Half Smiles of the Decomposed

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
After twenty-odd years and twenty-odd releases, this is the final album by Ohio's famed geniuses. It's their most serious and mature record in years, more akin to those recorded in the mid-90s than the most recent releases. At the same time, it's influenced by both American and British mid-60s chime-pop, pointing out the intricate interweaving guitar lines, the stunning wordplay, the vastly melancholic and somehow still uplifting tone, the impeccably tossed-off phrasing, and the stately, plump rhythm section. Elegiac and remorseful; a jewel of a farewell. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Tracks:

Everybody Thinks I'm A Raincloud (When I'm Not Looking)
Sleep Over Jack
Girls Of Wild Strawberries
Gonna Never Have To Die
Window Of My World
The Closets Of Henry
Tour Guide At The Winston Churchill Memorial
Asia Minor
Sons Of Apollo
Sing For Your Meat
Asphyxiated Circle
A Second Spurt Of Growth
(S)Mothering And Coaching
Huffman Prairie Flying Field

Album Description

After twenty-odd years and twenty-odd releases, this is the final album by Ohio's famed geniuses. It's their most serious and mature record in years, more akin to those recorded in the mid-90s than the most recent releases. At the same time, it's influenced by both American and British mid-60s chime-pop, pointing out the intricate interweaving guitar lines, the stunning wordplay, the vastly melancholic and somehow still uplifting tone, the impeccably tossed-off phrasing, and the stately, plump rhythm section. Elegiac and remorseful; a jewel of a farewell.

Customer Reviews:

A really excellent album.......2007-06-20

This is the only GBV record I own, but based on this album, I will DEFINITELY be purchasing other albums of theirs in the future. This is a really great CD and I'm glad I bought it. I especially like "Everyone thinks I'm a Raincloud (When I'm Not Looking)", "Sleep over Jack", "Gonna Never Have to Die", "The Closets of Henry", and "Huffman Prairie Flying Field", but this is not one of those albums that is wildly inconsistent and all the songs that aren't great suck. No, this is above-par from start to finish. I highly recommend it. What a great way to end a legacy!

A Great Way to end GBV.......2007-01-03

Robert Pollard will of course keep churning out new classics, but the moniker and turnstile lineup seems to be finished.

This albums, as was said below, does grow on you.

Some songs are immediately great to the ears, but by second listen the entire album is nice from start to finish.

That's saying something for a non-bestof GBV album.

I'm glad I own it and have probably listened to it 10 times fully, since purchasing it.

A great staple in my collection and sits well with the Best of and Earthquake Glue.

RIP GbV.......2006-07-23

this is the first guided by voices record i've ever had to force myself to listen to in the vain attempt of having it grow on me. the first few songs are nice enough, but then it devolves into some of the most mediocre songwriting ever put forth by the god of all songwriters. i just don't get it.

thankfully, pollard has the wits left to save the best for last. huffman prairie flying field is marvlous. a very nice way to cap off the GbV canon. maybe i'm wrong here, but from a compound eye, pollard's excellent post-GbV debut, sounds much fresher and adventuresome. in the end, who cares what i think. bob has enough material out there that eventually even the most hardcore of fans (i.e.-me) will not love everything he puts out.

god bless robert pollard and anyone of the forty (or so) bandmates honored to have played under that nameplate.

A miracle cure for adulthood!.......2006-01-23

"But in this grey morn of man's life/ Cometh sometime to the mind/ A little light that leaps and flies/ Like a star borne on the wind./ A star of nowhere, a nameless star/ A light that spins and swirls/ And cries that even in hedge and hill,/ Even on Earth, it may go ill/ At last with the evil earls./ A dancing sparkle, a doubtful star/ On the waste wind whirled and driven/ But it seems to sing of a wilder worth,/ A time discrowned of doom and birth,/ And the kingdom of the poor on Earth/ Come as it is in Heaven." -G.K. Chesterton, The Ballad of the White Horse bk. IV

GBV's music actually makes me feel as I felt the first time Nadine F. looked over her shoulder at me in the eighth grade- in short, transported. If there is another band that so seamlessly melds plaintive melodicism and seething aggression, they're superfluous. GBV are sorely missed.

Bob is a GoddoG as I boB. Sorry- Bob mentioned palindromes on the Watch Me Jumpstart documentary and that's the best I can do. But if you like evocative music that, unlike much of the Emo bilge currently being hawked by the earless, comes across as sincere and also f***in' RAWKS, you do yourself a disservice if you neglect the GBV catalog. Newcomers could do much worse than to start with this, Voices' last official studio album, and work backward. Solid, plangent, gorgeous, quirky...Get it.

These reviewers are crazy.......2005-12-08

Some people hated it,some say it grows on you and they're both wrong. The only song that I had to really let seep in was "Sleep Over Jack",the instruments going off in almost completely different directions,with only Robert Pollard's voice carrying the melody. It took a minute,but it's a pretty groovy little number. I found the rest of the album to be quite accessable,with the catchy,R.A.W.K-ing opener "Everybody Thinks I'm A Raincloud(When I'm Not Looking)" pulling you in quickly and with a minimum of fuss. The ballads "Window Of My World" and "Girls Of Wild Strawberries" are sweet and beautiful,and the catchy little tune "Gonna Never Have To Die" is very cool.
For me,the real prize is the 1-2 punch in the middle of the album. The raw,beautifully catchy "The Closets Of Henry" has an heir of meloncholy streaming through it's unstoppable chorus and the heartbreakingly sad(and well titled)"Tour Guide At The Winston Churchill Memorial" blows me away upon every repeat listen,of which there have been(and will continue to be) many. In my opinion,"Half Smiles Of The Decomposed" is definitely an upper-class effort from GBV. Full of hopeful melody and bittersweet vibration,this is a beautiful way to go. If you disagree,well,too bad...

Average customer rating:

Half Smiles of the Decomposed
Guided by Voices
Manufacturer: P-Vine Japan
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B0002B58AE
Release Date: 2004-10-05

Tracks:

Everybody Thinks I'm a Raincloud (When I'm Not Looking)
Sleep Over Jack
Girls of Wild Strawberries
Gonna Never Have to Die
Window of My World
Closets of Henry
Tour Guide at the Winston Churchill Memorial
Asia Minor
Sons of Apollo
Sing for Your Meat
Asphyxiated Circle
Second Spurt of Growth
(S)Mothering and Coaching
Huffman Prairie Flying Field
Mind Refuser [*]

Album Description

Japan exclusive release for the enduring U.S. indie act. Details TBA. P-Vine. 2004.

Album Details

15th and the Last Album from the Band which Will Be Breaking Up after the Tour Commemorating this Release. Japanese Version featuring a Bonus Track: "Mind Refuser".

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