i wanna ask you a question: what is the best song in GBV's Alien Lanes?

i remember thinking universal truths and cycles was really really boring and hookless

i remember really liking universal truths and earthquake glue when they came out, and i haven't listened to them since. "best of jill hives" is really the only one I can conjure up.

universal truths & cycles was another grower, there's some hookless songs on there but also some great ones and songs have more variety in tempo/structure/rhythm than some of the other late-period albums (half-smiles of the decomposed is my least favorite for this reason, it's pretty much entirely mid-tempo songs, though some of them do have pretty hooks)

i'd rank the 'studio' ones something like
isolation drills > earthquake glue > universal truths > do the collapse > half-smiles

mag earwhig would go somewhere in the middle there if it counts i guess, all of them of course rank after the 'classic' propeller thru UTBUTS stretch

^^

the "volunteer fire department" or whatever pollard lp w/doug gillard is my favorite of the post-bushes era, i think.

yeah, that one is very, very good.

isolation drills > earthquake glue > universal truths > do the collapse > half-smiles

i would swap EG & UT&C but otherwise agree. half-smiles is a bit crap, probably the worst GbV album in terms of being straight-up boring

Do the Collapse is by far the worst. The first time they were ever really boring, IMO.

AAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDITORIUM

The scenario is bright for the King and Carol

Echoing upthread about 'Under the Bushes'...man we all had such high hopes for that album

1;15 in King and Caroline -
Bob: And the wisdom they will sell us, and the wisdom they will sellllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
Tobin: sell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

^^^^^^yessss

yeah "love king and caroline" - great performance on the daily show, too

^^^ too much time on i love terius

i <3 under the bushes fwiw. second i heard after alien lanes but first i bought. not a duff track on it, honestly, except the sprout ones and i never really dig sprout's stuff tbh.

aww i lovvvvv "atom eyes"!! one of his best.

under the bushes was a big grower for me. i still think the sequence of 'bonus tracks' after "office of hearts" give it a little too much bloat.

but otherwise, great album.

"Redmen and Their Wives" tho!!!

and atom eyes ain't too bad, true.

under the bushes is prob my fav, i guess cuz it's the first one i heard. also my copy came w/ the tigerbomb ep tacked on the end so there were sooo many songs

"Redmen and Their Wives" tho!!!

i dig "take to the sky" and "it's like soul man", but the 3 songs in between sound like my stomach feels after too many beers. i think they would have been more effective if they had been worked into the other 18 songs.

tbh i had no idea before this poll that game of pricks was the obvious choice. gonna vote little whirl just to even it out. xp !

― sonderangerbot, Monday, July 19, 2010 7:51 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark

same here. guess i'm just not up on my GBV fan stats cuz i had no idea that it was the consensus pick. voted for it cuz it made me cry the first few times i heard it, and once upon i played it over again until it wasn't quite so achingly poignant and then walked around singing it for months on end. so many great songs on this record, though - probably their best, though propeller's my sentimental favorite. first love best love.

second choices at the time would have been motor away, my valuable hunting knife, as we go up, blimps go 90. little whirl took a while to click, but man i love that song to death. striped white jets cuz it always reminds me of my brother.

yeah "love king and caroline" - great performance on the daily show, too

― terry squad (k3vin k.), Tuesday, July 20, 2010 9:56 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^^ too much time on i love terius

― some dude, Tuesday, July 20, 2010 10:20 PM (Yesterday)

hahahaha u_u

haha i always forget about the snoring on 'ex-supermodel' until i listen to it

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Is there a reason why BIG BORING WEDDING is not a choice?

pass the word: the chicks are back etc.

pass the word: it's on 'under the bushes under the stars'

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

sooo nice that "Motor Away" came 1st (tied, but still), I totally didn't see that coming

I hope that this lone vote fot "Cigarette Tricks" wasn't a joke or sth, I honestly love this "song" (probably more like a "hook")

"Motor Away"/"Game of Pricks" tie = poll justice.

If I'm a fanatic about this album, is the deluxe reissue thing worth getting? Like, are there extensive, 33 1/3 style liner notes and shit?

is there a deluxe version of this record?

wasn't there a double vinyl version, with the songs in a weird sequence, all mixed up, or something? Did I dream this? Maybe it was that Bee Tousand that got that treatment...

Bee THousand, I mean

oh yeah that was the bee thousand directors cut.

that's worth it! it's pretty cool.

kind of surprising that matador isn't doing some kind of expanded alien lanes reissue to coincide w/ the reunion tho.

Yeah, they really should. I'd buy that. As I gushed upthread, this is probably one of my most-played albums of all time.

thanks tyler - I'll check out the BT director's cut!

good a place as any to mention that they've launched a digital store w/ some oop stuff, some live shows, etc: https://www.gbvdigital.com

awesome, thanks tyler

!!! thanks !!!!
trying to mete out my excitement about next week's show in chicago

a little excitement every day so i don't go nuts

20 years old

That revelation is shocking in some cases, but Alien Lanes feels exactly as old as it is.

I would've voted "Game of Pricks," I'm pretty sure. Album still slays.

the club is open

"King and Caroline" was robbed. But tie for first place and the next finisher otm.

"Game of Pricks" is the best song GBV ever did, but "Motor Away" is the best song on Alien Lanes. (O paradox)