Certain Songs #1949: Robert Pollard – “Far Out Crops” | Medialoper

Album: Kid Marine
Year: 1999

. . .

Recorded around the same time as Do The Collapse — the album with Ric Ocasek where GBV discovered that even with polish, they were too weird to fully break big — with the only real difference in personnel being that Pollard handled all of the guitars, I honestly don’t remember a fucking thing about Kid Marine, except that it was the first in what Pollard called his Fading Captain Series. Or maybe that was the label. Or maybe both.

Oh, and “Far Out Crops,” one of the weird experiments on Pollard’s solo albums that well and truly worked.

It starts with some random guitar, and Pollard quietly singing the first verse before you even realize its a verse. But then, this amazing guitar riff kicks in. Angular and circular, always struggling to stay on the beat, weird in the best way.

In a soft-shelled vehicle
Gaze through this book
See them!
In a closet of household items
In a forest of examples
And I’m taking samples
Clipping and saving
Far-out crops

The lyrics don’t mean anything. Or given that Kid Marine was supposed to be a concept album about some real-life dude, they don’t mean anything to me.

What does mean something to me is the way Pollard wraps his voice around “cliiiii-ping annnd saaaaaaaaa-viiiiig,” one of his best vocal turns ever. And after that, Far-Out Crops — which I guess could be a weed song, crashes to a break, drums gone, as Pollard sings “far-out crops” over and over and over in a strangled doubled falsetto.

It’s amazing, continuing even after the drums kick back in:

Far-out crops
Far-out crops
Far-out crops
Far-out crops
Far-out crops
Far-out crops
Far-out crops
Far-out crops
Far-out crops
Far-out crops
Far-out crops
Far-out crops

And he keeps going, even after the song breaks down again. He keeps going, even after the music stops. Until finally, one rushed “faroutcrops” and the tape gets shut off. Like much of Pollard’s best music, “Far-Out Crops” is silly and awesome all at the same time.

“Far-Out Crops”

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