Send "Boston Spaceships " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 From the beginning, Boston Spaceships have seemed the very sort of band that makes double LPs. Over four albums and a live set, longtime frontman Robert Pollard's most dependable post-GBV group has dealt in obnoxiously catchy, insistent, Meadowlands-ready power-pop caught somewhere between Cheap Trick's Heaven Tonight and the Who's Quadrophenia. Pollard, Decemberists drummer John Moen, and Spaceships sonic mastermind Chris Slusarenko may not play arenas-- in fact, the Spaceships haven't played much of anywhere in years-- but their best tunes have both the hooks and the heft to reach the back-bleachers. Seems like any good arena rock band, whether real or perceived, eventually gets around to the double-discer.2008's Brown Submarine arrived in the wake of a mid-2000s turn toward overcooked, plodding, patchy numbers run through with too many opposing currents. Over their four fine LPs, the Spaceships have pushed the hooks right out front, done away with almost everything short of the mid-tempo, and culled many of the musical left-turns, leaving Pollard with four of the most immediately enjoyable, fat-free LPs of his career. Between Pollard's excitable vocals and streamlined hooks, Slusarenko's rich but unfussy arrangements, and Moen's rock-solid but far-from-flashy backbeat, the spotlight's always seemed fixed on the songs themselves. A double LP is different: With all that extra room, you can stretch out, goof off, or beef up, all of which Let It Beard does, sometimes quite well. These guys, 1970s rock junkies that they are, are scholars of the form, and it's to their credit that Let It Beard doesn't sound like two single-length Boston Spaceships LPs affixed at the gatefold. It operates instead like a double LP from that format's classic era, with roomier tunes, more expansive arrangements, ripping guitar solos, and (largely inconsequential) cameos from the likes of Wire's Colin Newman, the Dirtbombs' Mick Collins and Dinosaur Jr.'s J Mascis. The way they break down Let It Beard's four sides even seems to hold to the classic template: A is for the bombastic, ambitious ones, the rockers are on B, the weird ones on C, and D brings it all together. Alas, that most damning of double-album takedowns is also true of Let It Beard: At 26 songs and 75 minutes, it's entirely too long....full text |
| Spin |
| Now that Guided by Voices are back in (some kind of) business, will Robert Pollard finally shelve his numerous side projects? The latest from Boston Spaceships -- the singer's typically disheveled power-pop trio with ex-GBV bassist Chris Slusarenko and drummer John Moen of the Decemberists -- suggests so. As always with Pollard, there are flashes of retro-rock quality here, such as "Chevy Marigold," a Stonesy white-soul ramble with wailing female backing vocals. But to call some of these 26(!) word-and-riff bombs unfinished would be charitable; a few even seem unwanted....full text |
| Consequenceofsound |
| Twenty-six songs? Certainly, a good portion of these would be just filler and noise, right? Wrong. What Let It Beard, the latest album from Boston Spaceships, accomplishes is taking you on a journey that leaves you feeling as if you just had an out-of-body experience. No, there weren’t any drugs used in the writing of this review. With two-thirds of the band having been in Guided by Voices (Robert Pollard, Chris Slusarenko) and the other from The Decemberists (John Moen), Boston Spaceships have some strong songwriting capabilities. Finding these strong tracks isn’t as hard as you would believe, even with so many to choose from. Fused together well are punk (“You Just Can’t Tell”, “The Vicelords”) and pop (“Make a Record for Lo-Life”) and the echoing vocals by Pollard, who is truly one of the better songwriters out there. While many of his stories and themes may leave listeners confused, the music really is what carries this album. Very few bands could successfully mix punk, acoustic guitars, and indie fuzz together, which, at times, makes you wonder if this is really two different bands doing a split album–one the hard, low-fi punk band, the other the soft ballad side....full text |
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