My Top 1000 Songs #710: Courage The Tack

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.] 

On again/off again Guided by Voices player Tobin Sprout was stuck in the George Harrison role, contributing a couple tracks per album while Robert Pollard got most of the glory. Yet Sprout, both with GbV and on his solo records, is a hidden treasure. True, most of his material follows a set formula, almost fanatical in its simplicity--maybe 3 chords (4 would really be pushing it), a single verse and a single chorus (nary a bridge to be found), the verse repeated once or twice while the chorus cycles around until he decides to turn the fade dial. 

The repetitive nature would be a drawback, but the melodies are often so unbelievably catchy, and his lost-little-boy vocals so heartwarming and enchanting, that the songs hold up. He's basically a master of the 40-second pop song stretched out to fill an album. (Not surprisingly, I find his albums can be a little inconsistent, but collecting his greatest songs, both solo & with GbV, makes for a ridiculously catchy mix--see below!) There are plenty of equally great solo tracks to choose from, but I'm a fan of "Courage The Tack," off 2003's Lost Planets & Phantom Voices. Something about the plaintive "She offered me some salvation" just devastates me.

Tobin Sprout For Beginners (Spotify mix):

Also... the legendary Second Bananas playlist!