Thursday, November 03, 2005
Disc Two of Guided by Voice's American Superdream Wow: Suitcase 2
This disc's artwork doubles as the cover of the fictional Skag's fictional "Superwhore" one-sided 7". "Superwhore", of course, is one of the two exclusive songs included on Briefcase, the single-disc vinyl distallation of Suitcase 2. Including this artwork in Suitcase 2, but not the song itself, is frankly sort of an assholish thing to do. Anyway, on with the review.
1. "I am Decided": Would've fit great on Under the Bushes. The tape's a little fucked up at spots (sounds like it's been left sitting in the back window of Bob's car all summer), but you can still tell the damn thing's a rocker. 3.75 of 5.
2. "Tainted Angels with Butter Knives: AKA "Jason Lowenstein's a Wanker". The mix is bass-heavy, the song mellow and shambling, but there's still something stirring about this understated anthem. 3 of 5.
3. "What About the Rock?": This is the same answering machine message excerpted on, what, "Instrument Beetle"? Or maybe some other song? Anyway, some message rambles on for four minutes before an awesomely incompetent pseudo-prog-rock fusillade is launched. There's some pre-school Keith Emerson keyboard nonsense streaking over this three (maybe four?) chord riff, and some "Danger Zone" guitar thrown in for the hell of it. Boring beginning, ridiculously good follow-through. 2.75 out of 5, brought down a full point by the voicemail thing.
4. "Pack of Rolling Papers": A twenty-six second acoustic demo, this is one go-nowhere whisp of a song. Pleasant, though. 2 out of 5.
5. "Telephone Town": See, songs like this make the Suitcases worthwhile. Is this an all-time GBV classic? No way. Still, it's a really good song that's better than at least half of what's appeared on the official albums over the years. It's kind of like a more vocally melodic '80's REM type of thing. 3.5 out of 5.
6. "Hey, I Know Your Old Lady": Forty-eight seconds of a garage jam session. The tape was probably dug up out of Bob's couch cushion, or something. 1.5 out of 5.
7. "Headache Revolution": Of all the post-millenial acoustic demos we've heard thus far, this might be the best. Still two and two-thirds discs to go, of course. Get this a full band and a second verse, stat. 3 out of 5.
8. "Every Man": The song seems solid enough, but the shoddy live recording makes it hard to tell. Another one where it's almost impossible to hear or understand the words. 2.5 out of 5.
9. "Alibible": Wherein Bob channels Pip Proud, but without the passion. Scattershot acoustic sketch that's pretty much everywhere and nowhere. Some nice sounds, but no direction. 1.5 out of 5.
10. "I Can't Help But Noticing": Boring late '80's outtake. Nice chorus, though. 2 out of 5.
11. "Mannequin's Complaint": Demo or alternate version (or something) of a b-side from the Bulldog Skin single. Much better than the a-side, in my opinion. Full of odd, unexpected shifts, yet still feels like a unified whole. Features the best indie-rock beerhall sing-along since the Archers' "After the Last Laugh". 3.5 of 5.
12. "Zarkoff's Coming": Okay, so it's basically one chord, and it's mixed to where it's only on the left channel, and Bob basically just repeats one lyric over and over, but still, he sells that one line so convincingly, so full of passion and anger, that you kind of half to give this one a little bit of respect. Could be the other half of the conversation partially detailed in Dinosaur Jr's "Don't". 2 out of 5.
13. "Supersonic Love Funky Love Gun": Suddenly becomes alright halfway through, and then promptly turns to total shit. Another Hot Freaks candidate. 1.5 out of 5.
14. "Perch Warble": Some good rollicking in the vein of "Postal Blowfish" or "Shocker in Gloomtown". 3 out of 5.
15. "You're Not the Queen Anymore": One of those brief yet great acoustic songs that get overshadowed by the rockers and power-pop anthems. Not up to the level of the best of those ("Yours to Keep", "14 Cheerleader Coldfront", "Wondering Boy Poet"), but still good enough. 3 out of 5.
16. "Ivanhoe": Nondescript minute-long instrumental. Nothing more than a palette-cleanser. 1.5 out of 5.
17. "How Can You?": Maybe doing Dylan here, but not too successfully. Not quite bad, but for some reason unfulfilling and slightly off-putting. 2 out of 5.
18. "The Lodger Carried a Gun": More of that mid-'80's college-rock jangle that GBV didn't do so well. They do here, though, as this is another one of those '80's songs
that's better than much of what was on their albums back then. 3 out of 5.
19. "Metro XVI": Dull, repetitive, and overlong, but the metal box, vaccuum, and glass of water make this kind of interesting. 2 out of 5.
20. "My Dream Making Machine": Uh, yeah. Simply awful. The type of stuff I'd do on my four-track while outstandingly drunk at four in the morning. 1 out of 5.
21. "Mustard Man": Beginning kind of sounds like "Friday on My Mind", but, uh, incalculably worse (of course). Eventually turns into a slow, turgid rocker. Nothing all that interesting here, and, again, the shoddy live recording drags it down even more. 1.5 out of 5.
22. "Alone in Time": Decent acoustic song that ends when Bob flubs a chord and just stops. Give it an ending and it might be okay. 1.5 out of 5.
23. "Dusty Bushworms": Sounds interesting, but I can't get past the amazingly annoying popping. Another song done in by an obviously fucked-up master tape; there seem to be a few too many of those on this box. Nothing wrong with the song itself, so let's be generous and give this 2 out of 5.
24. "Free It": More solid but unspectacular acoustic work. 2.5 out of 5.
25. "Are You Faster?": Okay, this is a really good song, but it goes on for too long (3:46?), and could definitely use some drums. Still, one of the highlights of this disc. 3 out of 5.
IN SUMMATION: Disc two is more consistent than the first, but mostly lacking that one's obvious stand-outs. I don't have a three-quartered .gif of Earl Anthony, so please just try to visualize one. I give this 2.75 out of 5.
+ one-quarter Earl Anthony
This disc's artwork doubles as the cover of the fictional Skag's fictional "Superwhore" one-sided 7". "Superwhore", of course, is one of the two exclusive songs included on Briefcase, the single-disc vinyl distallation of Suitcase 2. Including this artwork in Suitcase 2, but not the song itself, is frankly sort of an assholish thing to do. Anyway, on with the review.
1. "I am Decided": Would've fit great on Under the Bushes. The tape's a little fucked up at spots (sounds like it's been left sitting in the back window of Bob's car all summer), but you can still tell the damn thing's a rocker. 3.75 of 5.
2. "Tainted Angels with Butter Knives: AKA "Jason Lowenstein's a Wanker". The mix is bass-heavy, the song mellow and shambling, but there's still something stirring about this understated anthem. 3 of 5.
3. "What About the Rock?": This is the same answering machine message excerpted on, what, "Instrument Beetle"? Or maybe some other song? Anyway, some message rambles on for four minutes before an awesomely incompetent pseudo-prog-rock fusillade is launched. There's some pre-school Keith Emerson keyboard nonsense streaking over this three (maybe four?) chord riff, and some "Danger Zone" guitar thrown in for the hell of it. Boring beginning, ridiculously good follow-through. 2.75 out of 5, brought down a full point by the voicemail thing.
4. "Pack of Rolling Papers": A twenty-six second acoustic demo, this is one go-nowhere whisp of a song. Pleasant, though. 2 out of 5.
5. "Telephone Town": See, songs like this make the Suitcases worthwhile. Is this an all-time GBV classic? No way. Still, it's a really good song that's better than at least half of what's appeared on the official albums over the years. It's kind of like a more vocally melodic '80's REM type of thing. 3.5 out of 5.
6. "Hey, I Know Your Old Lady": Forty-eight seconds of a garage jam session. The tape was probably dug up out of Bob's couch cushion, or something. 1.5 out of 5.
7. "Headache Revolution": Of all the post-millenial acoustic demos we've heard thus far, this might be the best. Still two and two-thirds discs to go, of course. Get this a full band and a second verse, stat. 3 out of 5.
8. "Every Man": The song seems solid enough, but the shoddy live recording makes it hard to tell. Another one where it's almost impossible to hear or understand the words. 2.5 out of 5.
9. "Alibible": Wherein Bob channels Pip Proud, but without the passion. Scattershot acoustic sketch that's pretty much everywhere and nowhere. Some nice sounds, but no direction. 1.5 out of 5.
10. "I Can't Help But Noticing": Boring late '80's outtake. Nice chorus, though. 2 out of 5.
11. "Mannequin's Complaint": Demo or alternate version (or something) of a b-side from the Bulldog Skin single. Much better than the a-side, in my opinion. Full of odd, unexpected shifts, yet still feels like a unified whole. Features the best indie-rock beerhall sing-along since the Archers' "After the Last Laugh". 3.5 of 5.
12. "Zarkoff's Coming": Okay, so it's basically one chord, and it's mixed to where it's only on the left channel, and Bob basically just repeats one lyric over and over, but still, he sells that one line so convincingly, so full of passion and anger, that you kind of half to give this one a little bit of respect. Could be the other half of the conversation partially detailed in Dinosaur Jr's "Don't". 2 out of 5.
13. "Supersonic Love Funky Love Gun": Suddenly becomes alright halfway through, and then promptly turns to total shit. Another Hot Freaks candidate. 1.5 out of 5.
14. "Perch Warble": Some good rollicking in the vein of "Postal Blowfish" or "Shocker in Gloomtown". 3 out of 5.
15. "You're Not the Queen Anymore": One of those brief yet great acoustic songs that get overshadowed by the rockers and power-pop anthems. Not up to the level of the best of those ("Yours to Keep", "14 Cheerleader Coldfront", "Wondering Boy Poet"), but still good enough. 3 out of 5.
16. "Ivanhoe": Nondescript minute-long instrumental. Nothing more than a palette-cleanser. 1.5 out of 5.
17. "How Can You?": Maybe doing Dylan here, but not too successfully. Not quite bad, but for some reason unfulfilling and slightly off-putting. 2 out of 5.
18. "The Lodger Carried a Gun": More of that mid-'80's college-rock jangle that GBV didn't do so well. They do here, though, as this is another one of those '80's songs
that's better than much of what was on their albums back then. 3 out of 5.
19. "Metro XVI": Dull, repetitive, and overlong, but the metal box, vaccuum, and glass of water make this kind of interesting. 2 out of 5.
20. "My Dream Making Machine": Uh, yeah. Simply awful. The type of stuff I'd do on my four-track while outstandingly drunk at four in the morning. 1 out of 5.
21. "Mustard Man": Beginning kind of sounds like "Friday on My Mind", but, uh, incalculably worse (of course). Eventually turns into a slow, turgid rocker. Nothing all that interesting here, and, again, the shoddy live recording drags it down even more. 1.5 out of 5.
22. "Alone in Time": Decent acoustic song that ends when Bob flubs a chord and just stops. Give it an ending and it might be okay. 1.5 out of 5.
23. "Dusty Bushworms": Sounds interesting, but I can't get past the amazingly annoying popping. Another song done in by an obviously fucked-up master tape; there seem to be a few too many of those on this box. Nothing wrong with the song itself, so let's be generous and give this 2 out of 5.
24. "Free It": More solid but unspectacular acoustic work. 2.5 out of 5.
25. "Are You Faster?": Okay, this is a really good song, but it goes on for too long (3:46?), and could definitely use some drums. Still, one of the highlights of this disc. 3 out of 5.
IN SUMMATION: Disc two is more consistent than the first, but mostly lacking that one's obvious stand-outs. I don't have a three-quartered .gif of Earl Anthony, so please just try to visualize one. I give this 2.75 out of 5.
+ one-quarter Earl Anthony
