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Great GBV primer!

W. M. Davidson | St. Louis, MO | 07/04/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album works. Buy it and listen to it a few times in a row. You'll think, "Um, this is okay, but is this really the band that's released dozens of CDs and has one of the most fanatical cult fandoms in rock?"



Put it down for a few weeks. Then get it out and listen to it again. The songs will suddenly click, and you will be consumed by the insatiable urge to own everything Robert Pollard has ever touched. (Start with "Alien Lanes," "Under the Bushes Under the Stars," "Mag Earwhig!", and "Bee Thousand." Then proceed to the other 837 GBV/Pollard albums.)



Guided by Voices' weird, fragmented genius just doesn't sink in right away, but when it does, you'll join the cult too. It worked for me!



Really though, where are "Don't Stop Now" and "Sad If I Lost It"?! "Kicker of Elves" would have been nice too. "Blimps Go 90"? "Man Called Aerodynamics"? "She Goes Off at Night"? "Jane of the Waking Universe"? "Now to War"? Okay, I'll stop now."

Best of? Sort of.

Jeffrey P. Gustafson | St. Louis, MO USA | 11/22/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If you've listened to much of Robert Pollard's recorded output, you know he's quite capable of churning out perfect pop songs. Then again, he's also capable of filling most of a CD with stuff that many artists would be ashamed to include as a b-side (and don't get me started on the usual quality of Pollard's b-sides). Finding the gems can often be a struggle. Guided by Voices has somewhere in the realm of 15 proper albums, about 20 more EPs, a box set of 100 outtakes, and the new Hardcore UFO's boxset with even more unreleased stuff (on which this best-of also appears in a slightly different form). Add to that countless solo and side projects, and you have literally thousands of songs to sift through if you want Pollard's best work.Said best work is almost always found on the proper GBV albums, yet even then only about 20% is really worth listening to. Enter this disc, which attempts the difficult task of condensing 15 years worth of GBV material into 77 minutes. Does it succeed? Well, it comes pretty close. If you were looking for a good introduction to GBV, this is definetely the place to start (or perhaps the Isolation Drills album). But be prepared for some rough takes. More than half of the band's career was spent recording albums on 4-tracks or cheap cassette recorders. Thus, some of the band's best stuff winds up soudning like it was recorded over the phone. Wisely, about 2/3 of this disc are devoted to the later studio albums or cleaned up studio versions of classics like "Motor Away" or "Game of Pricks." The lo-fi stuff is sprinkled throughout these higher quality tracks, making the disc much more accessable to those new to GBV who may not be used to hearing music with $0 production values.The selection of songs for this disc is pretty decent. Now everyone's opinion on the Best of GBV is going to be different. Me, I could cram another two discs worth of great music from this band. But there are a few noteable ommissions and strange inclusions. Where are great songs like "Don't Stop Now," "Underwater Explosions," and "Fair Touching?" Some of the early stuff they selected is just strange. I find it hard to believe that "Hit" or "Non-Absorbing" are worthy of being included here. "Liar's Tale" and "Smotheres in Hugs" would certainly have made better replacements. "Captain's Dead" is an okay song from the band's first LP, but not anywhere near as good as "Old Battery" from the same album. Plus, why chose the lo-fi version of "I am a Scientist" for this version of the disc when the superior studio version can be found on Hardcore UFOs. Strangest of all is the inclusion of the demo version of "Teenage FBI." For a song that was the closest thing GBV had to a hit, I would think the studio version would have been a wiser choice.Overall, if you're looking for an introduction to GBV or you just don't want to put in the effort of working through their extensive catalogue for the good stuff, I would certainly advise you to pick up this album. If you like it, do yourself a favor and track down some of their other stuff, as you'll be missing quite a bit of great stuff."

Sure why not

David | 11/05/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Despite some rather odd choices and omissions, this is a pretty good introduction to GBV. They have so many good songs though that Bob could've picked another completely different 32 and this would have been just as good. Under The Bushes is severely under-represented here though."