Search - Robert Pollard :: Crawling Distance

Cramming Yet More Beauty Into A Packed World...Thanks Bob!!!

K. Spahr | Springfield, OH | 01/27/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After all the musical output Robert Pollard has put out over the last couple decades or more, yet another amatuer review by myself seems nothing more than an exercise in repetition. Nonetheless, it is a necessary evil.



From the get-go, Faking My Harlequin hits the ground running and sets a tight, rocking, melodic course for the rest of the disc...all of these songs are well thought out units, not bits and snippets and afterthoughts as they used to be sometimes..."damn it's just my luck" is a great ending thought to this song.



Next up is an ode to the manly man....Cave Zone. "someone take me home to my cave zone" pleads Robert over a bashing guitar and drum riff. To pretend to end this one with psychotic warbling only to jump back in was a brilliant if unsuspected move.



Red Cross Vegas Night is next up and totally envelopes you in warmth and melody. The mellow guitar lines don't last but a few verses before it all erupts into a more rocking vibe for the chorus. This song proves that the depth of Bob's "Well Of Hooks" is endless...very Who-like in it's feel.



The 4th track is The Butler Stands For All of Us and as anyone who witnessed the spectacle that was the Boston Spaceships first tour de force, this song lived on for days in your head (provided you could remember the show)...it's a grand, effortless, anthem, beautifully melodic (of course) and completely Pollard.



It's Easy, the next track is quickly becoming my favorite song of the set. Basically, a ballad, which is basically a rare thing for Mr Pollard in theory, although, I think many of his songs over the years are light enough to fit this mold. This one however exemplifies it. It oozes POP all over itself.



No Island has, IMHO, the catchiest hook of the album....a song of love lost and love yearned for. "Save your words and save your world for me".



Very quickly, this disc gets back to the ROCK with Silence Be Destroyed. This one has a heavy Todd Tobias feel (Circus Devils) and lots of in your face guitar work. Theres also a bit of interesting vocal layers going on here.



Imaginary Queen Anne is another big budget beauty that does what Bob does so well....craft a song that evokes a sadness of sorts yet doesn't fail to feel uplifting in some way.



On Short Wave is one of the more interesting off-beat songs here if any can be considered off-beat. The instrumentation (cello??) adds the appropriate dark mood as does Bob's start-stop vocal delivery. It all builds into a tasty crescendo which shatters into a fragile finish with "the only memory I'll ever have."



Too Much Fun is the closer and as the name implies, Bob is having BIG fun! Off tempo, off kilter vocals and more of the crashing bashing guitar/drum work which Tobias is so known for, are prominent here. A fantastic way to end this baby off...leave you wanting more.



Writing this makes me realize how much I thoroughly enjoyed this album from start to finish....no clunkers, no throwaways....just pure pop rock goodness from end to end. My recommendation???? GET IT NOW!!!!!"

Arguably his best solo album

Garry Messick | Boynton Beach, FL USA | 02/16/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm tempted to call "The Crawling Distance" Robert Pollard's mainstream rock album. The songs are generally longer and more fleshed-out than usual for him, and they basically follow classic pop song structures. Along with his two Guided by Voices albums for TVT, this is definitely Pollard at his least tossed-off and experimental. There are no throwaway cuts here, no forays into tedious, meandering melodies or unlistenable bits of weirdness. Don't get me wrong, I love a lot of Pollard's quirkier stuff, but it's refreshing to hear him try his hand at something closer to conventional pop for a change (in terms of the music, anyway... the lyrics are about as abstract as usual... maybe a bit less so). The result is something of a triumph -- all ten tracks are uniformly strong. This may also be his moodiest, most downbeat record. Beautiful, melancholy tunes predominate. Of the ten tracks, only "Cave Zone" and "By Silence be Destroyed" are straight-up rockers. "No Island" boasts a carefully structured, anthemic melody. "It's Easy" is a quiet, tender ballad -- the odd, dissonant build-up to the chorus is a brilliant touch. The final cut, "Too Much Fun," is the closest Pollard comes to indulging his experimental side. The song is sort of a mini rock opera, but just as accessible and tuneful as everything else here. The entire album, but especially "On Shortwave," is sonically gorgeous as well, and features some of the best instrumentation and production Todd Tobias has yet provided for Pollard. Although less adventurous than usual, "The Crawling Distance" is addictive and strongly consistent. For the more adventurous, quirky side of Robert Pollard, check out his new band Boston Spaceships and their debut CD, "Brown Submarine," which is just as good in it's own way."