first track was the band's introduction to much of the world. As a how-do-you-do, it's not a bad one, neatly summing up what GBV was all about. You have the picture of some guys doing something they probably ought not -- what responsible working guy spends time sitting out on the roof of a house? -- conveyed in what would become Robert Pollard's familiar twisted fashion. Who to this day knows what a "hardcore UFO" is? Add to that the fact that there are guitars involved, "playing solos 'til 10," and you have a pretty complete picture of arrested development channeled into some awfully catchy lo-fi rock.
You also get an idea of Pollard's unorthodox songwriting style. There is no real verse-chorus-verse-bridge form here, as the verses ooze into a bridge of sorts that, you realize after the fact, is really the chorus. Maybe. In actuality, there is no chorus.
Turn and run the angel's calling
you say when and I say I'm falling.
Up and down from broken down buildings
Back and forth but please don't bother at all
As that final line comes to an end, the drum beat picks up, the guitars swell and what had been an odd, churning narrative becomes a full on rocker.
The song maintains that pace though, thanks to the lo-fi recording techniques, there are surprises. During the second run through the bridge/chorus, the guitars simply drop out for a line, only to return with a fumble-fingered gurgle before picking up where they left off. Did the guitar slip from Tobin Sprouts hand? Did someone set a beer down on the four-track and accidentally erase a few seconds of music? Strangely, it works within the context of the song, one of those happy accidents that becomes the status quo.
In the end, this song of idle leisure is turned back on itself. The last line of the bridge/chorus shifts subtly from "Back and forth but please don't bother at all," to "...but you know why I left you for so long." But who left? Was it Pollard, or perhaps a lover sick of his lethargy? Or, more fitting with the title and opening image, an otherworldly being who had visited and left only to return again?
You also get an idea of Pollard's unorthodox songwriting style. There is no real verse-chorus-verse-bridge form here, as the verses ooze into a bridge of sorts that, you realize after the fact, is really the chorus. Maybe. In actuality, there is no chorus.
Turn and run the angel's calling
you say when and I say I'm falling.
Up and down from broken down buildings
Back and forth but please don't bother at all
As that final line comes to an end, the drum beat picks up, the guitars swell and what had been an odd, churning narrative becomes a full on rocker.
The song maintains that pace though, thanks to the lo-fi recording techniques, there are surprises. During the second run through the bridge/chorus, the guitars simply drop out for a line, only to return with a fumble-fingered gurgle before picking up where they left off. Did the guitar slip from Tobin Sprouts hand? Did someone set a beer down on the four-track and accidentally erase a few seconds of music? Strangely, it works within the context of the song, one of those happy accidents that becomes the status quo.
In the end, this song of idle leisure is turned back on itself. The last line of the bridge/chorus shifts subtly from "Back and forth but please don't bother at all," to "...but you know why I left you for so long." But who left? Was it Pollard, or perhaps a lover sick of his lethargy? Or, more fitting with the title and opening image, an otherworldly being who had visited and left only to return again?
Labels: Bee Thousand
posted by John at 6:27 AM
2 Comments:
"Sitting out on your house"... I always pictured them sitting on a roof, not on a room. Maybe it's a typo? Anyway, wouldn't that be where they'd see the hardcore UFO's from?
Noted and corrected, CE. Thanks for the catch.
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