From a Compound Eye
Merge
2006
Rating: 7 mustard camels out of 10
Robert Pollard releasing a solo record isn’t generally that big of a deal - the man seems to be responsible in one way or another for about 30 records a year…even a diehard fan like myself can’t keep up. But this is his first solo outing since officially disbanding Guided by Voices, so everyone is paying more attention and there is probably a bit more pressure to deliver. Luckily for all of us, “From a Compound Eye” delivers like a classic GBV album - specifically, it reminds me a lot of a combination of “Vampire on Titus” and some of Pollard’s cleaner pop sensibilities that have developed during the band‘s last few releases. The British Invasion-style hooks are all still there, as catchy as almost anything he has written - outside of the two albums of pure perfection, “alien Lanes” and “Bee Thousand” of course - those will never be topped. Long-time fans will certainly be overjoyed with this record, and even those fans who only buy the occasional album by anything Pollard-related should make the effort to check this one out.
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