C or D : Guided By Voices.

I made this one last year (two albums ago now):

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1idxGsnYtzSHZY2ipxQSdP

The idea was to make kind of a Human Amusements vol. 2, so there are a few songs from Half Smiles of the Decomposed on here since that album wasn't covered on Human Amusements.

Awesome! Thanks y’all.

ISOLATION DRILLS came out 20 years ago this month

might prefer DO THE COLLAPSE for GBV Is Produced but 'the enemy' and 'pivotal film' (among others) are undeniable

xp electric sound of jim's playlist of worthy reunited GBV was this as of 2013, i.e. two dozen albums ago

Guided by Voices - Flunky Minnows (2:11)
Guided by Voices - Class Clown Spots a UFO (3:17)
Guided by Voices - Everywhere is Miles From Everywhere (3:05)
Guided by Voices - Keep It in Motion (2:06)
Guided by Voices - The Challenge is Much More (1:48)
Guided by Voices - You Can Fly Anything Right (1:54)
Guided by Voices - King Arthur the Red (2:14)
Guided by Voices - Finger Gang (1:50)
Guided by Voices - The Unsinkable Fats Domino (1:53)
Guided by Voices - Be Impeccable (2:56)
Guided by Voices - Waving at Airplanes (3:13)
Guided by Voices - Jon the Croc (2:32)
Guided by Voices - Roll of the Dice, Kick in the Head (0:46)
Guided by Voices - W/ Glass in Foot (2:20)
Guided by Voices - Skin to Skin Combat (3:42)
Guided by Voices - No Transmission (2:18)
Guided by Voices - Billy Wire (2:03)
Guided by Voices - Hangover Child (2:57)
Guided by Voices - White Flag (2:14)
Guided by Voices - Trash Can Full of Nails (3:30)
Guided by Voices - Xeno Pariah (2:03)
Guided by Voices - Smoggy Boy (0:34)
Guided by Voices - Chain to the Moon (0:59)
Guided by Voices - Have a Jug (1:09)
Guided by Voices - Chocolate Boy (1:31)
Guided by Voices - Islands (She Talks in Rainbows) (2:16)
Guided by Voices - Imperial Racehorsing (2:54)
Guided by Voices - Waking Up the Stars (2:13)

Isolation Drills is mostly quite good, but, yes, a notch below Do the Collapse; my standout pick would be "Fine to See You".

isolation drills is one of my favs

grotesque and arrogant
perfect for the experts

I think the complaints of "overproduction" on those two TVT records were over-emphasized, it's not as the songs themselves were crying out for out-of-tune guitars or hissy overdubs.

"Isolation Drills" is miles better than "Do the Collapse". Too much Gillard on the latter.

"brides have hit glass" is a top 10 GBV tune for me

Count me in the Isolation Drills>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Do the Collapse camp. Isolation Drills is probably top 5 GbV for me.

Although, I saw them on the pre-Isolation Drills tour where they opened the set with a good chunk of the yet-to-be-released record, and the first song they played was "Run Wild", and I will never forgive them for not making that the opening track of the record.

I saw them on the Universal Truths tour, my first time seeing them (I was 17), and they were still performing a lot from Isolation Drills. It was my first GBV record, I think, so I have some deep affection for it.

Love Isolation Drills, but I'm a sucker for an album where an artist's "real" life bleeds legibly into their art

I saw them in 2000 where they played "Glad Girls" twice, Pollard saying, "this is the song that'll make us as big as Radiohead!"
One of the things I like about Do the Collapse is the production filigrees help it stand out in a catalogue where a lot of songs sound a lot like a lot of other songs.

Also, bonus points to Elliot Smith for the most superfluous guest appearance of all time.

It's a nice organ part!

Mitchell > Gillard

Count me in the Isolation Drills>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Do the Collapse camp. Isolation Drills is probably top 5 GbV for me.

^^^This. Isolation Drills production served the songs, but Do the Collapse seemed that it just added a couple keyboard presets to some of the songs.

Isolation Drills was my favorite those late-period (pre-reunion) albums for years, but the last couple times I listened to it it felt kind of monotonous in a way the others aren't. I think it's a combination of the production and the songs themselves. Still don't love the production on Do the Collapse, but I think the songs themselves are generally more interesting. "Bride Have Hit Glass" is all-time though, of course.

On Isolation Drills, a lot of the expensive production seems to consist of "let's overdub the same rhythm guitar part eight times", which contributes to a monotonous sound.

To me that's preferable to eight overdubs of Doug Gillard running through his favourite licks.

Which Do the Collapse songs do you feel have this particular problem?

I think he overplays throughout the entire album basically. I'm sure that's more down to Ric Ocasek thinking, "Oh this guy can actually play, I should use him wherever possible".

Poor man's Ohio indie The Who < collection of basement anthems bookended by weirdo lo-fi cut and paste tape experiments.

i like Do the Collapse way better than Isolation Drills personally.

Poor man's Ohio indie The Who < collection of basement anthems bookended by weirdo lo-fi cut and paste tape experiments.

I mean I love a lot of the Gillard era stuff but I took my old VOT/Prop CD with me driving up to in-laws at the weekend, and was just astonished again at how brilliant those albums are, how unique and constantly inspired. Felt like I was transported back to hearing them for the first time as a teen again.

“And oh, mesh gear fox”

There’s just no comparing pre and post 96. Original stuff shits all over gillards robotic playing and mainstream production. Same planet, different worlds.

teenage fbi is all time, chasing heather crazy is good

never really listened to those albums though

never listened to mag earwig either

New album Earth Man Blues can be listened to here: https://www.grammy.com/grammys/news/2021-guided-by-voices-earth-man-blues-premiere-remote-recording

First impression: this could end up being my favorite post-reunion album? I don't know, I really loved Surrender Your Poppy Field. That album felt kind of like a musical to me, which is something Bob's explicitly aiming for with this one. It also kind of gives me Mag Earwhig vibes, probably just because I always thought of that one as a loose concept album about growing up in Dayton, and that's supposedly the concept here.

I've heard only good things about this record so far.

xp As someone whose favorite post-reunion record is by far Surrender Your Poppy Field, I am very excited to read that.

OK yeah, after one listen, this is definitely top tier for this lineup. Much better than the last two records.

oooooh this one sounds genuinely different. I can't help but wonder if Pollard heard the Heidecker bit and decided to mix it up lol

I genuinely wondered that

Hmm I wasn’t too enthused by it. I had the same reaction I’ve had to most of the recent stuff—excited for the first few tracks but it starts to become tedious as it goes. It’s just... more.

Needmore records was their early “label” if I recall

I think it was their/his publisher, as in Needmore Songs. Named after a street in Dayton.

Earth Man Blues does sound different, kind of a patchwork prog thing going on, probably due to the quarantine recording process covered in the grammy article linked above, but I wouldn't say that the songs are necessarily better than ones on the albums leading up to it. I'm not buying the hype in the Rolling Stone review. But it might grow on me after repeated listens and uncovering the "story" that supposedly ties these songs together. I googled John H. Morrison wondering why he was called out as the album presenter on the cover and it is the name of an elementary school in Bob's neighborhood so I feel like that is a big clue in the unifying concept. I'm just not sure how much time I want to put into searching for the payoff of a record that didn't really grab me on the first listen.

I wasn't struck by any conceptual stuff, but I did notice the lyrics and song structures seemed more immediately accessible than a lot of recent-ish Pollard stuff I've heard.

Jen from the IT to thread:@I know every song by Guided By Voices. I shouldn'teven knowWHO THEY ARE#

I'd love to be able to put my finger on what it is about these recent albums that make them so polarizing...like, I've seen a lot of people going nuts for Styles We Paid For, which I've listened to probably 4-5 times and it does absolutely nothing for me. Similarly, it seemed like Space Gun was a consensus favorite and I didn't care for it at all. On the other hand, I think Surrender Your Poppy Field is the best one since Isolation Drills, and I'm in the middle of my second listen to the new one right now and I think it's really, really good.

I can’t listen to anything post Under the Bushes

I am sorta the same. I like space gun though.

I kind of liked some of the ones around when Ric Ocasek produced that one but otherwise just can’t keep up sorry

For whatever reason I was really into Earthquake Glue, but otherwise the only post Under the Bushes album that is special to me is Mag Earwhig! I guess cause it's so close to the golden era, still has a good amount of weirdo charm. Not that I don't enjoy any of the rest of the post 96 stuff at all but my brain categorizes it as a different band entirely. Tobin Sprout element is pretty critical to me.

Isolation Drills was the last great one for me. I am kind of enjoying this new one.

Isolation Drills was my favorite after the early run. Still haven't listened to this new one yet.