Per GBVDB, the Pissing in the Canal "sessions" from 1984 represent one of the last bastions of untapped early GBV recordings, and even some of these have already seen the light of day on various Suitcase box sets, which were often composed of demos and rough cuts from Robert Pollard's nascent, '80s home recordings. In it's entirely PitC is said to consist of ten songs, and I was only capable of locating 90% of them. Had this sucker actually hit record racks it would've pre-dated 1986's, Forever Since Breakfast, the band's maiden release. In keeping with GBV's sonic tendencies of that era, these nine cuts skew predominantly to their (relatively speaking) "conventional" era, with clean, song structures bearing a folk-ish guitar-pop lilt, with more than a wink and a nod to the still burgeoning R.E.M. There's veritable gold here in the guise of the brisk, melodious tilt of "Angry Pillows (Gone Away)," which easily qualifies as one of ten most inviting songs of their '80s tenure. "Lockets of the Empress" could have given Stipe and Buck some serious competition had GBV enjoyed greater visibility in the Reagan-era. Elsewhere, there's an early incarnation of "Quality of Armor" with significantly different lyrics, and also a few more tunes previewing the basis for future songs that would be fully realized in the band's more renown '90s heyday.
The so-called Nate Farley Session is comprised of seven numbers tracked in a basement studio on June 23, 2003, ostensibly in preparation for that year's Earthquake Glue LP. I'm tempted to deem it as a rehearsal or even demos, but the performances strike me as more competent than that. To refer to to it as the "Nate Farley" session isn't really saying much, as Nate was brought on board as a full-time guitarist for ...Glue. The title gives me the impression Nate's roll was a one-off for this particular recording, but at the end of the day who knows. At any rate, solid stuff, and only one more album would follow before GBV's short-lived "breakup." For more fun, check out some of my previous forays with Pollard & Co. here.
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