Guided By Voices and Robert Pollard

The power-pop tradition of 1970s bands such the Shoes was continued in the 1980s in Ohio by Guided By Voices (formerly Anacrusis), led by Robert Pollard, an elementary school teacher from Dayton who built, in anonymity, one of the most spectacular careers in modern pop.

The first EP, Forever Since Breakfast (I Wanna, 1986), recorded by the trio of Pollard, Tobin Sprout (guitar), and Dan Toohey (bass), was still under the sway of R.E.M., who dominated alternative rock at the time. And the first album, Devil Between My Toes (E, 1987), was even more indebted to new wave, with its Devo-like demented rhythms and Wire-like complex harmonies. Dogs' Out, Hey Hey, Old Battery, and Cyclops were still carbon copies of R.E.M.

But with Sandbox (Halo, 1987), they already had a melodic style (modeled on Big Star and XTC) that was "lo-fi" (like Pavement, but years before them) and fragmented (like Sebadoh), the exact opposite of what could ever break into the charts. Songs like Lips Of Steel were consistent with the southeastern pop of those years (DB's and company). Adverse Wind, Everyday, and Long Distance Man still looked to the R.E.M. model.

Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia (Halo, 1989) simply added a psychedelic touch to the recipe, which only had the effect of making the joke seem more serious. But a joke it remained, since none of the songs were truly complete songs. Pollard still refused to take himself seriously, yet his real personality was beginning to emerge forcefully, both in the refrains and in the production. Increasingly strong echoes of the Who and the Beatles could be heard in Paper Girl, Short On Posters, Navigating Flood Regions, and especially An Earful Of Wax. Pollard was maturing as a "poet," in the sense that he was beginning to write fairy-tale-like and somewhat improbable stories (The Future Is In Eggs, The Great Blake St Canoe Race).

The concept album Same Place The Fly Got Smashed (Engine #9, 1990) was composed in a slightly depressed style. Despite being a transitional work, it nonetheless features Local Mix Up, Order For The New Slave Trade, Hard Way, Pendulum. The lineup was changing all the time and the only constants were him and guitarist Tobin Sprout.

At that point it looked like Pollard was ready to shut down the project, so much so that he collected on Propeller (Rockathon, 1992) the best leftovers of the previous albums. Instead Weed King, Unleashed, the ballad Mesh Gear Fox and the malincholic folk-rock of Metal Mothers were precisely the songs that clicked with the audience. Even better fared the driving Quality Of Armor, in the style of 1960s garage-rock, the cheerful Exit Flagger, always halfway between Who and Hollies, the glorious voodoobilly Lethargy and the gloomy voodoobilly of Some Drilling Implied. Critics finally paid attention and his major phase began. Tobin Sprout penned Red Gas Circle and especially 14 Cheerleader Coldfront (a mellow ballad with vocal harmonies in the vein of Crosby & Nash).

Shedding their amateur guise, Guided By Voices reorganized by adding Mitch Mitchell on guitar and Kevin Fennell on drums. The space-psychedelic ode Unstable Journey, the pounding nightmare of Perhaps Now The Vultures, and the grotesque cartoon of Ergo Space Pig stand out among the vignettes of Vampire On Titus (Scat, 1993). On the pop front, the album features the ballad Gleemer, an excellent imitation of the Hollies (Jar Of Cardinals), and a lullaby in the style of John Lennon (Wondering Boy Poet). On the hard-rock front, the band strums the tender Wished I Was A Giant, which sounds like David Bowie duetting with the Velvet Underground, the catchy New York Dolls-style rock and roll of Unleashed, and the vehement Dusted and Expecting Brainchild. But Pollard goes overboard in underproducing the songs. His attempt to transform “live takes” and “rehearsals” into a new musical genre simply results in a criminal waste of talent. Some of the short, eccentric vignettes (Cool Off Kid Kilowatt) might amount to more than all the songs combined.

Among their pop gems are also the singles of 1993/94, particularly If We Wait (Anyway, 1993) and Cruise (Simple Solutions, 1994). The EPs are more scattershot, as if improvised on the spot or made up of songs that didn’t fit on any album: too generic those of The Grand Hour (Scat, 1994), except perhaps Break Even; too trivial those of Fast Japanese Spin Cycle (Engine, 1993), except My Impression Now; and Clown Prince Of The Menthol Trailer (Domino, 1993). Better are those on Static Airplane Jive (City Slang, 1994) (Rockhaton, 1999)—at least Big School, Damn Good Mr Jam, and Gelatin—those of Get Out Of My Stations (Siltbreeze, 1994), perhaps their best ever (Mobile, Melted Pat, Dusty Bushworms, Scalding Creek, Spring Tiger), and a couple from I Am The Scientist (Scat, 1995), Do The Earth and Planet's Own Brand.

Despite so many years of neglect, the latest works (collections of delicate, unassuming melodic miniatures) offered exactly the same sound and the same level of quality as the early days.

When Bee Thousand (Scat, 1994) was released, the band had grown to seven members, with Tobin Sprout almost equal to Pollard in the control booth. For thirty-seven-year-old Pollard, it was a vindication, as the album was finally reviewed by everyone. Not much had changed: the songs had grown slightly longer, but they remained in a state of "demonstration," prototype, or experiment; the arrangements were still amateurish, homegrown, and unassuming. The band wandered with a distracted air through the folk-rock of the Byrds (Hardcore UFO's), the early-'60s white rhythm and blues (Hot Freaks), the psychedelic rides of late Merseybeat (Smothered In Hugs), the marches of the Turtles and the Association (Echoes Myron, one of its highlights), before venturing into the claustrophobic worlds of Barrett and Hitchcock (I Am A Scientist, perhaps the masterpiece, Gold Star For Robot Boy) and blissfully getting lost there.

Bee Thousand - The Director's Cut (Scat, 2004) is a 3-LP box set containing the original album and four alternate versions.

Pollard's fame was rising rapidly, so much so that the first five albums were reissued in a box set (along with about twenty previously unreleased tracks).

Alien Lanes (Matador, 1995) collects a remarkable twenty-eight melodic fragments, all recorded in a deliberately amateurish manner. Dominating the album are the pesky vocal harmonies (Closer You Are) and playful marches (As We Go Up We Go Down) reminiscent of the Beatles, as well as overtly blatant John Lennon imitations, bordering on parody (Pimple Zoo, Chicken Blows), but always blended with hefty doses of eccentric pop (the driving, distorted swamp-rock of My Valuable Hunting Knife, one of its masterpieces, A Good Flying Bird, and the metaphysical ode Game Of Pricks in a Hollies-like tempo). His stubborn epigonism, paired with a manic penchant for the unfinished, makes him effectively the ultimate anti-Beatles, deconstructing everything that was legendary and classic about their mass-market pop and transforming it into homegrown fun for close friends.
Largely overlooked are the harder and more psychedelic tracks (Watch Me Jumpstart, Striped White Jets, My Son Cool, and the instrumental Alright), which actually best summarize Pollard's musical originality. Motor Away merges the two aspects, drawing on rebellious guitar riffs and the epic drive of the Who, and is almost heavy-metal for them.
Tobin Sprout contributes Straw Dogs and especially Little Whirl, the most vigorous track on the entire album.

The EP Tigerbomb (Matador, 1995) is also released.

Under The Bushes Under The Stars (Matador, 1996) remedies the limitations of the previous releases. Its twenty-four songs are fully realized, professionally recorded, and thoroughly performed. They are also more optimistic compared to the melancholic tracks of Bee Thousand and the nervous energy of Alien Lanes. Yet what should have been the defining moment of Pollard’s career turns out to be a major disappointment. The moment he abandons the role of theorist, Pollard becomes a mediocre singer-songwriter, capable only of imitating past models. The album flows monotonously and without enthusiasm, between the familiar-sounding melody of the single Ironmen Rally Song—as if you’ve heard it a hundred times—and the unusually rough rock’n’roll of Cut Out Witch and Man Called Aerodynamics.
The somewhat generic choruses of Underwater Explosions and It's Like Soul Man fail to leave an impression, and Ghost Of A Different Dream is so twisted it seems like a song by the Cure. The lavish production seems to hinder Pollard rather than help him. The craftsman retreats into quieter songs: the acoustic folk of Acorns & Orioles, the slow Pink Floyd-esque To Remake The Young Flyer (by Sprout), and the soft, hypnotic Don't Stop Now, where at least his voice isn’t pressed by the instruments.

Pollard is more prolific than ever. He already has an EP ready, Sunfish Holy Breakfast (Matador, 1996), and Plantations of Pale Pink (Matador, 1996), featuring another batch of little songs. Catfood on the Earwig, A Life in Finer Clothing, Systems Crash, and Subtle Gear Shifting portray him in his most eccentric guise, yet once again the tribute to the Who, The Who Vs. Porky Pig, stands out.

Alien Lanes and Bee Thousand probably remain the masterpieces of Guided By Voices.

Tobin Sprout left his buddy and started his own solo career. Shortly thereafter, Mitch Mitchell too launched his own project.

Pollard instead released Not In My Airforce (Matador, 1996), 22 tracks of rough, neurotic rock, similar to Under The Stars. Once again, he fares better when imitating the Who (Psychic Pilot Clocks Out) than when attempting the idiot-savant approach.

For Mag Earwhig (Matador, 1997), Pollard parts ways with his former bandmates and hires John Petkovic’s Cobra Verde (Pollard owes quite a bit to Petkovic’s previous band, Death Of Samantha). This time there are twenty-one tracks, a melting pot that opens with Can't Hear The Revolution, an experiment in faux avant-garde like the late Beatles used to do. While the melodies are often saccharine, the arrangements are always intelligent.
Masterful is the way they create a sense of desolation and tension in Portable Men's Society, with guitar hammering out a staccato boogie, an electronic hiss tearing through the void, and otherworldly vocals soaring in an epic moan. Finally having a proper rock band allows him to compose songs with complex dynamics like this, or The Finest Joke Is Upon Us.
Guitarist Doug Gillard’s presence is noticeable both in the deafening boogie backing the single Bulldog Skin and especially in the new Who-style gem of the album, I Am A Tree.
Pollard remains above all a modest pop genius, as shown by the sugary Merseybeat choruses of Jane Of The Waking Universe and Mute Superstar, and the Hollies-like melodic progressions of Little Lines, perhaps the most irresistible of his career.
The acoustic folk for solo guitar of Choking Tara and Now To War, and the Byrds-esque Sad If I Lost It are fragments belonging to the past. Pollard has now been promoted to professional status, first in pop and now also in rock. Leaving his songs unfinished had been a clever trick to hide himself. Now he must contend with his actual talent.
Pollard is somewhat overrated, but any of his records is always an event. The sheer volume of his work—singles, EPs, and albums—would be enough to secure him a place on the Olympus of modern song.

Tonics And Twisted Chasers (Rockathon, 1997), again with the help of Cobra Verde and the collaboration of former partner Tobin Sprout, is equally lively.

Pollard’s work is a refined exercise, but it carries a hint of soliloquy in the desert. In a way, he continued to repeat his own personal Abbey Road, a panel-by-panel operetta-collage of melodic vignettes.

Waved Out (Matador, 1998), Pollard’s solo album, is scattered and confusing as always, but it includes a few tracks that redeem it and even rank among his best ever: the solemn Make Use, the piano-driven, funereal, jazz-inflected ballad People Are Leaving, the driving rock and roll of Subspace Biographies, and the psychedelic imagination of Showbiz Opera Wlarus.

The colossal and self-indulgent dispersion of his career reaches another low with his new solo album, Kid Marine (Rockathon, 1998), the first in a series of collections of more or less improvised tracks, whimsical authorial caprices like Submarine Teams and Television Prison.

Do The Collapse (TVT 1999), with a new line-up (Doug Gillard of Cobra Verde on guitar, Jim MacPherson of Breeders on drums) does not fare well. Pollard's most regular sounding album and commercial move yields the intensely arranged melodies of Hold On Hope, Things I Will Keep, In Stitches. Pollard's favorite pace (the frantic march in crescendo) and his favorite vocal harmonies (the Hollies') propel Teenage FBI, with distorted guitar riffs replacing his favorite guitar accompaniment (the Byrds' jangling guitars).

The powerful and infectious power-pop of Surgical Focus (TVT, 1999) is easily one of the best of the year.

The duo formed by Guided By Voices' drummer Don Thrasher with guitarist and vocalist Dave Doughman, Swearing At Motorists, imitated the master (Pollard) on The Fear Of Low Flying Clouds (Spare Me, 1998), although subsequent albums became more and more personal statements by Dave Doughman: More Songs From The Mellow Struggle (Secretely Canadian, 2000), Number Seven Uptown (Secretely Canadian, 2001), This Flag Signals Goodbye (Secretely Canadian, 2002), Last Night Becomes This Morning (2006).

Robert Pollard and Doug Gillard also release Speak Kindly (Fading Captain Series, 1999), an album in their old "lo-fi" style.

Not satisfied with the regular releases, Pollard dished out the four volumes of rarities Suitcase (Fading Captain Series, 2000) containing all sorts of discarded material that date as far back as 1974. Pollard claimed that about 200 tapes got lost in a flood, a fact which stands as proof for the existence of a merciful god. Suitcase 2 - American Superdream Wow (Fading Captain, 2005) added 100 more rarities, thus nominating the twofer for most abominable anthology of rarities in the history of recordings.

Isolation Drills (TVT, 2001) continues Guided By Voices' quest for mass appeal. Forsaken eccentricity and quirkiness, and armored in glossy production, Pollard sails towards mass consumption with the catchy and silly Glad Girls and Chasing Heather Crazy, both destined to remain crowd favorites. Pivotal Film, Want One, The Enemy and Skills Like This echo his 1960s heroes Who and T.Rex, although they now cater to the same middle-class teenagers who listen to Backstreet Boys. However, hidden between the lines, is Pollard's tragic philosophy of life, best expressed in the bitter (and tuneful) Fair Touching, the devastating How's My Drinking and the fatalistic Campfighter. Technically speaking, this could be Pollard's best album ever. Art not being only technique, this album stands more like a compromise between what he likes to play and what the world likes to hear. If nothing else, this time around Pollard thought twice before recording the songs. The music could only benefit.

Tower In The Fountain Of Sparks (Fading Captain, 2001), credited to Airport 5, is the first collaboration between Robert Pollard and former bandmate Tobin Sprout since their professional break-up. Sprout writes most of the music and Pollard basically improvises over the partner's instrumental scores. Since this is, ultimately, an album about textures, it belongs more to the former than to the latter. Sprout seems to be playing in a sort of zombie-like, foggy trance, from which there emerge the surreal twang of Burns Carpenter and Total Exposure, the mournful raga of Subatomic Rain, the icy dirge of The Cost of Shipping Cattle. Pollard can't resist to throw in the garage-rock of One More and the Sgt Pepper's parody Mansfield In The Sky, but the core of the album is Sprout's quiet lunacy. The best aspect of the duo's collaboration is perhaps best summarized by a trio of simple, catchy, melancholy pop tunes: Up The Nails, Stifled Man Casino, Feathering Clueless. Here Pollard is just a singer, Sprout is the composer, but the two perfectly complement each other.

The second Airport 5 album, Life Starts Here (Fading Captain, 2002), sounds like leftovers from the first one.

His Soft Rock Renegades, the band credited for Choreographed Man of War (Recordhead, 2001), is Pollard again with the same line-up of Do The Collapse:, bassist Greg Demos and Drummer Jim MacPherson. The trio serves two classics in the genre of the introspective ballad: Edison's Memos and 7th Level Shutdown. On the other hand, I Drove a Tank and Bally Hoo pay tribute to the Who, and even the more conventional (i.e., trivial) power-pop of Kickboxer Lightning displays an uncanny talent for writing catchy tunes. In his mature age, Pollard is focusing on the wedding of introspection and melody. No wonder he gives his best in the genre of the sentimental ballad.

Circus Devils is another side-project launched by Robert Pollard (paired with Todd and Tim Tobias). Ringworm Interiors (Fading Captain, 2002), Harold Pig Memorial (Fading Captain, 2003), Pinball Mars (Fading Captain, 2004), Five (Fading Captain, 2005), are more experimental and difficult than the Guided By Voices output.

Guided By Voices released four singles in 2002: Back To The Lake / Dig Through My Window, Cheyenne / Visit This Place, Everywhere With Helicopter, Universal Truths And Cycles.

On their 13th studio album, Universal Truths And Cycles (Matador, 2002), Guided By Voices sound like a band with a mission: the mission to obfuscate their own past. With the exception of the sulphuric, limping voodoobilly Skin Parade, the bluesy garage stomp From a Voice Plantation, and the sublime hypnosis of Car Language, the songs are as linear as on any mainstream-rock album. Pollard is still perfecting his manic quest for the resurrection of classic power-pop as enunciated by the Who (Christian Animation Torch Carriers and Eureka Signs), and the results are occasionally brilliant (the quintessential bubblegum melody Cheyenne, the slightly demented rigmarole Everywhere with Helicopter, the languid Cheyenne that Suede could kill for), but more often not (check out the stark REM-ian ballad Storm Vibrations or the lame Brit-pop ditty Universal Truths and Cycles). The playing is more solid than ever, with guitarist Doug Gillard penning tasty distortions everywhere, Todd Tobias' keyboards adding a surreal touch and the rhythm section of Nate Farley and Jon McCann drawing a straight line for the others to follow.
As usual, the problem is that most of these songs are not songs but just ideas, and maybe ideas should simply be kept in the drawer until you are ready to turn them into songs. The overall feeling, as usual, is of some really good tunes buried in tidal waves of filler.

In the meantime, Calling Zero (Matador, 2002), credited to Go Back Snowball, is a collaboration between Pollard and Superchunk's Mac McCaughan. The two concoct grand pop in the vein of Neutral Milk Hotel and Apples In Stereo, a vast cry from either Guided By Voices or Superchunk.

On Pipe Dreams Of Instant Prince Whippet (Recordhead, 2002) Guided By Voices, the greatest pop swindle of the decade, dishes out another dose of half-bake songs.

Go Back Snowball's Calling Zero (Fading Captain, 2002) is a collaboration between Superchunk's Mac McCaughan and Robert Pollard.

Few people have produced so many irrelevant recordings as Robert Pollard. His solo album Motel of Fools (Fading Captain, 2003) has only one song worth listening to, Captain Black.

Guided By Voices's Earthquake Glue (Matador, 2003) is another set of trivial power-pop refrains, but enhanced with a crunchy, propulsive guitar sound (on full display in the breakneck rock'n'roll of Useless Inventions).
There are explicit references to the Sixties: I'll Replace You With Machines, the one moment of epic madness on the album (thanks to electronic distortion and catastrophic drumming), echoes the Who circa Happy Jack and the Hollies circa Bus Stop; the riff and melody of She Goes Off at Night are clearly inspired by riffs and melodies from Who's Tommy; Secret Star (that mimicks the Kinks' Waterloo Sunset) condenses Pollard's art of jangling guitars, martial tempos, sweet vocal harmonies.
Also captivating are the slower, simpler songs, that occasionally prove Pollard is not so overrated after all: the ecstatic ballad The Best of Jill Hives, propelled by a light boogie rhythm a` la Velvet Underground; Dirty Water, sung in Sting-like sensual register, backed by bluesy guitar (replete with Cream-like wah-wah and vibrato) and tom-tom rhythm from an Indian war dance; and the REM-like litany The Main Street Wizards. My Kind of Soldier is the "standout" from the melodic viewpoint.
Every song relies on insanely catchy motifs and impeccable execution: no question about that. The problem is that it's hard to tell most of them from the others, and from the thousand tunes that came before them. One gets positively annoyed upon hearing the 1000nd Beatles-ian progression or the 200th Big Star-ian power riff or the 400th Byrds-ian harmonies. What he has is talent, not genius.

Human Amusements at Hourly Rates (Matador, 2003) is a 32-song career retrospective. It includes a few rarities: the spacey folk-rock of Twilight Campfighter (worthy of the Byrds circa 1966), the violent rock'n'roll of Captain's Dead (with Byrds-ian vocal harmonies), the psychedelic ballad Tractor Rape Chain and the brief but hypnotic Non-Absorbing.

Hardcore UFOs (Matador, 2003) is a 5-cd box-set (their third box-set) that works both as career retrospective, singles, rarities and live performance.

Robert Pollard's Fiction Man (Fading Captain, 2004) could be worse if it didn't boast multi-instrumentalist Todd Tobias' tasty arrangements: one of Pollard's worst albums ever.

Half Smiles Of The Decomposed (Matador, 2004), announced as Guided By Voices' final album, is typical of both their assetts and liabilities. It refines the essence of their power-pop with impeccable artifacts such as Everybody Thinks I'm A Raincloud, the half-whispered vocals wrapped into heavy guitar strumming and pounding drums, or the Byrds-ian, jangling The Closets Of Henry. It continues the never-ending exploration of experimental song structures and arrangements (Sleep Over Jack). It indulges in effervescent psychedelic rigmaroles (Gonna Never Have to Die, Huffman Prairie Flying Field, one of his best) and unorthodox folk ballads (the semi-orchestral Window Of My World) that redefine genres with the grace of a bulldozer. The price to pay is the usual dose of lame pop refrains (Girls of Wild Strawberries, Asphyxiated Circle) and the usual frustration when a good idea is truncated after only two minutes. And the fundamental incompleteness of his program remains the same: none of his songs is a classic (as far as melody goes) and none of his songs is an outstanding "composition". The number of tracks that get close to being either is impressive, but, at the end of the day, none truly succeeds. In this case one is also left with the impression that the second half of the album is mostly made of left-overs (the quality is dramatically inferior to the songs of the first half).

Pollard's 26-song From A Compound Eye (2006) continued to dilute his (already mediocre) art over colossal heaps of filler. Normal Happiness (2006) was its poppier (and, thankfully, slimmer) companion.

Crickets (2007) is a double-CD compilation of material from 1999-2007.

The seven-song EP Silverfish Trivia (Prom Is Coming, 2007) contains the eight-minute Cats Love A Parade.

To make things even more unbearable, Pollard released two albums that were one the alter-ego of the other: a collection of trivial pop ditties, Coast To Coast Carpet Of Love (Merge, 2007), versus a parade of trite blues-rock shuffles, Standard Gargoyle Decisions (Merge, 2007).

He certainly helped create the trend, but Pollard's Off To Business (2008) does little other than indulge in the fashionable alt-pop format. In fact, he seems to steer towards classic adult rock in The Original Heart and The Blondes (pretty much the only reasons to listen to the album).

Pollard's psych-pop fared slightly better on We've Moved (Happy Jack Rock Records, 2008), credited to Psycho And The Birds, while Superman Was A Rocker (Needmore Songs, 2008), credited to Robert Pollard, was yet another copy of the bad record that he kept recording over and over again.

Guided by Voices' vocalist Robert Pollard, Decemberists' drummer John Moen and and guitarist Chris Slusarenko formed the Boston Spaceships that debuted with Brown Submarine (2008). Like most of Pollard's output, the album was a collection of forgettable roots-rock songs. Like most of Pollard's project, it immediately became super-prolific, yielding Planets Are Blasted (2009), Elephant Jokes (2009), with 22 songs, and Zero to 99 (2009), albums that sounded like recycled Guided By Voices ditties, if not leftovers.

The Crawling Distance (Guided By Voices, 2009) was another collaboration between Pollard and Todd Tobias.

Robert Pollard reformed Guided By Voices but, luckily, he re-employed Tobin Sprout, who helped rescue the 21-song Let's Go Eat the Factory (2011) from the leader's old-fashioned power-pop (the singles The Unsinkable Fats Domino and Doughnut for a Snowman plus at least Waves and Chocolate Boy) and his rough and fragmentary nostalgia with God Loves Us and Spiderfighter.

Pollard's We All Got Out Of The Army (Guided By Voices, 2010) is basically a series of yawn-inspiring following the only decent one, the rocking Silk Rotor. And even that one is not exactly groundbreaking.

Most of Pollard's albums were now artificially constructed around one or two good songs, like I Wanna Be Your Man in the Moon off Space City Kicks (2011), or Science Magazine off Mouseman Cloud (2012). Reviewers started reviewing the titles of the songs instead of the music.

Admittedly, Pollard's Lord of the Birdcage (2011) was more consistent than any of its immediate predecessors, boasting an unusually large number of accomplished ditties in a variety of formats: Dunce Codex, Garden Smarm, You Can't Challenge Forward Progress, Smashed Middle Finger, Ribbon of Fat.

Meanwhile, the reunited Guided By Voices then unleashed the spotty 21-song tour de force Class Clown Spots a UFO (2012). The triptych of Class Clown Spots a UFO, Keep It In Motion and Jon the Croc matches anything they did in the beginning, while the lo-fi pop Tyson's High School and Billy Wire even faithfully matches "the sound" of their beginning. The rocking No Transmission ends the album on a lively note, but too many of the fragments don't connect. The year ended with another album, the 19-song The Bears For Lunch (Guided By Voices Incorprated, 2012), that contains Hangover Child and King Arthur The Red, plus Tobin Sprout's The Corners Are Glowing, Waving At Airplanes and Skin To Skin Combat.

The six-song EP Down By The Racetrack (2013) contains the psychedelic title-track. The 17-song English Little League (2013), mostly devoted to slow tedious ballads, further dilutes the percentage of good music in Pollard's album, with only a couple of songs worthy of his pop fame (Flunky Minnows, Xeno Pariah) and only two rockers to awake the listener (W/ Glass In Foot and Sprout's Quiet Game).

Undeterred, and determined to prove that it's quantity and not quality that matters, Robert Pollard released the solo Jack Sells The Cow (Guided By Voices Inc, 2012), actually another collaboration with Todd Tobias, another low point in a career mainly of low points. After wasting time listening to all these songs, the critic picks at least one to salvage (in this case probably "Pontius Pilate Heart").

Guided by Voices released Cool Planet (2014) that features Robert Pollard's ferocious Authoritarian Zoo and the singalong Bad Love is Easy to Do as well as Tobin Sprout's stately Dylan-ian All-American Boy. The rest is ridiculous as usual.

And in fact Motivational Jumpsuit (2014), 20 songs in 37 minutes, showed that the band was running out of ideas again. Tobin Sprout's material is vastly inferior to his standards, even the Byrds-ian Record Level Love. Pollard's material, as usual, is a long parade of misses and no hits. The boogie Alex and the Omegas is not the worst melody (there are at least 15 contenders) but it's the one that really sabotages the instrumental part.

Robert Pollard played all the instruments on Please Be Honest (2016), an album that is strictly for those who have time to waste. Nobody would mention My Zodiac Companion, Please Be Honest and Kid On A Ladder if they were on a decent album; but here they stand out because the rest is below ridiculous.

His solo albums were vastly inferior to these already inferior albums: Honey Locust Honky Tonk (2013), Blazing Gentlemen (2013), Faulty Superheroes (2015) and Of Course You Are (2016).

The 32-song, 70-minute, double-album August By Cake (2017) was a celebration of sorts for Robert Pollard: his 100th studio album. It also inaugurated a new line-up of Guided by Voices. Pollard winks at ZZ Top (the southern boogie 5 Degrees On The inside), David Bowie (the martial horror movie soundtrack Packing The Dead Zone), the New Pornographers (the lame Dr Feelgood Falls Off The Ocean but also the anthemic singalong Goodbye Note that outdoes them), the Kinks (West Coast Company Man, almost a saloon version of Well Respected Man), T.Rex (the pounding Escape To Phoenix), etc. And then there's the waltzing ballad Warm up to Religion, Bobby Bare's High Five Hall Of Famers, Kevin March's Sentimental Wars and so on. When We All Hold Hands at the End of the World is a reworking of Home By Ten (on Suitcase 2) and Keep Me Down is an old Boston Spaceships song (off The Planets Are Blasted).

A more polished production on How Do You Spell Heaven (2017) could not hide that these were leftovers even within a career largely made of leftovers. The thundering parts of Paper Cutz and Tenth Century are mere distractions.

It is hard to salvage something form albums like Space Gun (2018).

Meanwhile, the Circus Devils released Five (2005), Sgt Disco (2007), Ataxia (2008), Gringo (2009), Mother Skinny (2010), Capsized (2011), When Machines Attack (2013), My Mind Has Seen the White Trick (2013), Escape (2014), Stomping Grounds (2015), Laughs Last (2017), etc.

The 32-song Zeppelin Over China (2019) is an incredibly boring experience despite the catchy The Rally Boys and My Future in Barcelona. Warp And Woof (2019) collects 24 songs released on 4 EPs The quality of Sweating The Plague (2019) is just ridiculous. Surrender Your Poppy Field (2020) has the baroque pop of Arthur Has Business Elsewhere and then an avalanche of filler. Guided By Voices was an assembly line of cheap low-quality imitations.

Guided By Voices' 1,000th album Earth Man Blues (2021), following the mini-album Heaven Beats Iowa (2021) credited to the Cub Scout Bowling Pins, contains the hard-rocking The Batman Sees the Ball and the punk-pop ditty Trust Them Now, neither of which is exactly groundbreaking but it's the best of the year. The string-laden The Disconnected Citizen makes even the Beatles' The Long and Winding Road sound interesting.