Guided By Voices is almost the quintessential alternative rock band, in the truest sense of the word—not the loud but radio-accessible, metal-informed brand of alternative—think Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Hole, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains—but that weird, lo-fi, indie type of alternative that sounds like someone made it in their basement, with an odd sensibility that would prevent its best songs from ever appearing on any mainstream radio format. The real alternative, in a way, the stuff that stayed alternative even after the term had been appropriated and commodified.
At their peak, GBV’s particular trademark was their preference for short little song snippets, masterful brushstrokes of alt-pop-rock noise that are promptly infectious and charming, yet leave you long before wearing out their welcome. I absolutely loved their two breakout albums, Bee Thousand (1994) and the better-produced (and perhaps slightly better, period) Alien Lanes (1995). Together, they comprise a listening experience unlike any other in rock history. The cumulative effect of hearing 28 tracks fly by over 42 minutes—each one different, each with a powerful snippet of melody or an eccentric lyric to ingrain itself in your psyche—cannot be described.
Playlist 1
Here’s a mash-up of their two classic albums, Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes. Forty songs in just over an hour. Soak ‘em up.
More Guided By Voices
Sadly, it seems Guided By Voices felt their great strength was a deficiency (aided by some misguided critics who cried that their brilliant song-sketches were underdeveloped). After the two albums chronicled above, they tried to force their genius into a more traditional song format; the results were often very good, but never quite as magical. I still like a lot of their later stuff—Robert Pollard’s voice has a quality I find engaging, and he certainly has a way with melody—but the overall results were never quite as exhilarating as on their two great albums.
As of yet, I have not created a a summary of their subsequent work, some of which I am familiar with, some not. I’ll get to it, sometime, and I’ll update the post when I do.
Cover Art:
- Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes (back cover): Source, Discogs.com, Fair use.
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