Bad Football
(2007, Off Records)
The
2nd, and to date, the final The Takeovers LP. Again, we get another pairing between Robert Pollard and Chris Slusarenko (GBV,
Boston Spaceships). Following this release, Pollard and
Slusarenko began work with John Moen (Decemberists), on the more
focused, and highly rewarding Boston Spaceships. This
record, is arguably a more focused affair than affair
than affair
than Turn To Red. However,
the LP still feels like a listener ride, weaving unevenly in and out of leftover ideas lying around near the under the desk waste basket. One notable raise of the eyebrow for the LP, a rather interesting smattering of who's-who appears on this record,
featuring guest drop-ins by Stephen Malkmus (Pavement), Tad Doyle
(Tad), Dan Peters (Mudhoney), and the aforementioned John Moen.
Side
A:
You’re
At It-
4 Slower,
strum-along rock song. Lazy, haphazard with a waft of pot smoke
pouring from ever chord. Awesome, clawing, who-gives-a-shit
opener. Stephen Malkmus also plays somewhere on this track.
Little
Green Onion Man- 3 Song
carried by its lazy, and excellent bassline!!! But then Pollard
decides to do cringe worthy vocal acrobatics, jumping from his helium
voice to his deep, gargoyle drunk dad voice. The music’s a 5,,
but overall... An exercise in how to shoot yourself in the foot.
Father’s
Favorite Temperature- 3 Sounds
like a slightly garaged up current jukebox country tune in the verse. Choruses are pretty okay. Wonderful,
swoop in by the fuzz solo in the middle that blankets most of the
tracks. The true highlight.
Molly
and Zack-
2 Who
are these people? Not sure. Moody acoustic number that you can
file under forgettable.
Pretty
Not Bad- 2 Hold
on there. Is this the Hold Steady on the verses? Storytelling
techniques over cock rock stuff. Boring stuff at that.
Smokestack
Bellowing Stars-
4 Pretty
cool song. Easy, pop-song with simple choruses. Nifty off-kilter
sounding interludes after the choruses. Strong showing to end Side-A.
Side
B:
I
Can See My Dog- 2 You've gotta hear these lyrics. Literally contains lyrical content about his dog, and is a
pretty average song musically. But man, this is just lame. And WAY
too long for its own averageness. But you know what... I can't get it
out of my fucking head.
The
Jester of Helpmeat- 1 One
minute plus track. Starts in the right direction with lone guitar,
but then breaks into nasally, cartoonish Pollard vocals and whistling
synths where Pollard declares “The Jester of Helpmeat”is not
fucking around.” Piss my pants every time.
Kicks
At the Gym- 1
Laughably
quotable song title with equally shitty lyrics. It’s a damn
shame Tad's own,Tad Doyle, pops up on this track. Funny, I guess for Pollard and his bar-buddies. Music laced with ‘tude, and lyrics
laced with head-scratching nonsense. Don’t wax to me about irony
either.
Music
For Us- 1 Piano
intro with deep crooning Pollard vocals. ‘70’s songwriter
sounding at first. Eventually, breaks into soggy strumming tune, and back again. Song itself shows some bright, but schmaltzy potential, but
again Pollard takes a crap all over it with a smattering of vocal
stylings that sounds like he's stuck in a karaoke asylum. A poor
man’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” A very poor man’s.
The
Year Nobody Died- 2 Sparse
guitar strums with humdrum lyrics. Ambient
synths back up the barely amplified guitar eventually, but who really
cares at that point?
My
Will- 4 Although
the lyrics sound like a high school poem Pollard free-wrote during a
creative writing class, the song is a complete bright spot after
possibly the worst B-side collapse of any Pollard release ever. “My
Will” is vintage Pollard strength, played out wonderfully by Slusarenko.
Love the Bing Crosby snippet at the end of "My Will."
ReplyDelete"Music for Us" is like Bob's "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)".
ReplyDeleteSad but true!
DeleteHey, I like side 2.
ReplyDeletegreat guitar solo on "you're at it"
ReplyDelete