Universal Truths and Cycles

Guided by Voices | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 18, 2002)
• Original Release Date: 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Matador Records
• ASIN: B000066JFA
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #160,195 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars please keep rocking, bob, October 15, 2002

By 

Sam Bloom (Indianapolis, IN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Universal Truths and Cycles (Audio CD)

If you want to rock like you haven't rocked since 1973, GBV is for you. If you like your songs short, not-so-sweet, and to the point, GBV is for you. If you enjoy concerts where the band drink like fish and the lead singer poses like a strange Roger Daltrey/Robert Plant/Bon Scott hybrid, GBV is for you.

With lots of GBV stuff, it's hit-or-miss, but not here. From the opening rocker "Wire Greyhounds" to the closing sing-along "Father Sgt. Christmas Card," Robert Pollard and the crew deliver the goods in prime 1960s British Invasion fashion. Other standouts (and already GBV classics) include "Christian Animation Torch Carriers," "Cheyenne," "Eureka Signs," and "The Ids are Alright."

If you are a fan of: the Kinks, the Who, the Beatles, the Hollies, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, the Zombies, etc.: BUY THIS ALBUM! You won't be sorry. And while you're at it, buy the earlier GBV stuff, too. Just throw that money around. Pollard and Co. will toast you with a Miller Lite at their next sloshy show.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First Universal Truth...A Classic in Form, Flow & Production, June 18, 2002

By 

lrutigliano - See all my reviews

This review is from: Universal Truths and Cycles (Audio CD)

Critics have been writing that this album is a "return" to the greatness of Alien Lanes, Bee Thousand era GbV but that would be an oversimplification....Because this collection of songs moves the band forward in many different ways.Yes, there's the short songs peppered through this album ala Alien Lanes...But Pollard has totally mastered the art of writing a short yet complete song like Wire Greyhounds :36 the opener on Universal Truths.Yes there are many of these brief mid-fi jewels(Zap,Love 1,The Weeping Bogeyman,Factory of Raw Essentials,The Ids are Alright)and they are the glue that flows this album so perfectly.But what I truly love about this album are the prog rock songs.These four songs are standouts: Christian Animation Torch Carriers,Storm Vibrations,Pretty Bombs & Car Language.Christian Animation Torch Carriers & Storm Vibrations are beautiful songs that build with soaring & crashing melodies.Pretty Bombs uses brilliantly twisted instrumentation from a string quartet to push the envelope of experimentation.Car Language also pushes the envelope with nifty little sound effects....guitars beeping like car horns but not in an obvious way, kind of swirling through the song for you discover for yourself..Again GENIUS.Yes and there are the singles those catchy songs that Pollard writes so effortlessly.There are 3 standouts, Cheyenne(pristine Pollard vocals & phrasing)Everywhere with Helicopter(infectious rocker)Back to the Lake(another beauty)The remaining songs a little harder to catagorize but they are just as good, Skin Parade( a bit of a stomper),The Whoish Wings of Thorn,Eureka Signs, From a Voice Plantation...and the perfect album closer,Father Sargent Christmas Card.This self produced album has it all;it brings all together in form, flow & production & it pushes the artistic envelope in all the right places.Buy it now!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Return to Form...Bob is the King, June 24, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Universal Truths and Cycles (Audio CD)

Bob has a way of taking all that has been done before and filtering it down to the best elements. This album is diverse and glorious. One of GBV's most consistent offerings, it also offers flashes of the brilliance we all love from Bee Thousand, Alien Lanes, Under the Bushes, etc. A real plus here is the spontaneity of mid-90's GBV coupled with a reasonable level of fidelity. Wire Greyhounds, Skin Parade, Storm Vibrations, Everywhere With Helicopter, Eureka Signs, and Cheyenne are all instantly enjoyable. Most of the others will creep up on you the way Bee Thousand did after 7 or 8 listens. Bob is without question the greatest songwriter of the last decade assuming "great" is defined by the sheer number of outstanding rock songs written over the period. Long live Bob Pollard.