The Hall of Fantastically Fine Things

     Introduction By the time I reached this album, I had a slight sense of apprehension. Even with my (for now) limited knowledge of all of the history and context, I was well aware of the exceptionally high regard in which it is held. For one thing, it appears on a multitude of 'best of' lists, for example Rolling Stone 's '100 Best Albums of the 90s' , Mojo 's 'The 100 Greatest Albums of Our Lifetime 1993–2006' and Pitchfork 's 'Top 100 Albums of the 1990s' (at #10). It's also the number one choice on virtually every ranking list you find online (there are examples here , here , here , here and here ). So, would I have to face a barrage of derision for daring to suggest that it isn't exactly all it's cracked up to be? I'd have been quite prepared to do so (I've been in such situations before). However, that turns out to be a moot point, because  Bee Thousand is, to put it bluntly, simply f*cking awesome.  (Not, admit...

    Introduction When I made my first post to the GBV Facebook group regarding my 'conversion' to the cause (members can see it here ), I included a link to a song from this album ('Have so many favourites already, but here's just one'). Amongst the very positive and welcoming comments - and from some other posts I've seen - I picked up a sense that Vampire On Titus might be considered by some to be a little underappreciated, and by others to be a rather 'difficult' album. And so I'm interested to see what the reaction might be to my (spoiler alert!) positive appraisal. The Album Depths of murky turmoil When talking about Propeller , I made the observation that - whilst it's not exactly polished in terms of production - it didn't feel as though the lo-fi aesthetic was the most significant aspect of the album's identity; something that seemed to be at least partly the case with its two predecessors. Vampire On Titus , however, tacks back ...

   Introduction When I started writing this blog, I had a look over what I'd previously posted about GBV on the various music forums I belong to. There were several occasions where I made some of those predictable 'I really must listen properly...' comments; one particular post included me sharing a link to the opening tune on this album and raving about it.  Why on earth I didn't then go on to properly digest Propeller and use that as a starting point to fully appreciate the band's work at that point, God only knows... But the past is the past, and here we are now. I've mentioned before that, since January 2024, I have been listening almost exclusively to GBV albums (up to and including English Little League ) in full - both individually and as chronological 'chunks'. It took me quite a while to even get to  Vampire On Titus because I got stuck on this LP for quite a while. And so, I look forward to this review with a great deal of enthusiasm.... The ...