Zero to 99

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  2009

  James

  If Brown Submarine introduced Boston Spaceships and The Planets Are Blasted perfected the formula, Zero to 99 may be the most underrated album of the trilogy. The record finds Robert Pollard, Chris Slusarenko, and John Moen operating with complete confidence, delivering a stream of sharp power-pop songs, crunchy guitar rock, and unexpectedly moving ballads. Tracks like "Plana 1000" and "The British and the French" showcase Pollard's ability to make even his strangest lyrical ideas feel emotionally convincing. The band plays with an energy and cohesion that many later-period GBV lineups struggled to match. Despite its abundance of ideas, the album never feels cluttered or unfocused. It's one of the strongest records of Pollard's entire post-GBV-breakup era and deserves to be mentioned alongside The Planets Are Blasted and Our Cubehouse Still Rocks as a Boston Spaceships essential.