šŸ”„ Hot Freaks: the Guided By Voices Listening Club (Final results time! 40 album ranking list! Freedom! - post 2160)

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2101

Onto Nowhere To Go But Up. Listened to this when it came out and it was only November but only really remembered the opener. While I wouldnā€™t put it anywhere near my all time number one like Jordan, itā€™s a strong opener and the next couple of tracks are pretty solid too.

Heā€™s sounding in good voice until How Did He Get Up There? where his voice is not so great. Love Set is a bit rubbish. There are a few other more forgettable ones and my attention is wandering. For The Home starts with some nice warbly lo-fi guitar before the song starts proper and sounds massive. Not even sure whether the song itself is that memorable but it hits very hard and sounds great. Cruel For Rats also has some great production and cool sounds but Bobā€™s sounding a bit strained again.

A mixed bag song-wise but the production sounds really good on this. If youā€™re gonna go hi-fi instead of lo-fi then this is the way to do it.

2 Likes
2102

Ditto, WP could have gone higher but looking back at the older albums I gave an 8 to ā€¦ Nah

1 Like
2103

First listen to Strut of Kings. Really really enjoyed Serene King as the lead single but hadnā€™t got round to checking out the others. Hoped the strength of that song was a good omen but the rest of the album is largely ā€˜fineā€™ again. Oh well.

Fictional Environment Dream is decent as well though and Bit of a Crunch is quite nice.

2104

just doing my listen now - a lot higher on it than you it seems. Great opening run imho

2105

Canā€™t wait to see the official full ranking of all the albums according to DiS!

1 Like
2106

*ranking liable to change at discretion of thread management

2107

Just listened to strut of kings whilst doing some chores, need to listen again properly but really liked seemed king and cavemen running naked.

What a comprehensive review

1 Like
2108

Not sure of my personal rankings but this is my last.fm top 10:

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(Number of tracks per album will be a factor as well I guess - Propeller would be higher otherwise)

2109

still digesting for my own review later today, but Iā€™ll put the Strut of Kings POLLS up now to keep on track

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0 voters
  • Show Me the Castle
  • Dear Onion
  • This Will Go On
  • Fictional Environment Dream
  • Olympus Cock In Radiana
  • Leaving Umbrella
  • Cavemen Running Naked
  • Timing Voice
  • Bit Of A Crunch
  • Serene King
  • Bicycle Garden
0 voters
2110

Strut of Kings time. So that start is so strong that it had my hopes real high, but did drop off a bit after that. Would say great start, okay middle, solid ending - whole thing sounds excellent, a few great Bob vocals, and yeah just another album that sounds fun and engaged again.

Glad to have it even if itā€™s probably a strong 6 overall, was reaching for a 7 but again remember how many OG albums I gave that to which were really quite a lot better.

Show Me the Castle is a great opener, lush and psych-pop-heavy. Instantly winning and sweet - ooh great punchy change-up halfway through! Bopping my head to this. Love the faux-flute bit at 3 mins - but why is it such a short outro for a 4.5 min song? They were really setting it up for an epic solo at the end there, odd

Dear Onion is grand too, punchy and really good vocals/melody. He sounds so engaged here, and the murky production is good against the really live sounding band

This Will Go On is another winner, lofi build into pretty lush balladry - reminds me of Half Smiles, always a positive

Fictional Environment Dream is so fun, just makes me grin. Starts off like something on UT&C, Bob sounds really youthful again. Maybe a little long but maybe just not used to GBV repeating a good chorus multiple times hah

Olympus Cock is alright (great title though), the fun drums are probably the best part

Leaving Umbrella isnā€™t a standout, but has a cool little groove and mood to it, slightly more intense than usual vocals keep my interest most of all. Similar thoughts for Cavemen too, though not quite as good

Timing Voice similar to the last two, doesnā€™t do enough to really grab me but itā€™s still pretty hooky and decent, definitely not the sludgy dull sort of thing thatā€™s peppered the middle sections of other albums in this era

Bit of a Crunch is gorgeous! Like This Will Go On, great transition from solo into widescreen, the verses here are some of the prettiest things heā€™s done in a while. Little long but again, canā€™t begrudge it much

Serene King was a good single, shows how much I like parts of this album that it now isnā€™t in contention for a top 3 track. Another good entry in their crunchy-jangle category, bops along with good energy, think itā€™s slightly let down by a solid Bob vocal when he gets a more passionate or odd on other tracks

Didnā€™t think that much of Bicycle Garden but think itā€™s got a good ending - Doug rocking a very cool riff, and a little BA BA BAA singalong to take us home

2 Likes
2111

Conveniently there were 3 songs on the album I enjoyed so that was an easy choice

2112

every album has 6 or more votes now then, King of Struts will deffo get more once a few regulars pop back in and still hoping I can pushed Motivational Jumpsuit, Half Smiles, Welshpool Frillies and Nowhere to Go up to 8 votes each - just for better stats

will kick off the extras weeks from tomorrow, for more random chat and catch up time for some of the older ones - and will get the final table in before month-end I think!

(wonā€™t include the extras in that table I think, but will still give people a chance to vote on em)

1 Like
2113
  • include King Shit etc in full album table
  • donā€™t do that, weā€™re at a nice round 40 and theyā€™re not studio albums
0 voters
2114

okay so lost track a bit of what timings I want to do for this, but letā€™s kick off WEEK 1 of the 90s misc catch-up round, featuring

King Shit and Sunfish Holy Breakfast next week plan fans

2 Likes
2115

Tonics and Twisted Chasers is in my top 5 GBV releases; at least one of the EPs on Scalping the Guru would be too (and another one or two in the top 10).

Scalping the Guru, though, is a diabolical outrage, in my opinion. I hate the thought of Bob sitting there and thinking ā€˜Iā€™m gonna cut Queen of Second Guessing!ā€™ and then everyone giving him plaudits for being the king of sequencing etc. etc. Leave those EPs alone! People have also complained about the presence of needle drops in the sourcing etc., but that is not a concern of mine at all.

Edit: Iā€™m also not a huge fan of Static Airplane Jive, although the other three EPs I think are genuinely great

One more edit: Iā€™m still gonna give STG a 9 or so, because I still like individual moments more than pretty much any non-Bee Thousand/Propeller GBV album. But I still resent it.

1 Like
2116

Didnā€™t realize tracks had been cut to put together Scalping. Damn!

2117

Well, at least it opens the door for the full CD boxset treatment one day I suppose!

1 Like
2118

Think Iā€™m the complete opposite to you, I think those EPs are very hit and miss as standalone listens (Get Out Of My Stations is decent though, Clown Prince of the Menthol Trailer and Fast Japanese Spin Cycle are very uneven imo) but somehow compiled together as an album like this it really works, despite only dropping a small handful of tracks. I donā€™t really miss any of the missing tracks (I really really like the full band version of Marchers in Orange but donā€™t really need it on this imo).

I think some of the really short throwaway tracks just work better on a 20 track record with enough meatier tracks around them, rather than having like 4 or 5 of them in a row making up the bulk of a 10 minute EP.

Iā€™d never really listened to Static Airplane Jive properly as it wasnā€™t on streaming so didnā€™t know it well beyond Big School but reckon itā€™s probably the best of the 4.

Think Iā€™ve only listened to Tonics and Twisted Chasers once ever so overdue a revisit.

2119

you give people one little crumb of 90s GBV and they all come crawling back, despicable

2 Likes
2120

iā€™ve never noticed this but i canā€™t imagine it having any impact on tracks that already sound like this

1 Like