The Releases: Surrender Your Poppy Field (LP—GBVi, 2020) / Volcano (Single—GBVi, 2020) / Man Called Blunder (Single—GBVi, 2020)
In the wake of Guided by Voices’ three 2019 albums, one might have expected that their first record of the new year would have a defining ‘thing.’ After all, Zeppelin Over China was the ‘overstuffed’ double album; Warp and Woof was the ‘collage-like’ throwback to their classic era; Sweating the Plague was the ‘proggy’ one. But when Surrender Your Poppy Field arrived, it was merely a typical latter-day GBV record—albeit a pretty solid one. Some hardcore fans gave it the old “best GBV album since (insert recent favorite here)” superlative, but most just gave it the requisite attention and moved on to anticipating the next one.
For myself, that requisite attention involved buying Surrender on vinyl at Portland’s Music Millennium within a few days of its release, using the included download code to put it onto my computer/phone, and taking it in over a handful of drives to and from my commute to the high school where I work—where my oldest kid was a senior, and my youngest was a freshman. It was a regular Guided by Voices album, acquired and absorbed in a manner that was accordingly normal.
And the supreme normalcy of Surrender Your Poppy Field has only been reinforced as I revisited it this week. It’s not even one of those somewhat-rare Guided by Voices albums that I’m disappointed by. In fact, whether it’s through a recalibration of expectations or a genuine bump in quality, I’d comfortably rate Surrender as one of the better GBV records from the present-day lineup. Honestly, I’d argue that its ‘thing’ could be that it’s the ‘pretty-damn-solid latter-day GBV album,’ if there weren’t already plenty of other contenders for that particular descriptor.
And like virtually any GBV record, I found plenty of its cryptic lyrics to be somewhat timely. Bob Pollard’s claim that “cul de sac kids have the best parties” felt a bit like advice (or a warning) to a father of two high schoolers. “Andre the Hawk” didn’t seem to have any particular of-the-moment relevance to Expos/Cubs legend Andre “The Hawk” Dawson, but it entered my orbit right as spring training arrived—bringing with it a Phillies season that carried more promise than any in recent memory. And “Stone Cold Moron”? Well, we were finally approaching the best chance to get him out of our way.
So yeah, Surrender Your Poppy Field arrived as most Guided by Voices albums do. I was interested enough to buy it almost right away, enjoyed it plenty, and then let it fade from my vision as other albums that I was more excited about took up more of my bandwidth. After all, Surrender arrived early enough into the new year that I was still absorbing my favorite records from the previous one—partially as a result of my then-customary practice of backloading most of my ‘current year’ listening until December (and beyond). Also, I had just recently started Strange Currencies, and there was plenty of music that I was more excited to write about than a ‘pretty-damn-solid latter-day GBV album.’
As I’ve revisited Surrender Your Poppy Field this week, I’ve had to work a bit to dislodge some of those long-dormant memories about it. Included among them was another tidbit that I had forgotten about in the intervening years since Surrender‘s release. In the top right-hand corner of the vinyl version, there is a number that looks like a possible homage to the stamped numbers that appeared on early pressings of the “White Album.” However, in The Beatles’ case, those were unique serial numbers. The faux-stamped number on Surrender Your Poppy Field is the same on every copy: 02202020.
That number was the album’s release date: February 20th, 2020. And though Surrender Your Poppy Field may not have arrived with a particular ‘thing’ in the same manner as its immediate predecessors, the context that shortly followed its release would ultimately make it a unique entry in their catalog.
Rating: Surrender Your Poppy Field (7.6) / Volcano (★★★★) / Man Called Blunder (★★★★)
*Singles are star-rated by their A-side; albums and EPs use the “Russman Reviews” scale.
Bob-ism of the Week: “Sad golden lady / Up with those Andy Campbell soups / And everyone who tried to hide the truth / And like that broken-hearted child / I cried” (“Year of the Hard Hitter”)
Next Week: The world may have changed, but GBV remains ever the same.
