Top 40 '90s albums, #23: Guided by Voices — Bee Thousand

It’s a little funny, putting this Guided By Voices record immediately after a Dream Theater record. However, I did once compare GBV’s early ‘90s era music to Yes’s apex, so, uh, I don’t know. Maybe that says more about me than it does the music. (It was something like 15 years ago, and I think it was on Twitter.)

Anyway, this is such a good record. I can thank my friend Eric for really introducing me to Guided By Voices. He helped me work through the lo-fi sound, and it revealed some of the best pop songwriting of the era. Bee Thousand opens with “Hardcore UFOs,” a perfect introduction to the album’s sound. I could list my favorite songs on this album, but given the album has 20, I’d probably name 10. I’ll try to avoid just doing that, but a few stand out more than others: “Gold Star for Robot Boy” and “I Am a Scientist” are both top-tier Guided by Voices songs.

It’s a little wild to me that this album released in 1994. Maybe it’s a product of the noisy production and the four-track machines they’re recording on, but there’s a quality here that doesn’t feel tethered to time. The song writing isn’t dense or pretentious, and it’s generally to the band’s benefit.

There are some great tracks that come from later in the band’s career. 1999’s Do the Collapse has some highlights (“Teenage FBI” and “Hold on Hope” are two for which I have particularly soft spots), 2001’s Isolation Drills has “Glad Girls,” 2004’s Half Smiles of the Decomposed opens with “Everyone Thinks I’m a Raincloud (When I’m Not Looking)” — there’s good stuff around here. After that, your mileage may vary. They’re now releasing anywhere between 1 and 4 albums every year, and I just don’t care to try and keep up. There are probably some brilliant songs in there, but I really can’t be bothered to find them.

In a sense, Bee Thousand also represents Alien Lanes on this list. I almost listed both of them, but honestly, I think I’ve talked (a little, at least) about the better of the two albums.