''Vampire on Titus'' is the sixth studio

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by American

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band Guided by Voices.

Background

''Vampire on Titus'' was recorded after a short-lived dissolution of the band (after 1992's "farewell" album ''

Propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...

'') but prior to the full-time regrouping that occurred with the assemblage of the ''

Bee Thousand ''Bee Thousand'' is the seventh album by American indie rock band Guided by Voices, released on June 21, 1994, on Scat Records. After its release the band became one of the more prominent groups associated with the "lo-fi" genre, a movement defi ...

'' album and the band's return to live performance. The album was recorded with a skeletal line-up consisting of

Robert Pollard Robert Ellsworth Pollard Jr. (born October 31, 1957) is an American singer and songwriter who is the leader and creative force behind indie rock group Guided by Voices. In addition to his work with Guided by Voices, he continues to have a prol ...

, Jim Pollard and

Tobin Sprout Tobin Sprout (born April 28, 1955) is an American visual artist, musician, songwriter, and children's author. He is best known as a former member of the indie rock band Guided by Voices. He served as a secondary major songwriter and guitarist o ...

. Jim Shepard of V-3 remarked to Pollard once that he “was like a vampire on Titus, sucking songs out of the earth.” Pollard lived on Titus Ave. in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...

. The album is often acknowledged as being the most abrasively

lo-fi Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate choice. The ...

in the entire Guided by Voices catalog.

Track listing

All songs written by

unless otherwise noted.

Side A

# ""Wished I Was a Giant"" – 2:43 # "#2 in the Model Home Series" (R. Pollard,

) – 1:45 # "Expecting Brainchild" (Jim Pollard, R. Pollard) – 2:30 # "Superior Sector Janitor X" (J. Pollard, R. Pollard, Sprout) – 0:37 # "Donkey School" (Sprout) – 1:03 # "Dusted" – 2:08 # "Marchers in Orange" (J. Pollard, R. Pollard) – 1:24 # "Sot" (Sprout, R. Pollard) – 2:35 # "World of Fun" – 0:55

Side B

"Jar of Cardinals" – 1:22 # "Unstable Journey" – 2:15 # "E-5" (J. Pollard, R. Pollard, Sprout) – 1:29 # "Cool Off Kid Kilowatt" (J. Pollard, R. Pollard, Sprout) – 0:56 # "Gleemer (The Deeds of Fertile Jim)" (Sprout) – 2:24 # "Wondering Boy Poet" (R. Pollard, Sprout) – 0:59 # "What About It?" – 1:37 # "Perhaps Now the Vultures" – 2:23 # "Non-Absorbing" – 1:37

Personnel

Guided by Voices

* Robert Pollard – vocals, guitar, drums * Jim Pollard – guitar * Tobin Sprout – vocals, guitar, bass

Technical

* Bruce Greenwald – photography *

John Mandeville Sir John Mandeville is the supposed author of ''The Travels of Sir John Mandeville'', a travel memoir which first circulated between 1357 and 1371. The earliest-surviving text is in French. By aid of translations into many other languages, the ...

– cover artwork

References

{{Authority control 1993 albums Guided by Voices albums Scat Records albums