obviously, there are a lot of fans here. I've never really listened to them but want to get educated. What album should I start with? Thanks for your help.

bee thousand. start there.

if you're not ready to embrace the extreme lo-fi, seemingly incomplete song fragment side of GBV, you may want to start with Mag Earwhig or Under the Bushes Under the Stars.

i think Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes are pretty much the mega-classics, but I'm not a real connoisseur.

this is a dark and lonely road to walk down, but . . .

-propeller
-bee thousand
-alien lanes
-under the bushes, under the stars

if you wanna go really polished, there's do the collapse and isolation drills.
really, i like most all gbv. bee thousand is the shit though. if you don't like tnv though, you may wanna try the more polished. cause i think a lot of tnv sounds like bee thousand.

They actually have a really well done best of called "Human Amusements at an Hourly Rate" which I listen to pretty regularly among all of the albums, it has some of the lo-fi, some of the highlights from the later hi-fi era, and some alternate versions of their "hits" which can only be found on EPs. Even if you become a super fan and obtain all of the albums, the best-of has improved sound and fills in some gaps that you will likely have if you become a casual, non-supernerd fan. Everyone's recommendations here are spot on, but I would start with the best of and then immediately move to Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes and then Propeller and Isolation Drills. Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes are sequenced perfectly and really should be experienced as a whole. The remastered Alien Lanes vinyl is still in print, sounds great, is a reasonable price (I picked mine up for 15 at Lost Weekend) and would be an excellent way to experience that record. Make sure you get the original Bee Thousand and not the "Director's Cut," as the director's cut is out of order, the original album is just perfectly sequenced. Sorry I am rambling, I have been on a GBV kick lately and am pretty excited about the music right now.

In this order:

Universal Truths and Cycles (So much better than Bee 1000)
Earthquake Glue
Half Smiles of the Decomposed

But if you're a Hardcore punker at heart, then start with:

Propeller
Alien Lanes
Bee Thousand

Uncle_Bob

As a certified GBV expert, here's how I currently list their albums, in order:

Under the Bushes, Under the Stars (perhaps the most complete representation of GBV)
Alien Lanes (more fun than Bee Thousand)
Bee Thousand
Half Smile of the Decomposed (the best swan song a band could have)
Propeller
Same Place the Fly Got Smashed (old school/weirdo concept record)

and don't forget about Vampire on Titus, a hard record to crack, but well worth it.

I would also recommend Bob's first solo album Not in My Airforce and the odds and ends compilation with Tobin Sprout, Tonics and Twisted Chasers.

That should be good to get started with -- from there it's a choose your own adventure.

pop zeus wumme will change his mind tomorrow about this list.

ah yes.. then you get into pollards solo stuff..
i've heard various reviews on his solo albums. i was thumbing through pollard records at the record store the other day. there were 5 or six albums and knew none of it. hardcore fans have told me it's hit and miss so you should probably be careful.

I have been giving Bob too hard a time on the last five years of solo records and side projects, going back through it, there is some stuff to love. The new Boston Spaceships record is pretty great, as is From a Compound Eye and Elephant Jokes.

If you liked Bee Thousand that much, you've gotta try Alien Lanes, although the songs can be even shorter and more schizo than Bee Thousand.

that is why bee thousand is amazing. he hits the best part of the song and leaves it there. like he ran over to the tape recorder after he got an idea, hit record then left it perfectly encapsulated. a snap shot in time. it's a gritty, and unpolished project.. like looking through your grandma's photo album of old kodaks, with the date and place penned in..
here's grandpa and your mom at niagra falls, here's uncle frank's 10th birthday..
they feel jumbled and not quite in focus, but it's absolutely perfect. you could look through that album a million times and still see something new.

okay, maybe i'm over-the-top here a little, but i really do love it.

put song glad girls on repeat and do hard drugs thank me later

Bee Thousand
Mag Earwhig
Vampire on Titus
Propeller

Also, Bob w/ Doug Gillard -
Speak Kindly of Your Volunteer Fire Department

Don't bother with Mag Earwhig, and those of you recommending it should be ashamed!

Agreed. It's probably not even in the top 15 or 20 of Pollard's best releases. I never go back to that one.

I think it has something to do with the Cleveland ruining the Dayton purity.

that was a blatant cheapshot directed at me. god i miss you wumme

Robert's new solo album(6/22/10) and Boston Spaceship EP(03/23/10) to be released.
http://pitchfork.com/news/38083-robert- ... eships-ep/