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Carnival Boy

Certain Songs #2739: Tobin Sprout – “The Last Man Well Known to Kingpin”

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Album: Carnival Boy
Year: 1996

. . .

The final track on Tobin Sprout’s 1996 album Carnival Boy is a case study in how to pile on instrumentals and vocals as a song moves forward, continually upping the ante until it becomes an utterly perfect hook machine. Opening with just a single guitar and bass from Sprout, followed by Guided by Voices drummer Kevin Fennell’s steady beat, “The Last Man Well Known to Kingpin” starts with the first of its series of name-drops:

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Certain Songs #2738: Tobin Sprout – “It’s Like Soul Man”

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Album: Carnival Boy
Year: 1996

. . .

I mean, imagine being the other songwriter in Guided by Voices.

While Tobin Sprout, who showed up full-time for 1992’s Propeller — perhaps not coincidentally their first great album — got some co-writing credits and even solo writing credits on albums like Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes he was always going to be overwhelmed by the insanely prolific Robert Pollard, who has written approximately 2,674,887 songs in the past 35 years or so.

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