Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great GBV primer!, July 4, 2005
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.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Best of? Sort of., November 22, 2003
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.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good Introduction to Dayton's Best Band, September 12, 2004
Living in Cincinnati since the late 80s, I have seen Dayton's Guided By Voices a number of times over the years, yet I had never actually purchased a GBV album, because I felt that the live act always was the better of the studio act. But when this collection came out, I decided to cave in and get it. I'm happy I did.
"Human Amusements at Hourly Rates: The Best of Guided By Voices" (32 tracks--yes, you read right; 77 min.) is all over the maps as far as GBV's studio output is concerned, but centers more on the latter era GBV (considering the band celebrates 20 years this year). There are 4 songs from "Bee Thousand", the best known GBV album, including the great "Echos Myron" and "I Am A Scientist". Most songs run in the 2 minute range, scarcely wasting time, getting to the hooks right away, and moving on to the next song before you can settle in, not that that is a bad thing.
Guided By Voices is an underrated and underappreciated band (not unlike, say, Cincinnati's Afghan Whigs when they were around) and Robert Pollard recently announced that GBV will hang it up for good after this Fall's 'farewell' tour. Don't miss them if they come to your town. I know I will be there when they come to Cincinnati in late October! Meanwhile, this collection is a great introduction to the band and a handy overview if you don't feel like buying any of their many albums.
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