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Airport 5
Life Starts Here
#18 in the Fading Captain Series


It's always heartening for Guided By Voices diehards
to see Robert Pollard and Tobin Sprout collaborating
again. "Life Starts Here" is the second full-length
from the reunited dynamic duo under the guise of
Airport 5 and also the eighteenth release in the
Fading Captain Series. It wouldn't surprise me if some
old-school fans choose this home-produced feel over
the big studio sounds of modern day GBV.

A long-distance collaboration, Sprout constructs
the instrumental tracks in Leland, MI, and then ships
them to his old stomping grounds in Dayton where
Pollard adds his voice. While melodies and words are
unmistakably Bob, his arena-rock tendencies are
tempered here by gated guitars and imitation drum
beats courtesy of Casio.

But the technology and craft in home recording
technology have certainly evolved over the past
decade, so don't expect 4-track fuzz and amplifier
buzz. Still, the less-is-more arrangements and
home-demo feel capture some of that old GBV magic --
even if subdued. The melody and lyrics of the final
refrain of 'We're In the Business' could seamlessly be
swapped with the ending of 'A Salty Salute' -- Bob's
beer-swilling call-to-arms in the opening track of
1995's "Alien Lanes." Together as Airport 5, however,
Pollard and Sprout are more loose and playful with the
arrangements, from the piano driven stops-and-starts
of 'Intro' to the seven-and-a-half minute (whew!)
'Wrong Drama'.
[GH]