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Normal Happiness

by

Robert Pollard

 
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Normal Happiness
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Avg: 3.5 (55 ratings)

The ex-GbV kingpin lightens up and gets poppy.

  • We Say...

    Review by Jack Rabid

    Here's the sunny pop record Pollard promised following his initial post-Guided By Voices solo LP, the stubbornly obtuse From a Compound Eye. Normal Happiness is much more consistent, hooky and, most of all, cheery. The title of "Accidental Texas Who" is a clue, though the Who in question is the light 'n' friendly Who of Sell Out's "Maryanne With the Shaky Hand," "Can't Reach You" and "Tattoo," not the classic rock '70s one. I'd have loved to hear the zippy riffs on these concise, two-minute nuggets cranked out with the elbow grease of GbV's Mitch Mitchell or Doug Gillard. But Pollard is himself an expressive studio player (live, he's too busy drinking and singing to really play). And producer/collaborator Todd Tobias extracts fuss-free, energetic takes, yielding a plethora of gems to place on a Pollard best-of — especially the instant, ringing guitars of "Rhoda Rhoda" and "Tomorrow Will Be Another Day." Normal Happiness takes in nearly every quirky eccentricity Pollard possesses (apart from his largely submerged prog fixations) yet insists on steady songcraft. This happiness is anything but normal.

  • They Say...

    Review by Mark Deming, All Music Guide

    After putting Guided by Voices to rest at the end of 2004, Robert Pollard launched his "official" solo career with the epic From a Compound Eye in early 2006; however, the wildly prolific Pollard waited a mere ten months to release a follow-up (which was recorded sometime in 2005), and Normal Happiness finds him working in noticeably more modest circumstances. Like From a Compound Eye, Pollard made Normal Happiness with longtime collaborator Todd Tobias, who produced the album and played nearly all the instruments, ably building the tracks around Pollard's vocals and guitar. However, while Pollard was trying to make the Great Rock Double Album with Compound Eye, Normal Happiness is more in the tradition of his best work with GBV -- sixteen short songs (only one over three minutes, seven under two), with plenty of hooks, lots of guitar and no more fuss than necessary. Tobias' production is far cleaner than the hissy lo-fi of Bee Thousand, but the lean and uncluttered accompaniment here is certainly in the same family, and allows the virtues of Pollard's tunes to show through (though GBV never had this much new wave keyboard work). Pollard does seem to be making a genuine effort to mature as a songwriter with more structurally ambitious songs such as "Gasoline Ragtime" and "Full Sun (Dig the Slowness)," but "Supernatural Car Lover," "Rhoda Rhoda," and "Towers and Landslides" show he hasn't turned his back on the muse that fueled his earlier work, and he can still make guitar-based pop songs with a hard rock core with the best of 'em. In short, to paraphrase Keith Moon, he's still the best Robert Pollard-style songwriter alive today, and Normal Happiness confirms he hasn't lost touch with what he does so well.

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