Bee Thousand

Guided by Voices

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 20, 1994)
• Original Release Date: June 21, 1994
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Scat Records
• ASIN: B000002363
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (85 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #21,883 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #22 in	Music > Indie Music > Alternative Rock > American Alternative
  #32 in	Music > Indie Music > Alternative Rock > Rock
  #48 in	Music > Indie Music > Alternative Rock > Indie & Lo Fi

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Midwestern obscure-rock archivists and curators Guided by Voices are back before you could consider them gone with another fun-filled, hook-happy hodge podge of songs, half-songs, ideas, and vaguely pleasing sounds to get you through summer. How many influences can you find in this picture? A Beatles harmony and a Syd Barrett musing here and there are easy to spot, but how about the pack of no-name psychedelicists and prepunk garage dwellers that only Guided by voices have ever heard of? Could be thousands. GBV are so good at integrating references, in fact, their records sound like nothing more than well-groomed and quirky modern rock. Call them post-postmodernists--what else to brand a group that sings a song named "The Golden Heart Mountain Top Queen Directory" without even a smirk and doesn't come off disgustingly pretentious? Sincere? Timeless? We get the joke while they swear they never made one. --Roni Sarig

Product Description

The holy grail. It still stands as their best (or at least among them), 20+ albums later.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The definition of Do It Yourself ****1/2, April 1, 2005

By	Janson Kemp "jwk" (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Though I do have some pride, I'm far from most pretentious internet music critics; I know nothing about Guided by Voices. I wouldn't know Pollard if I saw him in a grocery store. I'm not sure what other indie bands were influenced by them. I don't own any of their other albums. I can't spout off this or that song title from this era that was import because it showcased both a reserve of political mindedness, while being forward-thinking and.... I don't care about any of that. I'm saying that despite my reluctance to get to know this band, I admit this album is one of the most interesting (and yes, BEST) albums of the 90's.

I'm amazed with the production. How anyone can listen to the White Stripes and really believe that their records are low-fi are beyond me. (I like the White Stripes, by the way). The production has this kitsch, kind of quirky homespun quality that extends beyond the production. It feels like that basement record your semi-close friend in high school made and bugged you every day about what you "really" thought. Only now he's a song-craft genious with ADHT. BGV sometimes abandon a catchy song right as it's getting interesting and somehow it doesn't detract. It sticks in your head. I find myself hitting the repeat button (but never the skip button) on this album more than any other I've listened to. Some records are great because they're catchy enough to move you and low-fi enough to not become popular. Not even CLOSE to popular. Those records make you feel like you're the only person in the world who's ever heard it and you feel great about yourself because of it. "Bee Thousand" is that record. Enjoy.

Overall: 9 out of 10.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Utterly Life Changing, July 12, 2001

By	faster eddy (Columbus, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews

Be warned. This is audio heroin. One listen, and you will be an addict. Of course, Bee Thousand is just the gateway album. You will love it. (Haven't met a soul who doesn't.) And once you come to grips with your love of Bob Pollard's perfect lo-fi pop, you'll go in search of more. And, yes my friends, there is plenty more. Not just Guided By Voices, but Bob Pollard solo albums, side projects, ex-members side projects...Lexo and the Leapers. You'll buy them. I'm just letting you know ahead of time. Because it can get ugly. Vinyl EP imports from Holland. Split singles with obscure Canadian bands. You're going to need them all. And you'll get them. Whatever it takes. Trust me, I've been there.

So, go ahead and listen. But a year from now, when you're sitting in an empty apartment surrounded by nothing but GBV music and a crappy record player you borrowed from your cousin. Don't say nobody warned you. And welcome...you're one of us now.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best album of the 90's? How about ever!, June 9, 2003

By	bookaz - See all my reviews

This is one of those records, like "Sgt. Pepper" or "Pet Sounds", that once you hear it music never sounds the same again. Other records in your collection begin to sound empty and eventually fall away. You cannot remember ever not knowing it, yet you'll instantly be transported to the first time you ever heard it EVERY time you hear it.And probably the most remarkable thing is that you probably won't even like it when you first hear it. But then suddenly "I am a scientist" will be itching in the back of your head while you're at work or lying in bed. Then you're caught. It's happened to me and everyone else i've ever let borrow this. It's like a twentieth generation dub of a homemade cassette by god himself. And then the follow-up was just as good...