Waved Out
Robert Pollard   
Matador

Everyone's familiar with the inspirational story of the fourth grade teacher who finally managed, as an aging thirty-something, to make the financial leap of faith from day laborer to full time artist. Few know the story of the jock-turned-rock-star. The first guy to ever pitch a no-hitter at Wright State University. The singer largely responsible for GBV's pick-up basketball blow-out win over playground trash talkers The Beastie Boys during 1994's Lollapalooza tour. Physical prowess aside, Pollard rarely receives an unkind word for his musical efforts. Don't expect one here. The disc is not altogether unfamiliar territory for GBV faithful, with a general lean toward olden times, as opposed to recent Guided By Verde incarnations (although not as raw and under-produced as Bee Thousand). Simplicity speaks volumes, and this ain't no nuclear physics. The standout tracks (such as opener "Make Use" and "Just Say The Word") are simple, old-fashioned strummers bathed in melancholia, with interesting percussive, and vocal sidelights. Here and there is some tuneful, gentle abrasion (title track, "Steeple of Knives") and a song or two with that loose-ended, fraction-of-an-idea Pollard trademark ("Artificial Light"). "People Are Leaving", a Pollard-backed-by-Pollard round which begs a cameo by Paul McCartney, somehow musically captures in 90 seconds the empty feeling of death and abondememnt. Waved Out, although cumbersome in places, is another exercise in brilliance.