Good Things Come From Ohio

I, like many, lost faith in famously prolific Robert Pollard during his five year, post-Mag Earwhig! descent into college-rock comfort food. Earthquake Glue, over classics Alien Lane or Bee Thousand, is my second pick for Record of the Week because it is a comeback gem. GBV released their fourteenth record exactly eight years ago, included in some copies a golden ticket with Pollard's photo, a la Wonka; and to each lucky recipient went a signed copy of the box set Hardcore UFOs: Revelations, Epiphanies and Fast Food in the Western Hemisphere.
Earthquake Glue begins with Doug Gillard and Nate Farley's exploding guitar chords in endlessly catchy "My Kind of Soldier," reminiscent of Propeller-through-Earwhig! era GBV, except lo-fi guitar jangle isn't canabolizing Tim Tobias' bass. In fact my favorite track, "The Best of Jill Hives" has you walking around singing the bass part--a GBV first? "I don't know where you find your nerve, I don't know how you choose your words, Speak the ones that suit you worse, Keep you grounded, sad and cursed, Circle the ones that come alive, Save them for the best of Jill Hives." Kevin March's cymbal crashes and Bob's wry wit have "Replace You With Machines" an instant stadium hit--you can almost hear those signature leg kicks!
Having emerged from his TVT foray and reunited with Matador, Pollard and his rotating cast of often virtuosic musicians had me no longer a GBV apologist with the 2003 release of Earthquake Glue. See, I told you good things come from Ohio: Annie Oakley, flight, The Cincinnati Reds, and GBV.

Record of the Week

When asked recently by a fellow collector do I own this record, "Own it? I want to BE it for Halloween" was my reply. E=mc Squared, released in 1980, is the world's first live-to-digital record, and involves early solid state electronics e.g. MOOGs, memory banks, synthesizers, programmed drums, and a vocoder into which The Father of Disco both scats and acknowledges the album's credits.
The standout track for me is anthemic "If You Weren't Afraid," in which Moroder pleas, "If you were not afraid of flying, we could leave the ground. If you were not afraid of trying out the love we found." Some girls have all the luck. A close second is "I Wanna Rock You," an appeal to the libidinous Italian in all of us. "I've been watching you dancing. It's good to see what you've got. I wanna show you my night moves, and baby I got a lot." Give him a break, English was his third language; besides, the maestro is not known for his poetry, he is known for his instrumentation, imagination, and bringing computerized electronic music to the mainstream. Enjoy and run, don't walk.