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July 18, 2007
Retrohump Day: Minor Lo-Fi Classics
Guided by Voices - "Weed King"
(from the Some Drinking Implied DVD)
I hesitate to use the word "minor" in relation to this track, as it sits very high on my dusty shelf of favored GBV moments. But Propeller, its album home, is less mythically revered than either Bee Thousand or Alien Lanes, and it found no home among the 32 tracks of the stellar best of collection Human Amusements at Hourly Rates. I would argue that "classic" is assured by quality, and "minor" forced by reputation.
But what a song this is. The weed part of the equation is earned with heavy fog. You're stuck in the slow-mo cloud, time bending to make the passing seconds feel long and epic. The lyrics convey some dope addled good times as well. "If all goes well we'll laugh alot," says Bob Pollard before the baking quickness of "freedom cake" becomes of the utmost concern. It's a stoner's jam without shame, Pollard admitting that the exquisitely fried Monarch of Gones-ville is the one he's piping out for. The video is fittingly random, and perhaps necessarily unenlightening. How could it compare with the hypothetical "dreams of the Weed King" anyway? it'd have to do better than a singing ventrioquist's dummy, at a minimum.
Guided by Voices - "Weed King"
Sebadoh - "Océan"
(French TV, 1996)
I might be wrong, as I don't frequent the right chat boards, but I don't think there are many Sebadoh fans willing to claim Harmacy as an unimpeachable classic. The "minor" tag won't trigger as much knee jerk anger. But "Ocean" (or "Océan," as the French put it) will always hold a special place in my heart, as it was not only the first Sebadoh song I ever heard, but one that I actually taped from the radio. It looks so odd to read that sentence back, but it's true. There once existed, in these United States, a climate where the new track from a Sebadoh record could be a bona fide regional radio hit. Not a fuzzy college signal either, but on a big commercial station (94.7 from Portland, OR). Of course this was after the also surprising smash status of "Natural One" gave a wider audience a reason to know the name Lou Barlow. Also before the noble experiment called "alternative radio" was watered down to the point that its umbrella somehow gave shelter to Limp Bizkit and their ilk and it needed to be put to sleep, once and for all.
The song itself is catchy but not flashy, Lou twisting out relaxed guitar hooks and words of regret. It's sad but never as bitter as earlier work. He's just an earnest guy who wishes things could have worked out better. The French TV performance is, like the song, understated and likable. I'm not sure why it demands the in-studio fog machine level that it's given, but I suppose that could just be hovering Gauloise residue.
Posted by Jeff Klingman at July 18, 2007 05:20 PM
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Comments
Oh, man, I love "Ocean." The hit that never was.
Posted by: Jeff at July 18, 2007 06:35 PM
hey weird no ones corrected you but i think both exit flagger and 14 cheerleader cold front were on human amusements....
Posted by: Matthew Stoneback at October 26, 2007 11:47 PM
Hey dude, read again. My point was that "Weedking" missed the cut, and that it was a travesty. I wouldn't dream of downgrading "Exit Flagger" or "14 Cheerleader Coldfront."
Posted by: Jeff K at October 27, 2007 01:13 AM
"Ocean" got a ton of play on the Providence radio station 95.5 WBRU in the mid-'90s. Even "Willing to Wait", the second single from Harmacy and still a very pretty song, was quite popular.
Too bad BRU sold its soul and is now indistinguishable from your everyday Clear Channel station.
Posted by: Randall Monty at October 27, 2007 02:34 PM
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