05 Propeller

  

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 Album

The easiest things in the world

Let's start with the quartet of utterly impeccable punk-pop-garage-thrash-whatever-label-you-want-to-throw-at-them gems. 'Metal Mothers' is at once melancholy and uplifting, mixing coy hesitancy and driving enthusiasm in a heady, swirling mix. It throws in an achingly delicious, ragged solo to boot. The melodic pugnacity of 'Quality Of Armor' firmly places you in a souped-up convertible, foot to the floor, the wind in your hair, heading to endless possibilities. 

'Exit Flagger' throws around catchy hooks, fuzzed-up guitar lines and yearning vocals like they're the easiest things in the world. Best of all is the exuberant yet poignant stomp of 'Unleashed! The Large-Hearted Boy', which, in just two minutes, generates more emotional heft than some artists achieve in their entire career.

Concluding track 'On The Tundra' aspires to join the ranks of these four classics, but falls just a little short. There's a genuinely uplifting chorus, buoyed by a lovingly distorted guitar thrash, but the verse melody is just a little pedestrian in comparison. 

For several more minutes...

I'm aware that Pollard is an admirer of late 60s/early 70s psych/prog bands, including many British ones. This influence can be heard in two of the more measured, reflective tracks. 'Weedking' in particular would not sound out of place on a 1969 UK release: opening with a gently pastoral air, albeit with ominous overtones, it builds in urgency subtly but impressively; its closing refrain is delivered over a bed of intertwined dual guitar blues-rock wig-outery that I would happily have listened to for several more minutes.

'Circus World' is from the same neck of the woods, but is gentler in tone - especially in the first and last third of the song, in which lazy, swirling chords underpin a doleful but tuneful(ish) vocal. In contrast, the middle section hardens into a strident march over which Pollard earnestly declaims apocalyptic imagery. It also throws in a brief snatch of splendidly laid-back fuzzy guitar solo.

Compact, fragile miniatures 

The album's two quietest, most introspective moments are equally effective. The folky, campfire strum of 'Red Gas Circle' and the Simon & Garfunkel-esque '14 Cheerleader Coldfront' are both compact, fragile miniatures that might have ended up a little slight had it not been for the fact that both are blessed with gorgeously memorable and melancholy melodies.

Belligerent squall 

It's not all hooky pop-punk tunes and pensive ballads, however: there are regular injections of muscular aggression. 'Particular Damaged' sounds like Suicide jamming with The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, a belligerent squall of distortion and discordancy. The industrial grind of 'Lethargy' resolves into a sneering refrain with a touch of Sex Pistols' nihilism. 

'Some Drilling Implied' also has an industrial flavour, with a bit of glam-rock pomp thrown in. There's some more of that psych-prog influence apparent in the manic 'Ergo Space Pig', with its tempo shifts and scattershot wah-wah that sound like Gong trying to simultaneously master post-punk and math-rock.

This song does not rock 

One song that doesn't fit neatly into any of the categories above - and in fact captures the best elements of all them - is opener 'Over The Neptune/Mesh Gear Fox'. It's a bit like those 'overture' pieces that introduce musicals - an amalgamation of the highlights of what will follow. It's all there: the effortlessly catchy melodies; the uplifting, interlaced dual-guitar solos; the shifts in pace and tone; the prog-psych influence (there's something droning in the background that obviously isn't a Mellotron but fulfils the same purpose), the portentous vocal delivery. The way that the song shifts from a menacing crawl ('I'll be back when it's over') to staccato vehemence ('I'm much greater than you think') to ragged yearning ('And oh, mesh gear fox...') is simply and beautifully executed.

Also difficult to categorise is 'Back To Saturn X Radio Report'. It's a twist-the-radio-dial tour through a collection of song fragments (nine or ten of them - I'm not sure if the 'off and onward' bit is a separate entity or part of the 'broken horse' section that follows). There's only one that I recognise with confidence ('Chicken Blows' from Alien Lanes) but a few others seem naggingly familiar: I don't know if this a result of me not having a deep enough familiarity with the back catalogue or whether they're just innately catchy tunes. I do know that my favourite snippet is the Velvet Underground-esque groove of the 'time of our lives' one.

Painted sluts training monkey men

There's no specific overall lyrical theme that I can pin down. The words range from the joyfully simplistic ('Oh yeah going to drive my car / Oh yeah going to go real far') to random abstraction ('Sit through the traffic and capture a tactic / I aim for the soup on a Lexington shopper') to wistful melancholy ('You see it falling and now it's crumbling / to the cold, unforgivable ground') to darkly dystopian imagery ('boys in monster trucks / the painted sluts training monkey men').

In Conclusion...

Propeller is clearly a paradigm shift. With Devil and Sandbox, the songs were there, at least to some extent; but those albums reflected a band wrestling with what they wanted to sound like. With Aerial and Fly, they seemed to be starting to get to grips with their aesthetic, but - although they both contained plenty of strong tunes - these LPs felt at times like the 'lo-fi-ness' itself was the driving force. 

Here, it's all about the songs. By which I mean that if you were listening to it in isolation, the level of production is, unlike the previous couple of albums, by no means the most striking feature. Not that it isn't wilfully ragged at times. 'Large-Hearted Boy' sounds as if it was recorded in a wind tunnel; compare this with the 'clean' sound of contemporary releases from REM or The Lemonheads. But the fact that, for example, '14 Cheerleader Coldfront' has the air of something recorded on something hand-held in someone's spare room is an enhancement rather than a defining principle.

Another crucial factor is the sequencing. This isn't something that appeared especially important with the first four albums, but here, it's a key factor in what makes the album work so well. It's not easy to put your finger on why (dangerous territory for any music writer to venture into, I admit) but there's something about the ebb and flow of Propeller that works exceptionally well. You might, a first glance, question putting the two 'quiet' songs so close together, or wonder whether 'On The Tundra' is a fitting climax. But, it just... works.

Added to the 'GBV Favourites' playlist: 

An impressive 11/15 make it onto the compilation:

• Over The Neptune/Mesh Gear Fox
• Weed King
• Particular Damaged
• Quality Of Armor
• Metal Mothers
• Unleashed! The Large-Hearted Boy
• Red Gas Circle
• Exit Flagger
• 14 Cheerleader Coldfront
• Circus World
• Some Drilling Implied

Album rank:

1. 8.7 Propeller

2. 7.6 Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia 

3. 7.1 Same Place The Fly Got Smashed

4. 7.0 Sandbox 

5. 6.6 Devil Between My Toes 

Other News

• One thing that I learned from the previous post is that quite a few people hold 'Pendulum' in high regard. Far fewer - one, to be precise - rushed to the defence of 'Ambergris'.
• I continue to expose my family to GBV's music at every available opportunity, but thus far, it has provoked little reaction. This stands in notable contrast to their generally forceful dismissal of The Fall ('the worst band ever,' according to my wife.

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