Boston Spaceships: Let It Beard

Boston Spaceships
Let It Beard
Guided By Voices Inc. [2011]









Fire Note Says: Pollard, Slusarenko, and Moen contemplate the sorry state of rock and roll on the massively excellent 75 minute double album Let It Beard!

Album Review:
How much Miller Lite can you crack open in the time span of 75 minutes? Not sure? Alright - before you take the challenge put on the new Boston Spaceships double album Let It Beard with a full fridge and you might have yourself a legendary number because the trio of Robert Pollard, Chris Slusarenko, and John Moen give you their most adventurous rock experience yet on long player number 5 that simply drives a good time!

This rock opus represents the album Pollard has always said was coming but I don't think many ever believed him. Well - believe it, because Let It Beard gives you 26 tracks of big ideas, guest contributors, horns, strings, keyboards and of course, plenty of memorable musical gems. Given its mass, Let It Beard offers many styles, such as full on rockers like the short "Toppings Take The Cake" and "You Just Can't Tell", power pop nuggets like "Tabby And Lucy" and a handful of slower tempo tracks that hold their own, as the lo-fi "A Dozen Blue Overcoats" can fill the room with sound and "The Ballad Of Bad Whiskey" should not be listened to without a drink in hand, so you can just sit in awe of its substance.  

Let It Beard doesn't just impress you with its size but the record also boasts plenty of notable guest artists that includes a can't miss J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.) guitar solo near the conclusion of "Tourist UFO", Steve Wynn's (Dream Syndicate) stylistic playing on "I Took On The London Guys", Wire's Colin Newman, King Missile's Dave Rick, the Dirtbombs Mick Collins and GBV's own Mitch Mitchell burning up the guitar on "You In My Prayer". Now don't mistake these additions as gimmicks because not only do they fit in but you can't look anywhere on Let It Beard and not find top notch musicianship as Moen's drums hit hard throughout and are highlighted on his skins attack during "A Hair In Every Square Inch Of The House", while the chorus explosion during "Earmaked For Collision" grabs you by the neck and lets the core trio run wild.

That brings us to the title track, as it not only has a cool as shit swagger that will have you repeating "let it beard and get all weird" in your sleep but will have you playing air guitar along with the band as they perform an intermixed note perfect "Baba O' Riley" for its final 47 seconds! If there was still any question that Boston Spaceships was a full fledged band then Let It Beard should finally seal the deal and more than Pollard's other material, Let It Beard benefits if it is listened to in its entirety rather than parts. The record does not have as many stand out singular tracks as some of his other work but as one flowing piece, it may be one of Pollard's most cohesive outputs and there is no question - Let It Beard rocks for a full 75 minutes and if you have fridge full of beer - it just doesn't get any better!

Key Tracks: "Tourist UFO", "Let It Beard", "Inspiration Points", "Let More Light In The House", "The Ballad Of Bad Whiskey", "Christmas Girl"

Bands With Similar Fire:
The Who
The Chameleons
The Beatles

Boston Spaceships: Our Cubehouse Still Rocks [Fire Note Review 9/1/10]
Boston Spaceships: Camera Found The Ray Gun [EP] [Fire Note Review 3/19/10]
Boston Spaceships: Licking Stamps And Drinking Shitty Coffee [Fire Note Review 12/10/09]
Boston Spaceships: Zero To 99 [Fire Note Review 10/1/09]
Boston Spaceships: The Planets Are Blasted [Fire Note Review 2/13/09]
Boston Spaceships: Headache Revolution 7" [Fire Note Review 1/12/09]
Boston Spaceships: Brown Submarine [Fire Note Review 9/16/08]

Guided By Voices Inc.
Robert Pollard Website
Robert Pollard Facebook

-Reviewed by Christopher Anthony