12.20.2007

The Best Albums of 2007, pt. 2

Hi again. Here are a few more of albums I really enjoyed this year. That's all the criteria I have for this ongoing list, which is in no particular order.

The Takeovers - Bad Football
Off Records

I forget just how long Guided By Voices has been "broken up;" perhaps it's enough to say they broke up when Tobin Sprout left the band. Anyway, Robert Pollard soldiers on, just not as GBV, and you can count me as one who gave up paying too much attention after his first post-GBV solo record. Yet somehow I felt compelled to listen to his latest band-of-the-day, The Takeovers, where he's allegedly abetted by Stephen Malkmus, as well as members of Tad, Mudhoney, and the Decemberists. Whatever--this sounds like anything else that might have come out of the Captain's suitcase in GBV's salad years. For those of you who remember those days and still think fondly of them, Bad Football might just hit that spot for you; you know what spot I'm talking about. It might even inspire a whole new audience to discover Pollard's music; unlike most of his one-offs, this one seems like it might hold his attention for more than a few releases. For almost everyone else: well, as Bob himself says, "If you don't want it, don't buy it."

"Molly & Zack" - from Bad Football
Buy it Here


The Avett Brothers - Emotionalism
Ramseur Records

So you hear about this three-piece consisting of two actual, mostly bearded brothers who play guitars, banjos, and assorted other instruments, along with their friend on stand-up bass. And you think, OK, cool, here's another old-timey bluegrass throwback; this might be something I would recommend to my mom, who loved the Oh Brother, Where Art Thou soundtrack. But goddamn, just about anyone who loves great songwriting and good pop music would enjoy Emotionalism, so you can recommend this to all of your bearded and non-bearded friends, as well as your mom. Call it bluegrass-meets-power pop. That sound good to you?

3 comments:

G o a s t H a r p e w n r said...

Well said, Jake. Gregory and I took in a Bob show in Hollywood some two years ago, around the "From A Compound Eye" era; while I felt that the record was a bit of a letdown, the performance was nothing short of stellar (pan in on shot of inebriated Jeff G., playing the shit of an air guitar in the crowded Knitting Factory for two hours).

As I've expressed in some detail previously, I rather enjoyed a few of the post-Sprout records: "Isolation Drills" (the best of them) and "Earthquake Glue" in particular. Also, both Acid Ranch records are a joy, and the Phantom Tollbooth LP should be purchased on the merit of the band name alone.

I just downloaded the new Ween record, and am so far convinced that it might be the best thing since "Chocolate & Cheese". I Can Haz more Chocoletz and Cheez?

Meow.

Bedheaded said...

Yeah, "Compound Eye" didn't do much for me either. I thought "Isolation Drills" was a solid record, as was "Earthquake Glue". I also really liked "Universal Truths and Cycles," but I think I'm probably the only person in the universe who did.

That image of Jeff is hilarious. I wish there had been a camera there.

Hella yeah, "La Cucaracha" is a winner. It's really saying something when all Ween needs to do to be subversive these days is to get David Sandborn to blow his sax on one of their tracks.

G o a s t H a r p e w n r said...

It doesn't get much better than Deaner's "With My Own Bare Hands":

She's gonna be my cock professor,
Studyin' my dick
She's gonna get her Master's Degree
In fuckin' me