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Avg: 4.0 (116 ratings)
- Date Released: January 1, 1992
- Genre: Alternative/Punk
- Style: Alternative
- Label: Scat / Revolver
Pollard and friends indulge their rock star fantasies.
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We Say...
By the time Propeller was released, GbV had already been around in various forms for more than ten years. As the chants of “G! B! V!” that lead off the record — made to sound like a frenzied crowd in an arena — make clear, Pollard was already a rock legend in his own mind. Hearing the album today is kind of like listening to an old Lomax field recording (Basement Songs of Dayton’s Inebriated, perhaps), but there are parts that are of more than academic interest. The leadoff track, “Over the Neptune / Mesh Gear Fox,” features Pollard in fine Merseybeat voice. (The song popped up a few years later as “Kisses to the Crying Cook” on the Fast Japanese Spin Cycle EP.) The charming “14 Cheerleader Coldfront” was evidence that there were many future diamonds to be found in this rough.
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They Say...
1992's Propeller was an album that Guided by Voices originally released themselves; it was eventually reissued on the Scat label one year later. All of the ingredients that make the group totally original are present -- rough production, strong melodies courtesy of Robert Pollard, and an overall sound straight out of the British clubs back in the mid-'60s. The opening epic, "Over the Neptune/Mesh Gear Fox," is two different songs sewn together (similar to T. Rex's "Tenement Lady" off their classic Tanx album). It starts off as a rock & roller and later changes into space rock, while "Quality of Armor" starts off as a cross between the Beatles and Elvis Costello's "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace Love and Understanding?" But Guided by Voices have a style all their own, evidenced by the irresistible combination of chromatic guitar riffs and anthemic choruses contained in "Exit Flagger," and in the experimental song splices throughout "Back to Saturn X Radio Report." "Circus World" is pure guitar pop, as is the now-classic "Weedking." Propeller proved to be an important stepping stone for the group, helping to set the stage for such later triumphs as Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes.
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| 01. |  |
Over the Neptune/Mesh Gear Fox |
5:41 |
|
| 02. | |
Weedking |
2:39 |
|
| 03. | |
Particular Damaged |
1:59 |
|
| 04. | |
Quality of Armor |
2:37 |
|
| 05. | |
Metal Mothers |
3:18 |
|
| 06. | |
Lethargy |
1:20 |
|
| 07. | |
Unleashed! The Large-Hearted Boy |
1:59 |
|
| 08. | |
Red Gas Circle |
1:25 |
|
| 09. | |
Exit Flagger |
2:19 |
|
| 10. | |
14 Cheerleader Coldfront |
1:31 |
|
| 11. | |
Back to Saturn X Radio Report |
1:33 |
|
| 12. | |
Ergo Space Pig |
2:48 |
|
| 13. | |
Circus World |
2:40 |
|
| 14. | |
Some Drilling Implied |
1:40 |
|
| 15. | |
On the Tundra |
2:38 |
|
15 Total Tracks, 36:07 Total Length
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Credits
- Guided by Voices - Main Performer // Tobin Sprout - ? // Robert Pollard - Vocals // Greg Demos - ? // Jim Pollard - ? // Don Thrasher - ? // Dan Toohey - ?
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