irst of all, I want to get this off of my chest: the new Airport 5 album, Life Starts Here, is the worst album ever. They should have never ever released it. At most there is one instrumental track that was decent ("Yellow Wife No. 5), but it is lazily sung, and therefore it is so not worth anything... including a review of it, so I will not. Instead, I will review the first album, Tower In The Fountain Of Sparks.

Tower In The Fountain Of Sparks was released in the summer of 2001, after the releases of Isolation Drills and Choreographed Man Of War, both of which are incredible. Airprort 5 is the first official time that Bob Pollard and Tobin Sprout have recorded since their 1997 collaboration, Tonics and Twisted Chasers. After hearing that great album, I'm sure many fans of GBV were anxiously awaiting the coming of Airport 5. I'm sure many have spread a sense of dissapointment after hearing Tower In The Fountain Of Sparks, but like all of Pollard projects, there are peaks and valleys. The only complaint I had with it, initially, was that after hearing the live rendition of "Total Exposure" during the Isolation Drills tour, the album version seems to be quite flat. Other than that, Tower In The Fountain Of Sparks is pretty pleasing.

The highlights are in the same league as some of Pollard's and Sprout's best work. "Total Exposure," the extremely catchy "Stifled Man Casino," even the opener "Burns Carpenter, Man Of Science" made my GBV-hesitant brother turn to me and ask, "Is this still Guided By Voices?" The answer: kind of. Airport 5 is more mature than their prior collaborations. "Circle Of Trim" is built around a chiming guitar and Pollard's wonderful surrealist prose. The album even picks up steam as it reaches it last few songs. This album does have some very good songs, but the biggest and only problem I have with Tower In The Fountain Of Sparks, is that Sprout is an excellent songwriter, but does not have the knack for creating oddball throwaway tracks. Perhaps that is what made their legendary collaborations so great, Pollard's experimentation and Sprout's perfect pop sense. When Tobin Sprout takes his stab at experimentation, it goes bad. "Subatomic Rain," "One More," "Mission Experiences," "The Cost Of Shipping Cattle," and Life Starts Here. It shouldn't be a bad thing to try to get experimental, but you probably shouldn't put out stinkers, also. Overall, peaks and valleys.