Robert Pollard: Choreographed Man of War

Sigh. I can’t believe I went and bought another one. I mean what is my tolerance level here? I think this makes number five in a solo career that runs in parallel with his fulltime job as front man for Guided by Voices. It seems right from the start that Pollard has actually done some editing on this album, trimming the track count to ten (about half the normal runtime). I gotta say, though, I don’t love this album. I know it’s supposed to be some of his most mature work, but I’ve proved time and time again that I don’t go for mature. It’s almost too dense for me. The vocals are too buried in the mix, and there sounds like there are too many people in the room. I guess I’m just getting tired of the shtick at this point, or the songs aren’t the little nuggets they once were. He feels almost as thought he’s trying too hard to not be that guy anymore.