| Artist |
Guided By Voices |
| Album Title: |
Do The Collapse |
| Album Cover: |
 |
| Primary Genre |
Alternative & Punk: Indie |
| Format |
CD |
| Released |
08/03/1999 |
| Label |
TVT Records |
| Catalog No |
TVT-1980-2 |
| Bar Code No |
0 16581 19802 9 |
| Packaging |
Digipack |
| Tracks |
| 1.
|
Teenage FBI (2:53)
|
| 2.
|
Zoo Pie (2:18)
|
| 3.
|
Things I Will Keep (2:25)
|
| 4.
|
Hold On Hope (3:31)
|
| 5.
|
In Stitches (3:39)
|
| 6.
|
Dragons Awake (2:08)
|
| 7.
|
Surgical Focus (3:48)
|
| 8.
|
Optical Hopscotch (3:01)
|
| 9.
|
Mushroom Art (1:47)
|
| 10.
|
Much Better Mr. Buckles (2:24)
|
| 11.
|
Wormhole (2:33)
|
| 12.
|
Strumpet Eye (1:58)
|
| 13.
|
Liquid Indian (3:38)
|
| 14.
|
Wrecking Now (2:33)
|
| 15.
|
Picture Me Big Time (4:01)
|
| 16.
|
An Unmarketed Product (1:08)
|
|
| Date Acquired |
08/09/2000 |
| Personal Rating |
 |
| Acquired from |
Amazon |
| Purchase Price |
15.00 |
Web Links |
Discogs Entry:
All Music Guide Entry: |
Notes |
All Songs written by Robert Pollard
Recorded and mixed at Electric Lady Studios, NYC
Mastered at Sterling Sound, NYC
Track 3 is listed as 'Things I Will Keep (For Jim Shepard)' on the interior cover listing the lyrics.
No durations are printed on the release.
?&© 1999 TVT Records. Manufactured and distributed by TVT Records.
foobar2000 1.3.6 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2015-02-22 19:38:57
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Analyzed: Guided by Voices / Do the Collapse
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR Peak RMS Duration Track
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR7 0.00 dB -8.54 dB 2:54 01-Teenage FBI
DR7 0.00 dB -8.58 dB 2:19 02-Zoo Pie
DR7 0.00 dB -8.25 dB 2:26 03-Things I Will Keep
DR8 0.00 dB -10.39 dB 3:31 04-Hold on Hope
DR7 0.00 dB -8.61 dB 3:39 05-In Stitches
DR10 0.00 dB -11.69 dB 2:08 06-Dragons Awake!
DR6 0.00 dB -7.55 dB 3:48 07-Surgical Focus
DR7 0.00 dB -9.40 dB 3:02 08-Optical Hopscotch
DR7 0.00 dB -8.38 dB 1:48 09-Mushroom Art
DR6 0.00 dB -7.54 dB 2:25 10-Much Better Mr. Buckles
DR7 0.00 dB -8.71 dB 2:33 11-Wormhole
DR6 0.00 dB -8.50 dB 1:58 12-Strumpet Eye
DR7 0.00 dB -8.46 dB 3:39 13-Liquid Indian
DR7 0.00 dB -8.64 dB 2:34 14-Wrecking Now
DR7 0.00 dB -8.12 dB 4:02 15-Picture Me Big Time
DR7 0.00 dB -8.26 dB 1:08 16-An Unmarketed Product
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of tracks: 16
Official DR value: DR7
Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 1021 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================
|
|
| Reviews |
All Muisc Guide Review:
Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
One school of thought regarding Guided By Voices considers the band in their element with a four-track, turning out impressionist albums of fragmented, mini-pop songs. The other claims that they're a great pop band that has never made a great pop album because of their adherence to the four-track. Maybe frontman Robert Pollard is among the latter camp, since Do the Collapse is their first effort recorded in a full-fledged studio with a real producer, namely Ric Ocasek. Of course, the jump to professionalism could have happened simply because there was nowhere left to go; their amateurish, homemade guitar pop had become entirely too predictable, and hiring Cobra Verde as a backing band on Mag Earwhig! didn't really change things -- it was time for a shot at the big time. As a matter of fact, Do the Collapse was even designed as their major-label debut, but the label passed on their option after hearing the finished result, so GBV headed over for TVT. It's hard to blame the major label, actually, because Do the Collapse simply doesn't work. It's not that Ocasek's production is inappropriate, or that the expanded song lengths feel wrong, it's that Pollard is stuck in a rut. His songs follow familiar patterns, and now that there have been so many of them, it's hard not to feel like they're all tossed off to a certain extent. No hooks gain hold, the imagery feels silly, and there's no excitement or energy to the band's performances, resulting in exactly what any fan would fear from a GBV major-label release -- a puffed-up, overblown version of Alien Lanes. It's clear that's not what Pollard or Ocasek wanted, but the band's strengths have deteriorated so much, that's the only thing they were capable of cutting.
-aa review: Mr. Erlewine is entitled to his opinion, but I think he must have been having stomach cramps or something as he missed this one. It's purdy good IMHO.
From Spin.com
Andy Greenwald (agreenwald@spinmag.com)
Back in the early-to-mid-90s, when Guided By Voices was the best band on the planet, cranking out more songs filled with wit, passion, and hooks from their bedroom than there were failed electronica bands signed to major labels. The music press, eager for a new buzzword to claim, labeled what they were doing "lo-fi." Due to their middle aged status, their mundane day jobs (schoolteacher, etc.), their allegiance to the simpler things (Budweiser, records by the Who), and their commitment to stadium rock excess despite their four-track, home-recording limitations, they were pigeonholed by many as "cute" or "charming;" the big sound coming from such little means was misunderstood as "schtick"
The big sound coming from such little means was misunderstood as "schtick." But what most people failed to realize was that precisely what made GBV so great was their refusal to be constrained by their cheap-recordings. These weren't a bunch of Huggybear T-shirt wearing wibbling indie-boys, mewling stories of first-grade tree houses and second-grade crushes into Fisher-Price microphones. These were grown men, men with a lifetime of ambition and drink behind them and one chance to scream an epic into a microphone before them. So while many of GBV's lo-fi associates have returned to the obscurity from which they crawled, Robert Pollard and his ever changing band of Dayton Ohio natives have kept plugging away.
But eventually, the problem that arose was one of quality over quantity. Pollard has again and again proven himself to be the most prolific 40-year-old songwriter of all time, tossing out hundreds of half-formed melodies and meandering, verbose lyrics in the time it takes Trent Reznor to crack his knuckles. And so, as the songs kept coming and success arrived (at least enough for Pollard to quit his job at the school and devote himself more fully to the rock'n'roll life of his dreams) there was no longer any need to belt any tune that popped into his head into a Tascam and release it, unedited. With the mid-90s masterworks, Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes--two albums packed equally full of gorgeous melodies, dramatic range, and whacked-out experiments--came the end of Pollard's bedroom period. The bar had been raised too triumphantly to stay lo-fi, but how to translate the GBV sound to the big leagues?
Attempt number one was to carry it over on swagger and attitude, resulting in 1997's creaky, under whelming Mag Earwhig. Realizing cock-rock might have been a mistake, that it was the hooks that made them bigger than they were, not the act that went along with it, Pollard fired the most recent band he had hired (Cobra Verde). He then hooked up with some ex-Breeders, ex-Amps, and ex-members of his own band, put ex-Cars-frontman Ric Ocasek in front of the boards and tried, for real this time, to put his pop-rock mastery into sound. The result is GBV's rather impressive TVT records debut, Do The Collapse.
The album starts with "Teenage FBI," a rousing track chock-full of enormous Cars-esque keyboard sweeps and other 24-track splendor. The impact is breathtaking--it is the GBV song the old-time fan used to hear in his head: the throbbing head-nodding rush one always knew they were capable of. The effect is outstanding. Nearly as good are two other early album standouts, "Things I Will Keep," and "Hold On Hope." Modeled on the best of Pollard's mid-tempo heart-tuggers, the songs ebb and flow beautifully while Pollard jabbers on about Earth Mothers and whatnot, while the minor chords and even (on the latter) strings swell to spine-tingly climaxes. Great, great stuff.
Elsewhere, "Liquid Indian" may have the best weak-verse to outstanding chorus ratio ever recorded. "Dragons Awake" and "Wrecking Now" have gentle, lulling melodies reminiscent of the better GBV b-sides of the Alien Lanes period. Best of all is "Surgical Focus," which if it isn't the best song the band have ever recorded, just might be the most realized. . A guitar pop-gem, with a driving verse building to a elegantly simple, multi-tracked chorus, if it isn't a hit (which it probably won't be) it's the world's fault, not the band's.
Overall? Pollard proved he could do it. The band sounds tighter and more propulsive than past incarnations, and, by returning to a more classic Bee Thousand-era pop sound, he almost makes up for the absence of his janglier, former songwriting partner/foil, Tobin Sprout. As is the case with many recent Pollard projects, however, Do The Collapse is marred slightly by a lack of focus. The highs are outstandingly high, but the lows ("In Stiches," "Optical Hopscotch") are frustratingly middling. Interesting, but we've heard it before. But what's most important is that they found a way to do it at all, on their own terms. Some might call it "crossing over," or even "selling out." This is silly, because Guided By Voices, in Bob Pollard's head at least, have always been an arena-ready rock band. What is most impressive is that he has managed to free up his sound while still maintaining its quality. Some great songs and an encouraging return to form. May Pollard continue rocking until he's 70.
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| Cover 1 |
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| Cover 2 |
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| Cover 3 |
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| Cover 4 |
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| Cover 5 |
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| Cover 6 |
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| Cover 7 |
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