Boston Spaceships :: Let It Beard

Every now and again former Guided by Voices frontman Robert Pollard, known for his overly prolific approach to releasing records, works quite a bit harder on one of his records than he does his many others. A few years ago he released a double record called From a Compound Eye – he worked kinda/sorta hard on that one. Then he released Normal Happiness a few months later, which he also seemingly worked more on than most of his other post-Guided by Voices records. Since those two albums he’s released at least another 20 albums under a number of different monikers. Not joke, 20, maybe even 30 full length records.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love Pollard (especially Alien Lanes, Bee Thousand, the last three GBV albums and the above mentioned Compound Eye and Normal Happiness), but I find him to be an almost always infuriating artist to love. (Why, you ask? Because a man with his pop craft ability could and should be releasing 12 amazing songs – and no more – every year or two.) Coming up to date, Pollard has already released four or five albums this year (I stopped counting); and so when I heard about a new release called Let It Beard, to be released under his Boston Spaceships moniker, I just wasn’t all that excited. I mean, Pollard has undeniably put the most work into the Boston Spaceships stuff over the last few years, calling it his “core project,” but I just figured we’d get another 20ish-song record with three or four good/great tracks.

Not the case. Not exactly. We get a pretty damn long album this time, clocking in at 26 songs over 76 minutes – a proper double album. And sure, there are some not-so-hot songs here and there, but, for the most part, Let it Beard is a very good, very complete sounding album. It reminds me of Guided by Voices quite a bit – a mixture of one-, two- and three-minute songs that all pass quickly and hang heavily on their stylized lo-fi ornamentation, indie rock classicism and, mostly, their beefy hooks – most of which are pretty great, if often somewhat redundant in the scope of Bob’s endless catalog. So, of these 26 new songs, I challenged myself to pick 10 favorites, next burning those onto a disc to listen to as a short, solid pop rock record. I did this because I’ve been telling friends – and myself – for years that, if Bob had an editor and took a little more time to construct great albums like he did through the 90s (and even the early 2000s at times), he’d be releasing the best indie-pop-rock albums on the planet.

And so I constructed such a list, and it went like this: 1. “German Field of Shadows”; 2. “Speed Bumps”; 3. “Blind 20-20″; 4. “Tourist UFO”; 5. “Make a Record fo Lo-Life”: 6. “Tabby and Lucy”; 7. “The Ballad of Bad Whiskey”; 8. “Christmas Girl”; 9. “Let It Beard”; 10. “Chevy Marigold.” After burning the disc and listening a few times I took a look at the track list. My first thought was: “Dang, some great titles, Bob.” My next thought was: “I missed a lot of my favorites; maybe I’ll make a disc of 10 b-side worthy songs.” And so I did. Then I listened to that second 10-song disc a few times, then the first again. Repeat. All 20 songs were pretty great, offering a whole lot of variety, some pretty cool guitar tracks and, of course, Bob’s signature pseudo-British howl. None of the songs felt like fragments or half realized ideas – they all felt very full and real. My next though, of course, was: “20 outta 26 ain’t bad!”

Soon enough I tossed those two discs and just stuck with the 26-song Let It Beard, listening to the record as Pollard and his noteworthy bandmates – drummer John Moen (former Jicks, The Decemberists, Perhapst) and former GBV member Chris Slusarenko – intended it be experienced. Not only did I come to the conclusion that Beard is the best Pollard record in years, but it became quite clear after a dozen or so listens that the record is a big one for Pollard – a record he clearly spent much time with and worked very hard on. He even called in a number of guests – Steve Wynn (Dream Syndicate), J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.), Colin Newman (Wire), Mick Collins (The Dirtbombs) and more – for the record; a move that I’m sure added an extra push of energy while arranging and recording.

So here’s the thing: Let It Beard is probably a new Pollard classic, but it’s probably not an new all-around indie rock classic. This not because the record isn’t good enough to be considered in such high regard, but, rather, because Pollard is repeating himself and playing it quite safe here. The adventurous spirit of his two major records, Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes, can hardly be found on Let It Beard, even if the three albums clearly all come from the same mind. Pollard is just far too deep into his career at this point; he knows exactly how to make great songs, and he rarely strays from that formula in successful ways. So here we get, more or less, the best of the Robert Pollard we’ve come to know over the last 20-plus years. He’s given us reason to hold on hope. Reason to keep buying his many albums and learning his many, many hooks. Dare I say Let It Beard is the third best Pollard-related album ever? Dare I do. Too bad the man claims that this will be the last Boston Spaceships album, just as they were hitting their creative stride. Maybe, though, it means that Pollard plans to start recording with GBV – whom he’s been doing reunion shows with for a good while now – full-time again. Hold on hope.

94/100