Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #128278 in Digital Music Album
• Released on: 2006-01-24
• Running time: 0 seconds

Customer Reviews

His best release in years??
I enjoyed GBV's Earthquake Glue, but most of their later stuff, I think most would agree, hasn't been their best-- and no, I haven't heard the hundreds of unreleased songs-worth of box sets and other odd releases over the years. This has given me all the more reason to be amazed by the power and solidity of From A Compound Eye, which aside from its lack of 'singles,' might be one of Pollard's essential releases.

Unlike a GBV release, Compound Eye doesn't suffer from dramatic changes in style from one song to the next. The sound is uniform throughout, heavy in guitar, low in fidelity. 26 tracks stuffed onto a single CD aren't as cumbersome as you might expect. The individual tracks sink into the album's total atmosphere. And it might be a stretch, but I'm continually reminded of early 70's Genesis or King Crimson when I listen to this album (almost so much that I wonder if RP had this in mind). Like those early recordings, Pollard's singing often comes from a mysterious background behind arrays of guitar effects and solos (think of Peter Gabriel's haunting vocals on the album The Lamb Lies Down...). There thankfully is no thematic continuity to speak of, so it's not prog-rock.

I'm going to take a chance and say that this is Pollard's greatest leap in musical maturity and craftsmanship in years. Music nerds, at the least, are going to love this one. Ordinary indie fans-- maybe not so much, but I'd still give it a shot. I will say for sure that it's heads and tails above the last GBV album (whatever it was called).

Very good
Robert Pollard was the genius behind Guided By Voices for over twenty years. I flew back to Los Angeles just to see their last California show. I was standing next to longtime fan Dennis Cooper. He was the one who told me about the band in the first place. He also told me about JT Leroy. While JT Leroy is a made up person, Robert Pollard and Guided By Voices is the real deal. They are a very delicate rock and roll band. Robert Pollard continues on the tradition. It is stripping away all artifice. Some songs like "A Flowering Orphan" are very emotional and lovely sounding. There is some basic GBV rock and roll here. "Love Is Stronger Than Witchcraft" is a stand out track here. Robert Pollard combines a feeling for modern music and has a high level of literacy. Pollard often has the touch of a poet. This is a great album to wake up to. This is the best record from Merge in a while.

How many songs a year does Bob write?
A lot has been said about this album... perhaps because there is a lot to say. Given: Robert Pollard is a prolific songwriter, with erratic output (not necessarily a bad thing -- his very jaggedness is part of his appeal, veering from lo-fi gold to psych-pop gems that'd make any second- or third-wave British invader proud), critical love/hate (see pitchfork and allmusic -- neither site can come right out and say they love him for his merits, both harp on his perceived faults).

"Ya know, Einstein never DID discover time travel. Or the fountain of youth. What a failure!"

Pollard = Einstein? Well, maybe not -- but, he has managed to put out a downright glorious latter-career album here. Several of these songs shirk the silver medal and go straight for gold -- "The Right Thing," "The Numbered Head," "Other Dogs Remain," all thoroughly enjoyable as hushed falling-asleep music or cranked on a Saturday morning with too much black coffee.

Critics like to point out that the album was allowed to cool for almost 2 years before it was released, yet it sounds fresher and freer than a lot of the tossed-off "love vs. death" journal entries passing for popular music these days.

There are pop hooks all over this creeper of an album. If you are still trying to figure out what Bob is "saying," maybe it won't connect on the pure visceral level that a good 90 dB thrashing of this double album will provide -- recommended: turn it up, turn your literal mind off and enjoy the effortless melodic indie-pop Mr. Pollard spins and flings out at a daunting rate.