POLLSTAL BLOWFISH - ILM Artist Poll #8 - Guided By Voices

I think that would've been an appropriate response. If your colleagues didn't understand it, fuck em.

My ballot is done, I'm just going to let it season for a couple days before I submit. My guess is that it will be fairly consensus but I'm actually not really sure what the consensus on GBV is.

Demons are Real will probably win.

And why not?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5coiDE7_9Y

Feeling it.

Great chords in that song

Bowiesque

Such enthusiastic singing!

Ok up to this point I have avoided listening to Alien Lanes or Bee Thousand because they rile me up WAY TOO MUCH and I also like to save the big hits for when I need them, which is not right now. But unfortunately, I just listened to that song 3x.

The thing is, you haven't really seen me flip out itt yet. It gets worse. I am controlling myself a little bit still.

is it too close to a ban to ask for a fan-created rarity compilation? just found out about this one http://gbvdb.com/album.asp?albumid=2167 and damn, looks interesting. most of that stuff remains officially unreleased as of today. google doesn't seem to help me at all >:(

Try searching for "Guided by Voices 30 Songs" in google blog search. Certainly seems to be pretty popular with bloggers, I see it get posted fairly often.

One litmus test for the consensus-ness of my ballot is that fully half of it is on the GBV greatest hits album that I just learned 5 minutes ago existed.

I was worried about my ballot looking too much like that too, but, y'know, screw it, its a really well compiled hits disc.

that whole box was a good purchase imo

Yes, well worth the nearly two hours I stood in line to purchase it at Borders. Long story, but I had a gift card to use, it was the only copy they had, and it was two days after Christmas so there was a hella ridiculous line.

What box is this?

This one.

Hardcore UFOs on Matador 2003

best of
matador oop singles, b-sides, etc,
previously unreleased
unreleased LIVE 95-2002 (this is omg must have btw)
forever since breakfast
dvd of watch me jumpstart

Oh yeah. At the risk of annoying everyone, I got that in a car boot sale (American equivalent?) for £5 (American equivalent?). What a happy day that was!

Great score! I'd say the American equivalent would be like $2.50 at a garage sale.

High five for striking the motherlode. I love when that happens.

And in the UK! Have we talked about the book yet? Who else has read the book?

Are you talking about A Brief History? Or the 33 1/3 on Bee Thousand? Or another I'm not aware of?

Have never seen the book. The Jim Greer thing?

Brief History -- I haven't read the 33 1/3 because I, well, I dunno. For some reason I continue to resist the focus on that album when there is so much more to appreciate.

Yes, the Jim Greer thing. It's really really good and gives you an idea of the early days that I think is missing from the general narrative about GBV.

Bee Thousand works so well as an album. So well that I rarely listen to it anymore. I mostly just put a ton of songs on random or listen to comps/dj mixes these days. Bee Thousand songs don't sound as good to me out of context.

Always look for it, but doesn't seem to have made it across the Atlantic, at least not in sufficient numbers (xp)

The GBV song that gives me the biggest jumpstart is "Wished I Was A Giant". When that comes on, I can't help but yell along with the hooting at the end. I have no idea what the song "means" but to me it means release.

I'd venture to guess that 90% of all GBV songs don't mean anything at all.

Like, the best GBV songs have particular phrases you can shout along to while listening and those phrases sound great when shouted (or sung)...but they're absolutely nonsensical.

That is part of what I love so much about them.

i HATE that jim greer book, ugh. such a smarmy tone and boring, "insider" bullshit

It's never quite as poignant as when everyone's shouting along together at a show -- and tbh I don't get drunk (like DRUNK) very much and I don't think I've ever been drunk at a GBV show. I have been drunk at home and singing to GBV and made my neighbor come upstairs on account of the noise though :-/

xp wow, ok we all have our opinions.

I will be plowing through all the suggestions on this thread this weekend before voting, but wanted to rep for what to me is one of their very best:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8Q_XHYV_AY

I could listen to this song non-stop for days and two weeks.

Also unsuspected GBV addition on Propeller: guitar solos.

Just sent mine in. It was really hard to get down to 20.

xpost the live album in the Hardcore UFOs box was in my ballot for top 5 GBV albums ...

I've begun listening to all the GBV albums. There is no way I'll have time for the solo/side project stuff.

I've discovered that the 'small speakers' preset on my ipod gives a warm fuzzy sound on my neutral sounding headphones. I'm relistening to Alien Lanes with this discovery.

I'd venture to guess that 90% of all GBV songs don't mean anything at all.

― Johnny Fever

I'm not super familiar with the lyrics at this point but I'd venture to say that there is a lot more meaning than 10%. A lot of that meaning is disguised in metaphor (some metaphors may only be decipherable by people who can find a way inside the writer's mind). There is also a lot of seperate ideas that get collaged together in one song.

"The closer you are, the quicker it hits you"

^I'd wager to say that that is an absolutely brilliant lyric

oh, there are so many, explicitly laid out like a fruitcake

God free the pilgrims
Laid out in sunday clothes

drunk really is the best way to enjoy this band, even though i didn't drink at the height of my fandom

Just sent mine in. It was really hard to get down to 20.

― righteousmaelstrom, Thursday, September 22, 2011 12:55 PM

Hey, would it be a pain to send that again in plain text? I don't seem to be able to open the file for some reason.

On its way, Johnny.

If this is the topic we're on, the first GBV song I ever heard was "My Valuable Hunting Knife". Actually, not sure I remember how.

Been trying to figure this out. I think it was probably "Wished I Was a Giant" since Vampire On Titus was the first album of theirs I got. Then I saw em in St. Louis on the tour for Bee Thousand (Scat Records "Insects of Rock" tour with Cobra Verde and Prisonshake) and bought Bee Thousand at the show.

Mine's gone too Johnny.

Similar to dmr above. Had to choose "Wished I was a Giant". First GBV i heard. Indebted to Tim from the legendary Ajax Records for that. Cheers Tim

first i heard of them was the "bulldog skin" video on 120 minutes

Tractor and salty were horrible omissions. Eeek