Normal Happiness

Studio album by Robert Pollard

Released

October 10, 2006

Genre

Merge Records

Professional reviews

The reviews parameter has been deprecated. Please move reviews into the “Reception” section of the article. See Moving reviews into article space.

Allmusic link
The Guardian 6 October 2006
Transform Online link
Modern Music link
Rolling Stone [1]
Pitchfork Media (6.4/10)

Robert Pollard chronology

From a Compound Eye
(2005)

Normal Happiness
(2006)

Silverfish Trivia
(2007)

Normal Happiness is an album from Robert Pollard. Like its predecessor, it was recorded with Pollard on basic guitar and vocal tracks, with instrumental overdubs from producer Todd Tobias. Normal Happiness debuted at #46 on the Billboard Top Independent Albums chart [2].

Pollard explained the writing process and the title of Normal Happiness in a Gothamist interview:

"I wrote a total of 47 songs and it just so happened that my favorite ones happened to be the poppier ones and that tone or attitude carried over into the recording process itself. I didn't feel the final product was overly "sappy" so I decided to call it "Normal Happiness". Not too heavy and not light. [3]"

Working titles for the album were You Were Saying? and Gasoline Ragtime [4].

The album received a 72/100 rating at metacritic [5].

Track listing

"The Accidental Texas Who"
"Whispering Whip"
"Supernatural Car Lover"
"Boxing About"
"Serious Birdwoman (You Turn Me On)"
"Get a Faceful"
"Towers and Landslides"
"I Feel Gone Again"
"Gasoline Ragtime"
"Rhoda Rhoda"
"Give Up the Grape"
"Pegasus Glue Factory"
"Top of My Game"
"Tomorrow Will Not Be Another Day"
"Join the Eagles"
"Full Sun (Dig the Slowness)"

Guided by Voices

Robert Pollard Tobin Sprout • Mitch Mitchell • Kevin Fennell • Greg Demos

Former members	Nate Farley • Doug Gillard • Jim Pollard • Chris Slusarenko • Kevin March • Jim Macpherson • Tim Tobias • Don Thrasher • James Greer

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) • Let's Go Eat the Factory (2012) • Class Clown Spots a UFO (2012)

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) • Suitcase 3: Up We Go Now (2009)

Compilation	The Best of Guided by Voices: Human Amusements at Hourly Rates (2003) • Crickets: Best of the Fading Captain Series 1999–2007 (2007)

Related articles	Discography • Airport 5 • Boston Spaceships • Circus Devils • Cobra Verde • Todd Tobias

Robert Pollard solo albums	Not in My Airforce (1996) • Waved Out (1998) • Kid Marine (1999) • Motel of Fools (2003) • Fiction Man (2004) • From a Compound Eye (2006) • Normal Happiness (2006) • Standard Gargoyle Decisions (2007) • Coast to Coast Carpet of Love (2007) • Superman Was a Rocker (2008) • Robert Pollard Is Off to Business (2008) • The Crawling Distance (2009) • Elephant Jokes (2009) • We All Got Out of the Army (2010) • Moses on a Snail (2010) • Space City Kicks (2011) • Lord of the Birdcage (2011) • Mouseman Cloud (2012)

Tobin Sprout albums	Carnival Boy (1996) • Moonflower Plastic (1997) • Let's Welcome the Circus People (1999) • Lost Planets & Phantom Voices (2003) • The Bluebirds Of Happiness Tried To Land On My Shoulder (2010)

Airport 5 albums	Tower in the Fountain of Sparks (2001) • Life Starts Here (2002)

Boston Spaceships albums	Brown Submarine (2008) • The Planets are Blasted (2009) • Zero to 99 (2009) • Our Cubehouse Still Rocks (2010) • Let It Beard (2011)

Acid Ranch albums	Some Of The Magic Syrup Was Preserved (2002) • As Forever: A Manifesto Of Fractured Imagination And Wreckless Living (2005) • The Great Houdini Wasn't So Great (2007)

Circus Devils albums	Ringworm Interiors (2001) • The Harold Pig Memorial (2002) • Pinball Mars (2004) • Five (2005) • Sgt. Disco (2007) • Ataxia (2008) • Gringo (2009) • Mother Skinny (2010) • Capsized! (2011)