Boston Spaceships

Boston Spaceships' Zero to 99 is quintessential Pollard, a record that holds its own alongside widely acknowledged classics like Guided By Voices' Bee Thousand, Alien Lanes, and Under the Bushes Under the Stars. One gets the sense that Pollard is having the most fun he's had in decades, before he was pulled reluctantly from obscurity and thrust into the limelight with GBV in those heady, post-Nirvana mid-1990s. The Boston Spaceships have not only landed; they're conquering the goddamn planet. "Is everybody happy now?" Pollard defiantly screams on the opening track, as if he knows this is this record that longtime fans have been waiting for. So it's perhaps ironic that he confirms these suspicions with track two, "How Wrong You Are," an anthemic Pollard insta-classic that proves quite quickly just how right listeners are to get excited. From the moment the first chorus begins, Pollard digs his hooks in deep and never lets go, culminating in a raucous sing-along reminiscent of the "You are forgiven" refrain in The Who's "A Quick One While He's Away." Zero to 99 barrels like a freight train from there, delivering track after track of vintage Pollard pop rock, with a band more than up to the task of helping to fuel the engine. From the Buzzcocks-esque guitars on "Found Obstruction Rock 'n' Rolls," to the Keith Moon-ish, Tommy-era drums of "Question Girls All Right," to the McCartney-like bass riffs on "Trashed Aircraft Baby" that would fit right in on Abbey Road, Zero to 99 is a 37-minute feast for fans of classic pop / punk rock.