The Power of Suck

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Power of Suck
Studio album by Guided by Voices
Released	Never Released
Recorded	1995
Genre	Rock
Label	Matador
Producer(s)	Kim Deal, John Shough, Steve Albini, Doug Easley, Davis McCain

The Power of Suck was a proposed concept album, conceived by Guided by Voices' leader Robert Pollard, then-bassist Jim Greer, and Kim Deal. Coming on the heels of their final four-track album Alien Lanes, The Power of Suck would have been the band's first venture into a "professional" recording environment, but the album concept was discarded prior to completion. Discussing the album, and it's abortive birth, Pollard described it as "An autobiographical concept record about how Guided by Voices had started from nowhere and all of a sudden we were thrust into the limelight. The story was like, Are they going to sell out or not? What's going to happen at the end?...All the songs that we were doing with Kim Deal and Steve Albini were for the concept album. We went to Europe and did our tour and when we came back, I had decided to shitcan the concept album, and I wrote a bunch of new songs, like 18 or 20 songs, and I thought they were better." [1]

The band did finally complete a new album entitled Under the Bushes Under the Stars, which included a few songs from the previous sessions. Other songs from the project appeared on later releases, including the two Suitcase boxes, while still others have appeared on bootlegs. Although no official final tracklist was ever established, a rough order taken from the tracklisting of a late-stage demo tape of the project has been described by GbV's management. A grassroots campaign was undertaken on the Disarm the Settlers message board to attempt to secure an official release of the demo tape. Though the song "Trader Vic" has yet to be heard in the general fan community, a composite version of the album drawing from available sources for the other songs circulates unofficially.

[edit] Track listing

1. Pantherz
2. In Previous Trials (aka "Stingy Queens")
3. Trader Vic
4. Bug House
5. Drag Days
6. Sheetkickers
7. Debbie X (aka "I Am Decided")
8. Pink Drink
9. He’s The Uncle
10. Speak Like Men
11. Sweeping Bones
12. Don’t Stop Now
13. Why Did You Land?
14. Superwhore
15. Redmen and Their Wives
16. Color of My Blade
17. Are You Faster? (original version)
18. My Feet’s Trustworthy Existence
19. Cocksoldiers and Their Postwar Stubble
20. The Official Ironmen Rally Song
21. Amazed
22. Pluto the Skate

Guided by Voices
Robert Pollard
Doug Gillard | Nate Farley | Chris Slusarenko | Kevin March
Tobin Sprout | Mitch Mitchell | Tim Tobias | Jim Pollard | Kevin Fennell | Greg Demos | Jim Macpherson | Don Thrasher | Jim Greer
Discography
Albums: Devil Between My Toes (1987) | Sandbox (1987) | Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia (1989) | Same Place The Fly Got Smashed (1990) | Propeller (1992) | Vampire on Titus (1993) | Bee Thousand (1994) | Alien Lanes (1995) | Under the Bushes Under the Stars (1996) | Tonics and Twisted Chasers (1996) | Mag Earwhig! (1997) | Do the Collapse (1999) | Isolation Drills (2001) | Universal Truths and Cycles (2002) | Earthquake Glue (2003) | Half Smiles of the Decomposed (2004)
EPs: Forever Since Breakfast (1986) | The Grand Hour (1993) | Static Airplane Jive (1993) | Get Out of My Stations (1994) | Fast Japanese Spin Cycle (1994) | Clown Prince of the Menthol Trailer (1994) | I Am a Scientist (1994) | Tigerbomb (1995) | Sunfish Holy Breakfast (1996) | Plantations of Pale Pink (1996) | Wish in One Hand... (1997) | Plugs For The Program (1999) | Hold On Hope (2000) | Dayton, Ohio-19 Something and 5 (2000) | Daredevil Stamp Collector: Do The Collapse B-sides (2001) | The Pipe Dreams Of Instant Prince Whippet (2002)
Box Sets: Box (1995) | Suitcase: Failed Experiments and Trashed Aircraft (2000) | Hardcore UFOs: Revelations, Epiphanies and Fast Food in the Western Hemisphere (2003) | Suitcase 2: American Superdream Wow (2005)
Compilation: Human Amusements at Hourly Rates (2003)
Related Articles
The Power of Suck | Cobra Verde | Airport 5 | Circus Devils | Todd Tobias | From a Compound Eye