Blazing Gentlemen

Personnel: Robert Pollard (vocals, guitar); Todd Tobias (guitar, keyboards, drums).Recording information: Waterloo Sound, Brecksville, OH.Unknown Contributor Roles: Mike Lipps; Matt Davis; Kevin Poindexter.In the advance publicity for Robert Pollard's album Blazing Gentlemen (only the second solo effort he would release in 2013), the once and future Guided by Voices leader and tireless tunesmith declared that with this set, he "finally figured out how to write a song after 55 years." In this case, what that really means is that Pollard finally settled on a set songwriting technique that he applied to all 16 tunes on this album: he would hit upon a good idea for a title from overheard conversations, common phrases, or lines from movies or TV shows, and then let that title dictate the shape and content of the lyrics, after which Pollard would match them to a melody. A quick spin of Blazing Gentlemen suggests that Pollard now lives in a world where everyone and everything communicates in