MUSIC SCENE
Robert Pollard
MUSIC REVIEWED BY BOB JONES

Coast to Coast Carpet of Love - Merge Records

Coast to Coast Carpet of Love

Robert Pollard's previous band, Guided By Voices, is very much an anomaly in pop music in that its members did not hit their stride or get a record deal until they were well into their 30s, if not their early 40s. This gives us middle-aged music hacks a glimmer of hope. The prolific Pollard has just released two records on the same day. The other one is a little harder-edged, but Coast to Coast Carpet of Love is a pop record that Pollard claims to be Beatleesque. He is welcome to call it that, but it is more like a Guided By Voices record- full of mid-tempo pop tunes uninterrupted by small clips of short "songs." Fanatical GBV fans will be very pleased with this record. There are jangle-type songs that were made popular by early R.E.M. as well as classic psych and some acoustic guitardriven songs like the tune Penumbra." "I Clap for Strangers" is reminiscent of the GBV classic "I Am a Scientist." Pollard is so prolific that some of his solo work has not been consistent, but Coast to Coast Carpet of Love will make both GBV fans and newcomers to Bob Pollard happy.