Is Bob spreading himself too thin?

[cungar]

Before the faithful attack, I'm one who feels nearly everything Bob does has some merit. However when you look at his post UTAC output, there's no deying that it's spotty at best:

Circus Devils - The Harold Pig Memorial (never clicked with me)
The Pipe Dreams of Instant Prince Whippet (loved this one)
Motel of Fools - Robert Pollard (some decent songs)
Mist King Urth - Lifeguards (some decent songs)
Phantom Tollbooth - Beard of Lightning (still hasn't clicked with me)

Granted, this is an enormous amount of work for a year but it seems like a whole lot of it is not having a lot of impact on his fan base.

My question is, is this just a temporary ebb or has Bob finally overdone it and lost his mojo in the process?

[James Riot]

I can't say I've been too too thrilled with the albums you've refered to (with the exception of Prince Whippet, and Motel of Fools) but I don't think that it has anything to do with Pollard spreading himself too thin. Most of these are postal rock, and Pollard himself says that he doesn't take too much time with them, that they are more spontaneous creations. Only people like Sprout and Gillard can be accused of spreading themselves too thin with these albums; it's not like Pollard put any of his music into it. If anything, Pollard is holding back more than ever before. For instance, since 2001 (choreographed) Pollard has only released the seven song Motel of Fools. Compare that to the plethora of Pollard driven solo albums, ep's and singles released between 1993 and 1999/2001. I'm actually pissed that we won't be hearing many of the 37 tracks originally slated to be on Earthquake Glue. I'd gladly take Pollard leftovers anyday over postal rock.

[Jason]

What if I liked all of those? Or more than one? Then what do I vote for?

The Fading Captain releases are just things for fans to nibble on between GbV releases. Most of them are skippable. I don't take it all so seriously.

[cungar]

Sorry, I thought you could pick more than 1 of the choices.

No I understand they're just nibbles between real releases, but it just seems like the nibbles used to be more tasty.

[evil_speakers]

I really enjoyed Mist King Urth. I think it's a really good record, and I like every song except the overly long first track, and the perprlexingly bad drum solo song. Every other song is very good, the only issue may be that they usually take a minute or so before the really good part hits. Sometimes more. Of course, it took my requisite three spins before I liked any of it, but after the third time I found myself singing "the rihihihihihihihver" all day at work.