Artist bio

See also: Airport 5, Guided By Voices, Lifeguards

Robert Pollard is principally known as the frontman and leader of indie rock juggernaut Guided By Voices. But his recording career extends beyond GBV, with a series of albums released eponymously and pseudonomysly fulfilling his extracurricular creative urge.

Pollard formed GBV in 1985, but it wasn't until 1996 when he took the step beyond with the Matador release of Not In My Airforce, accompanied on the same day by a solo album from fellow GBV songwriter Tobin Sprout. The aquatic-themed Waved Out followed in 1998, but it wasn't until the following year's Kid Marine when Pollard decided to subtitle it "No. 1 in the Fading Captain Series." And the rest was history.

If you dozed through your history classes, though, the short story is that Pollard has exploited the Fading Captain moniker in the years since, often releasing three or four albums a year -- plus assorted compilations -- on local Dayton, Ohio label Rockathon. The man is a rock and roll genius, although subpar songs are a matter of course. It's hard to sum his work up in a few scant paragraphs, so instead I offer a Fading Captain salute: Bottoms Up, You Fantastic Bastard!

Albums by this artist

From A Compound Eye (2006)

Zoom 7" (2005)

Relaxation of the Asshole (2005)

Music For Bubble EP (2005)

Motel of Fools (2003)

Choreographed Man Of War (2001)

Speak Kindly Of Your Local Volunteer Fire Department (Recommended) (1999)

Kid Marine (1999)

Waved Out (1998)

Not In My Airforce (1996)

Robert Pollard with Doug Gillard

Speak Kindly Of Your Local Volunteer Fire Department

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» MARK T.R. DONOHUE | STAFF WRITER

NATN Recommended Robert Pollard Speak Kindly Of Your Local Volunteer Fire Department Rockathon, 1999 RiYL: Guided By Voices, Gem, Tobin Sprout

A while ago, I just gave up trying to control my Guided By Voices spending. Attempting to figure out which Robert Pollard releases were worthwhile and which weren't was taking up more time and energy than just buying the records and figuring out for myself. Seeing the band live twice in recent years has helped -- GBV plays stuff from their whole career, and Pollard is very helpful with announcing what songs come from where.

That said, other than the Matador GBV albums (with the exception of Mag Earwhig!, the bastardized three-way disaster of acoustic Pollard junk, Cobra Verde-backed junk, and "classic" GBV junk), the best Robert Pollard releases for your money are as follows:

1. Guided By Voices -- "The Grand Hour" EP (Scat, 1993). Features the great "Shocker In Gloomtown" plus a good Tobin Sprout song and two songs which would later become album titles -- "Bee Thousand" and "Alien Lanes." Bonus: cheap!

2. Robert Pollard -- Waved Out (Matador, 1998). Surprisingly consistent solo record of comparable fidelity to mid-period Matador albums. "Subspace Biographies" might be the best solo Pollard song.

3. Robert Pollard with Doug Gillard -- Speak Kindly Of Your Local Volunteer Fire Department.

The latter, which sounds sort of like Alien Lanes minus the shorter songs, or maybe Under The Bushes Under The Stars minus the longer songs, has similar production standards to the "classic" GBV albums, and like-minded songs as well.

The only major difference is that old all-star band of Kevin Fennell, Tobin Sprout, Mitch Mitchell, et al is replaced by one dude (current GBV axeman Doug Gillard) on drums, guitars, bass, and keyboards. Besides saving on royalty outpayments, this keeps the music tighter than usual for a lo-fi Pollard outing. I haven't done my fact-checking here, but I believe Gillard is the most sober GBV member ever, and he displays subtle little bits of guitar flash that poor old Toby Sprout couldn't imagine in his wildest dreams.

Like the Matador albums, Fire Department isn't special for its individual songs, but for how they string together as a group, a series of cute little chorus highs and mopey verse lows. "Do Something Real" has one of the better vocal hooks Pollard has cooked up since Bushes. "And I Don't (So Now I Do)" is a classic self-contradictory Bob Pollard moment in the "As We Go Up, We Go Down" tradition.

Besides the better-sounding vocals and surprising dearth of sub-1:00 songs, the only major acknowledgement of GBV's, er, mainstream success is the self-congratulatory liner note photos of dozens of festivalgoers in "Teenage FBI" t-shirts.

It's all "Slick As Snails," (side one, track four) "And My Unit Moves" (side two, track seven). Not in that way, though. And the vinyl comes with free "Fading Captain Series" postcards!

MARK T.R. DONOHUE | Mark T.R. Donohue is a prolific freelance writer whose areas of expertise include Rockies baseball, video games, genre television, English soccer, and pub rock. He lives in Colorado, where he cultivates the largest and creepiest private collection of Alyson Hannigan memorabilia in the Mountain West.