The Steve Reynolds Program - Class Clown Spots A UFO
A New(sletter) Era!
New look! I procrastinated switching over to this platform, scared that it would be a pain. Turns out it was really easy and painless.
I quit Twitter. Yep, I don’t want to be on Musk’s portfolio. His tweets after the purchase have assuaged any misgivings I’ve had quitting it. The man’s vision is wack, y’all.
Why am I telling you this? Is this the new “I’m vegan”? No, it’s to say that the last platform I sent these from is owned by Twitter. So it made sense to leave there. I’ve moaned and groaned about this place before, but Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s newsletter is here and if he can handle it, so can I. Plus, the Substack app is cool and makes it easy to like and comment. We could have a damn conversation if we wanted.
This is the 13th song write-up and, already, the third Guided by Voices song. I promise I'm not THAT cuckoo for Robert Pollard. It may seem one out of every four songs on this list aren't GBV songs but, actually, it's one out of about seven. This list is alphabetical, that’s all. I’m not monomaniacal at all. Seriously.
Song #13
Class Clown Spots A UFO
by Guided By Voices
Rock band reunions, a solid business, always come with the implied expectation that the band will celebrate the band as it was in the past. You know, playing the old songs they recorded and pretending their breakup was just “one of those things.” Money is always the motivating factor for them and that’s ok. We live in a world that runs on money.
The 2012-2014 reunion of the “so-called classic lineup” (so-called within quotation marks because that’s how people often referred to it) of Guided by Voices fits somewhat in that category. Initially reuniting for a live gig, done for the label Matador’s anniversary party, the four others who left the band for family, lawyer work, sobriety and whatever Mitch Mitchell’s reason was, they toured and recorded six (SIX!) albums within two years.
It’s a weird period with their return to lo-fi, one-take songs and more of Tobin’s songs, (his contributions, especially after the first reunion album vary wildly, in quality), for better or for worse. It’s odd going back and listening to them now after the recent Travis Harrison-produced-like-butter albums with the present lineup. The crazed nonstop eruption of singles and albums felt more like the statement than the actual songs contained within.
Still, it’s Bob “Pop Zeus” Pollard, who can shit out magic, at the helm. And this reworking of “Crocker’s Favorite Song,” a circa late 80’s song that saw light on an outtakes comp 21 years before Class Clown, is magic. “Crocker’s Favorite Song” (there’s no real Crocker; Bob just thought “Pete’s Favorite Song” didn’t sound right) has an acoustic guitar arpeggiated line sounding similar to the intro to “Unsatisfied” by the Replacements and a delay-heavy effect on the vocal. The lyrics vaguely address that midlife crisis people get. David Byrne said it crystal clear with “Well, how did I get here?”
So “Class Clown Spots An UFO” (updated title for The Boy Who Cried Wolf?) takes that pre-classic lineup song and adds the rawk and an inspired outro that puts it on my list. Crocker’s just fizzles after the line “nothing’s laid out for you”—bummer final thought, guys! Now in, the chorus comes back, then the band stops, and an a cappella Uuuuuuupp, up we go now is sung. The music comes back and Bob keeps singing up we go now. Now that’s a better sentiment.
But wait, there’s more! Another Bob vocal track is laid over and Tobin Sprout sings the chorus over that. All with Greg Demos bass playing off the root notes and a simple snare-heavy beat drummed by Kevin Fennell. It’s that magic feeling of seeing old friends and picking up where you left off but showing you’re older with a few more tricks learned during your absence to add to the mix.
The other Bob vocal track delights me. He intones:
“I am the one / Who is the one / You am the one / Who are the one”
Grammatically incorrect Bob (“Non-Absorbing” – “we wants to be alone”) makes me think of George Harrison singing “when we was fab.” It creates a distance between the singer and the words. It implies something felt before but now gently mocked by putting words in a noticeable silly form. It states the past is worthy of attention, but now things are different. Even better. Just like this song.
Afterword
This week’s Song I’m Mad I Forgot To Put On The List is "Strawberry Letter 23" by The Brothers Johnson. Once heard a DJ play this at a Brooklyn bar. I looked up to see who the DJ was and there was Gibby Haynes from The Butthole Surfers on the wheels. Incredible.
All right. See you sooner on #14.