Isolation Drills

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com's Best of 2001
Indie rockers loved for their lo-fi sound always risk losing fans when they shine their new releases with big-band polish. Luckily for Guided by Voices zealots, their prolific king, Robert Pollard, can't seem to steer his band any direction but up. On Isolation Drills, GBV builds on the full sound of Do the Collapse, enlisting Robert Scnapf (Foo Fighters, Elliott Smith, Beck) to help with production. The result is a two-tiered record that sparkles with the fullness of fuzzy guitars, pounding drums, and the backing textures of organ, piano, and strings, while cracking the code of Pollard's more fragile psyche.

The band's gritty sound has swelled into a grand sonic landscape, but a closer look shows a pockmarked world existing between the lyrical lines. Pollard's whimsical songwriting takes a turn for the serious on a number of Isolation songs. On "The Brides Have Hit Glass," he laments, "It won't last/ To be on top of your own world/ With no guard rails to cling onto/ You fall so very fast." On "How's My Drinking?" he almost slurs the words about ceasing to care for sobriety as he sings, "I won't change," and coos with the rest of the melody. Isolation is a brilliant mix of uptempo Pollard anthems ("Glad Girls") teetering on the edge of a fractured looking glass. --Jennifer Maerz --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Album Description
Isolation Drills is a masterful album from start to finish with a balance of rock gems and beautiful pop melodies. Produced by Rob Schnapf, whose previous credits include Foo Fighters, Beck, Elliot Smith and the Toadies. The 2001 album is a stunning testament to the brilliant evolution of this wondrous band. Includes 'Chasing Heather Crazy', 'Glad Girls', 'Skills Like This' (featuring Elliot Smith) and 'The Brides Have Hit Glass'. Digipak. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Tracks:

Fair Touching
Skills Like This
Chasing Heather Crazy
Frostman
Twilight Campfighter
Sister I Need Wine
Want One?
The Enemy
Unspirited
Glad Girls
Run Wild
Pivotal Film
How's My Drinking?
The Brides Have Hit Glass
Fine To See You
Privately

Amazon.com's Best of 2001

Indie rockers loved for their lo-fi sound always risk losing fans when they shine their new releases with big-band polish. Luckily for Guided by Voices zealots, their prolific king, Robert Pollard, can't seem to steer his band any direction but up. On Isolation Drills, GBV builds on the full sound of Do the Collapse, enlisting Robert Scnapf (Foo Fighters, Elliott Smith, Beck) to help with production. The result is a two-tiered record that sparkles with the fullness of fuzzy guitars, pounding drums, and the backing textures of organ, piano, and strings, while cracking the code of Pollard's more fragile psyche.

Album Description

Isolation Drills is a masterful album from start to finish with a balance of rock gems and beautiful pop melodies. Produced by Rob Schnapf, whose previous credits include Foo Fighters, Beck, Elliot Smith and the Toadies. The 2001 album is a stunning testament to the brilliant evolution of this wondrous band. Includes 'Chasing Heather Crazy', 'Glad Girls', 'Skills Like This' (featuring Elliot Smith) and 'The Brides Have Hit Glass'. Digipak.

Customer Reviews:

Their best CD...which means a Masterpiece.......2006-12-21

I have pretty much every CD by these unsung heroes of indie rock. This one is their best. Think in terms of a Beatles analogy. The Beatles' early records were great, but come on, Abbey Road is in another league compared with "Beatles '65." The production quality here is great and yet it retains the quirky, hook-delicious qualities of other Pollard gems. Get this one!

the last great GbV album.......2006-07-23

guided by voices closes their flirtation with the "big time" in high style. the sound is big, really big. but look under the surface and there is the heartbreak of a man struggling with divorce and failure. after this brilliant album GbV went back to basics and, well, you can never really go back. this was their most listenable record. it may not have anything revolutionary going on, but it does have a band showing why they were the best rock outfit of our times doing what they do best. write great songs and rock the hell out of them.

Very Good Hi-Fi from the Kings of Low-Fi.......2006-06-02

Big guitars, big drums...big production! Holy mackerel! What's going on here? I thought Guided By Voices were supposed to be `low-fi'. The only song on this disk that remotely qualifies is "Frostman", and it's such a toss-off that it barely has any relevance to the proceedings. The real action here lies in the bigness of it all. The production (done by Rob Schnapf - sorry, I don't know who he is either) almost takes center stage on this disk, but is thankfully overridden by the typically engaging melodies of songwriter Robert Pollard. Normally, production like this would go almost unnoticed, but Guided By Voices is a band that has released albums consisting almost entirely of cassette recordings, so the change is certainly notable, if not a specific reason to celebrate. If nothing else, the crappy, `low-fi' production of their past gave the band a unique identity that this record dismisses. Although Isolation Drills denies the band of one of its most definable characteristics, there is little real damage done, because what really matters is the songs, and Pollard has done a better than adequate job here, even surpassing some of his previous personal best. Full of hummable melodies and constructed from Pollard's typically twisted lyrical manifestations, each song grabs at you, holding on until you succumb and start singing along, even if the imagery is bizarre.
More than most other GBV albums, most songs here have a distinct rhythmic footprint ("The Enemy", "Unspirited", "The Brides Have Hit Glass", "Privately"). This is mostly due to the exacting guitar work of Doug Gillard, whose presence is more responsible for the new, `improved' GBV than any other single factor. This is easily the band's most consistent album, which of course is usually a good thing, but GBV are capable of a broad array of soundscapes. They seem to reel themselves in here, sticking to more conventional methods, which can only be distracting if you're an old fan. Veteran listeners will likely note that this collection of songs blends together in a much more homogenous manner than usual, and that is a mixed blessing. Most rock bands function exactly like this, treating uniformity as a quality rather than a hindrance, but GBV were a different animal. In the name of finding a mainstream audience, GBV embraces this theory here, with a defined band sound, full of harmonies and enhanced guitars. That makes this one of the band's most accessible records, but it also could make it the album with the shortest shelf life, since the `modern' production will likely be the very reason that it ages faster than their `low-fi' stuff. Time will tell.
A- Tom Ryan

Drill this!.......2006-05-23

All I can say, Mr. Roy Pearl, is "Chasing Heather Crazy".

You want climax...you got climax.

Now go back and listen to Isolation Drills again. Just like all GbV albums (and all great works of art), it is (a) not fully comprehensible at first listen; and (b) rewarding to the patient listener. Now be patient...it will come to you.

Frozen Tundra Tapioca Bulldog.......2005-06-10

I thought i'd get your attention with that Pollard style title so here we go.
I discovered Gbv performing in a club on t.v. and i thought they rocked but like a fool i didn't pursue my interest.
Later i caught Gbv performing on Austin city limits and they again took my breath away with the band and fans having a drunken ball so i got off my butt and bought "Isolation drills" as it had "Glad Girls" which is the song that stung me.
Man, it's all about the music so anyone who might have been concerned about just the lo-fi aspect are as superficial as the mainstream scene that Indie rock was rebelling against to begin with.
You might as well call The Beatles "Sgt Peppers" a sell out because the Beatles had really refined their studio polish and taken advantage of all the other gadgets that a studio can offer to EXPAND their musical aspirations or horizons.
"Isolation Drills" is a dignified and special work of art.
Robert Pollard has given us a glimpse into his soul and a courageous look into his pain.
A pain resulting from a relationship on the rocks and displayed with a touching honesty and eloquence that is very compelling.
Songs such as "The brides have hit glass" reveal his hope to resusitate a fragile crackling bond of love that in reality is already broken.
"So i'll just hang around and take my chance
Once again i'll roll the dice And try to hang on to my shrinking paradise"

"Run Wild" reveals crushed dreams and the resulting abandon.

"Wooden heads on the chopping block And other hearts pumping ink That spills out over dreams of antiquity Pale but full of ghostly charm Leave your things in the street and run wild!"

"Sister i need wine" and "How's my drinking" reveal a uncontrollable self destruction and a cocky defiant stance in the fog of denial.
"And i am hating the ignorance in my body"
Yet "I won't change".

"Fine to see you" finds our hero hit rock bottom as he reveals that "there is nowhere to go but up" but that line alone sheds a shining hopeful optimism.

Melodic wise the songs range from glorious irresistable power pop gems like "Glad Girls" and "Chasing heather crazy" that have that same kind of catchy stick with you like glue magic as the classic "Game of Pricks".
You'll also find prog rock thunder in "The Enemy" and chiming folk rock beauty in "Twillight Campfighter" which contains one of Pollards most tender melodies drenched with "Byrds" influenced harmonies.
In short, "Isolation Drills" is one of Guided by Voices best albums bursting with a touching and revealing honesty that is performed with the utmost soul.
There may be polish but this kind of polish does nothing but reveal a glowing splendour of transcendant art.
For a fan to turn their back on this is the same as a Beatles fan who loved their early mop top sound yet refused to open their eyes to the treasures of "Revolver" and "Abbey Road".
Trully a loss.

Oscar F.

Average customer rating:

Isolation Drills
Guided by Voices
Manufacturer: Pony Canyon
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | American Alternative | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Lo-Fi | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Alternative Rock | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00005L8IX
Release Date: 2001-06-10

Tracks:

Fair Touching
Skills Like This
Chasing Heather Crazy
Frostman
Twilight Campfighter
Sister I Need Wine
Want One?
Enemy
Unspirited
Glad Girls
Run Wild
Pivotal Film
How's My Drinking?
Brides Have Hit Glass
Fine To See You
Privately
Isolation Drills

Average customer rating:

Isolation Drills
Guided by Voices
Manufacturer: Pony Canyon
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0000DERWA
Release Date: 2001-06-10

Average customer rating:

Isolation Drills
Guided by Voices
Manufacturer: Import [Generic]
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | American Alternative | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Lo-Fi | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Alternative Rock | Imports | Stores | Music

Rock | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00005HZGZ
Release Date: 2002-03-05

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