← back to
Fire Records
We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Blazing Gentleman

by Robert Pollard

supported by
willneville1892
willneville1892 thumbnail
knick_besonders
knick_besonders thumbnail
Dog Dreams
Dog Dreams thumbnail
Eric Eliason
Eric Eliason thumbnail
Scott Summerfield
Scott Summerfield thumbnail
kehoet83
kehoet83 thumbnail
michaelneethling
michaelneethling thumbnail
David Grizzard
David Grizzard thumbnail
iivil
iivil thumbnail
hobbingfoot1
hobbingfoot1 thumbnail

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £10 GBP

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Includes unlimited streaming of Blazing Gentleman via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      £10 GBP

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Includes unlimited streaming of Blazing Gentleman via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      £16 GBP

     

1.
Magic Man Hype 02:35
2.
Blazing Gentlemen 03:19
3.
Red Flag Down 02:49
4.
Storm Center Level Seven 01:25
5.
Return of the Drums 02:10
6.
Picadilly Man 00:55
7.
Professional Goose Trainer 01:36
8.
Extra Fool's Day 01:35
9.
1000 Royalty Street 01:47
10.
My Museum Needs An Elevator 03:17
11.
Tonight's The Rodeo 01:50
12.
Tea People 01:33
13.
Faking the Boy Scouts 02:42
14.
Triple Sec Venus 01:58
15.
This Place Has Everything 01:07
16.
Lips of Joy 02:06

about

Blazing Gentlemen' is the last Robert Pollard record, which was released in 2013. It is also the finest Pollard-related record to come out in this or several years, aural evidence of a rock mage reinvigorated by the fact, according to the man himself that he's "finally figured out how to write a song after 55 years."

Which may come as a surprise even to casual fans of Pollard's thousands-strong catalog, and fair enough, Bob's certainly hip to the irony, but it's no joke. While he's explored pretty much every highway, toll road and dark alley of songcraft in his long career, including spontaneous "drum contests" where every member of Guided By Voices would be given the opportunity to come up with a drumbeat, over which he would then improvise a spontaneous melody based on semi-random lyrics from his ever-present notebook (for example), he's never before applied one consistent approach over the course of even one record. The new technique is considerably more disciplined: he first collects - in the (figuratively) selfsame notebook - phrases and titles, bits of overheard conversation, snatches of misheard movie dialogue, thus providing an assortment of lines all of which he considers strong enough to serve as potential song titles. He then assembles these song titles into lyrics, which because each line is strong enough to stand on its own, contain neither bloat nor the least misstep. When he's happy with the lyrics, he writes a melody for each lyric. He then sits down with the guitar and figures out chords that fit the melodies.

Sounds pretty straightforward, but for Pollard the result provides a structure uniquely suited to his muse. The proof is in the "excellent cake, so happily done, and quick to bake," as he sings (recalling to those with long memories the "freedom cake" of Propeller's classic "Weedking") on "Tea People," represented in sixteen exquisitely crafted slices on Blazing Gentlemen. From the rollicking Anglophilic "Extra Fool's Day" to the pithy, elegiac "This Place Has Everything," Blazing Gentlemen is no mere confectioner's conceit. Veiny with Pollard's signature depth-charged melodic inventiveness, multiple listens reveal multiple meanings, shape-shifting moods, and lyrical twists that will delight even the word-shyest rockphobe.

The music itself is standard-issue Pollardian guitar wizardry, unusual chord progressions made up of unusual chords jutting against off-kilter rhythms in ways that shouldn't work but never do not, only to be overshadowed by another bravura vocal performance, occasionally larded with (unusual) harmonies or plain weird delay/reverb/compression effects that only ever add to the tremendous bustle of joy (see "Lips of Joy" for an on-the-nose demo) applied liberally like primer to the multi-hued tracks.

Robert Pollard fans are fond of making extreme statements in support of their favorite songwriter. Let's pile on: with Blazing Gentlemen, one of America's greatest living artists has fairly reinvented himself. That is no little feat. That is a triumph, and deserves to be celebrated with the same zeal with which Pollard celebrates and honors his own gifts on this complex, architectonic wonder of an album. Drinks for everyone!

credits

released December 9, 2013

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Guided By Voices image

Guided By Voices Dayton, Ohio

Guided by Voices (often abbreviated as GBV) was an American indie rock band originating from Dayton, Ohio. Beginning with the band's formation in 1983 at the Northridge High School, it made frequent personnel changes but always maintained the presence of principal songwriter Robert Pollard. Guided by Voices initially disbanded in 2004. ... more

contact / help

Contact Guided By Voices

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Blazing Gentleman, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Fabiana Palladino stops by to talk about her mesmeric debut LP.
listen now