wanted to get a proper vinyl listen in of this, think Iāll come back with slightly delayed thoughts later today/tomorrow
in the meantime, to spark more chat before we switch albums - polls for UTBUTS
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voters
Up to 5 again due, to long-classic-album syndrome
- Man Called Aerodynamics
- Rhine Jive Click
- Cut-Out Witch
- Burning Flag Birthday Suit
- The Official Ironmen Rally Song
- To Remake The Young Flyer
- No Sky
- Bright Paper Werewolves
- Lord Of Overstock
- Your Name Is Wild
- Ghosts Of A Different Dream
- Acorns & Orioles
- Look At Them
- The Perfect Life
- Underwater Explosions
- Atom Eyes
- Donāt Stop Now
- Office Of Hearts
- Big Boring Wedding
- Itās Like Soul Man
- Drag Days
- Sheetkickers
- Redmen And Their Wives
- Take To The Sky
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voters
1 Like
Itās got soul man and Drag days have become two faves after a few re-listens, hadnāt got much from them before.
1 Like
yeah love how jangly and sweet Drag Days is, not a sound they reached for very often
1 Like
For me UTBUTS is the most consistent album so far. Itās really clicked with me this week.
4 Likes
That was tough, had to drop Cut Out Witch even though I love it
Ghosts of a Different Dream is very underrated
Lord of Overstock was a real pleasant surprise to hear live in London, was surprised they were still playing it
One other thing I meant to say about UTBUTS, is that it has probably my favourite cover art of any GBV release (alongside Mag Earwhig).
2 Likes
- Power on with the main proper studio albums
- Break week with a couple of b-side/rarities albums
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voters
can cover the other albums later on if not now, extracurricular over Christmas or something
I think crack on but welcome relevant asides when folks wanna point out quality ancillary releases from Bob
right, decided not to drag people into the B-sides chasm quite yet - might do those albums either over Christmas or as a split between the original and reunion albums
which means itās time for MAG EARWHIG!
5 Likes
this is a fun one for me, as it was basically the only one of the original run that i skipped over for some reason - everything else I either knew I liked, or knew it hadnāt landed for me
didnāt really click with this one either way until i got a physical copy, and now its been played loads and its very good
Quite liked your idea of Tonics being extracurricular GBV listening for the Christmas fortnight 
1 Like
I originally bounced off this one as well, bar a couple of tracks.
Used to see cheap CD copies going all the time and never bought it cos I thought I wasnāt into it at all. Later clicked for me and then I couldnāt find a copy of it anywhere, mysteriously (eventually found one somewhere)
Always thought of this as the first New Lineup album, which it is, but the old guys turn up a lot more than I initially realised (ie not just on Jane of the Waking Universe):
Guided by Voices
- Robert Pollard ā vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, piano, lead guitar (tracks 6, 15), drums (track 1), casio (tracks 1, 2)
- Doug Gillard ā electric guitar, acoustic guitar, nylon-string guitar, backing vocals, bass, lead guitar (tracks 3, 5, 12, 17, 20, 21)
- John Petkovic ā electric guitar, synthesizer, backing vocals, lead guitar (track 13)
- Don Depew ā electric guitar, bass, synthesizer, organ, backing vocals
- Dave Swanson ā drums, maracas, backing vocals
Additional musicians
- Tobin Sprout ā bass, slide guitar (track 18); backing vocals (tracks 1, 18), lead guitar (track 6), acoustic guitar, Casio (track 7); drums (track 6)
- Jim Pollard ā bass, guitar (track 6); casio (tracks 1, 4)
- Mitch Mitchell ā bass (tracks 9, 12, 13, 20), guitar (track 18)
- Kevin Fennell ā drums (tracks 8, 15, 18)
- Joe Buben ā drums (tracks 2)
- John Shough a.k.a. Johnny Strange ā bass (tracks 2, 14, 15), programming (tracks 2, 14)
- Chad Stanisic ā organ (track 5)
1 Like
Here are the album writeups for Mag Earwhig over at the Earful 'O Wax and Constant Bleeder fansites.
1 Like
I Am A Tree fully earns its 4m40s, imo
4 Likes
From memory: donāt like bulldog skin. Next step, actually listening to it
Just noticed, this is the album where the Earful 'O Wax guy described the lead single (Bulldog Skin) as āoff-putting, awful southern rock bullshitā 
I mean, I didnāt especially care for the song at first neither, but itās kinda grown on me over the years. But it sounds a million miles removed from anything they put out up to that point.
1 Like
big fan of it now, because of how it stands out
2 Likes
Thatās a good point.
If Iām being 100% honest, I wish there were a few more GBV songs which stood out stylistically from the rest, even if they didnāt end up quite working. Though I guess that is where Circus Devils etc become relevant.
1 Like