Brutal!
Yeah doing one album a week changing over on Mondays - been going since September 
Welcome to vote in the polls when I put them up too but liking the longer write ups!
so thought EMB was pretty fun! bit scrappy and disjointed, but that was part of the reason it clicked a bit more for me - just stood out a bit more than most of the albums since Space Gun. Think itās third to Poppy Field and Warp and Woof in that run
Made Man is fun! hooky garage start, cool diversion into the orchestral break, then wish the ending was longer tbh, that little vocal hook is really good and pretty 60s? Classic vibes anyway. Surprised The Disconnected Citizen is divisive, clearly the standout track to me as @jordan_229 said, just has a sweeping classic beauty to it - sounds like Bob tapping into one of those classic ballads that was written decades ago. One of my favourite tracks from the last 10 albums or so
Trust Them Now and Margaret Middle School are a perfect pairing of classic GBV short sharp pop hooks, the ones that could be from any era really minus the older voice. Bob canāt help but throw these out every few albums.
Sunshine doesnāt have Bobās best vocals but really like the laidback relaxed energy of it, again has a vintage groove and vibe. I Bet Hippy is nicely restrained, riding that bass riff and Iām into those vocal effects, very spacey. Shares something with When Growing Was Simple from Styles in that way with unusual production and pretty stripped back instruments - though this is a much brighter track
Donāt think thereās many other standouts, but all pretty enjoyable without many real misses. Thereās basically some fun riffs and grooves across the rest, and not many outstay their welcome. Memphis is the exception to this (6 mins cmon), but at least itās doing a lot and makes for a novel listen
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time to fire up the worst named GBV album of all - INT. ICBT. IIT!
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āAnd the winner for the Worst GBV Album Cover Artwork goes toā¦ā¦ā
Iāll try to listen to this properly later this week but my pithy review(s) from my old forum were:
ITāS NOT THEM. IT COULDNāT BE THEM. IT IS THEM! (2021)
Itās not them, it shouldnāt be them, it only encourages them! 4
followed a day or so later with
Is This It. Will This Do? This Will Do.
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Iāve previously described elsewhere on this forum my slightly complicated relationship with this album, but to recap: I absolutely loved all three of the preview tracks released beforehand, and therefore dived into the album with sky-high expectations, only to find it frustratingly patchy and underwhelming.
I was quite pleasantly surprised when I finally returned to it last year, still very hit-and-miss but certainly better than I initially remembered it being. Will give it some more spins this week to see if that still holds! 
Before I forget, here is the review of Itās Not Them. It Couldnāt Be Them. It Is Them! over at the Earful 'O Wax GBV blog.
on Earth Man Blues now
Felt like there was a bit more goodwill towards this one at the time from what I vaguely remember but I only ever listened once. Itās getting harder to think of something to say about these albums. Adequate, fine, not too exciting but not objectionable.
There are little bits of production and invention that set it apart from the more bland entries. Bits of keyboard and weirdness rather than just endless guitar chug. Helps give it a bit of identity. Trust Them Now is very good.
Some good stuff on here, but the listener fatigue is definitely setting in making it hard to get fully invested and it definitely tails off as it goes on.
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yeah im glad weāre doing this and sticking it out, and every album has a few songs that im glad to rediscover/hear for the first time. Will be good to maybe see what peopleās top 10-20 tracks from the covid/post-covid era will end up as, still lots of strong tracks there
but cant say im actively excited by any albums by this stage - probably mainly for the round up week at the end with the 90s leftovers lol
think Warp or Poppy Field will end up as the last one im really into, and Space Gun will end up as the last great album overall
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Similar thoughts to earth man blues for āitās not themā, but itās generally worse.
Second track the best one again too.
So Earth Man Blues, I remember really trying with as at the time there was a lot of hype about it and talk of the pressing selling out and it being there most successful album for a long time. So I wanted to like it and kept going despite my initial reaction that it wasnāt very good. Itās decent , they atleast try a few different things. I wouldnāt say itās particularly good but atleast stands out a little compared to the albums before and after it.
Lights out in Memphis is this albums version of the now standard 6 minute , stop/ start , ringing arpeggio ,chug chug waste of time. Where as the first few of these type songs back on Sweating the Plague , felt like a nice change up , by this point, they are just a chore to get through.
Positives , Disconnected Citizen is great , I like the variety feels like they were trying a little bit with this one and Childs play is a good closer.
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Razor Bug, cmon Bob
Yeah that one is embarrassing to listen to. Just sounds like a drunk person slurring their words and spitting in your ear.
Luckily no females listen to GBV , as I imagine this song would bring back terrible memories of being at a GBV show or meeting a drunk GBV fan at a bar.
Thems summed up, singles are really good , the rest isnāt.
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sorry to say Iām going to be voting for Razor Bug when itās time to vote, I canāt help but endorse that kind of foolishness I do actually wish it was slightly better, maybe some extra inexplicable buzzing sounds, and a few out of tune/time strums
or a massive donk
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Surprised Earful likes this one so much!
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Just listened to 'EMB and āItās Not Themā¦ā back to back and the latter is top half Championship compared to the bottom of League One EMB in my opinion. When this started I remember thinking at the time both EMB and āMirrored Aztecā were the weakest since their reformation and nothing has changed. Also think theyāve hit a bit of form with regards to the upcoming four albums (especially āTremblersā) but weāll get to that of course.
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Itās Not Them!
ā¦itās fuckinā Guided By Voices! Dug this when it came out but there was never any doubt itās a more sprawling hodgepodge affair than Earth Man Blues. Got it on wax as a gift the Christmas before last. So, what better time to dig it out and give it a spin? From the off it sounds great!
Spanish Coin? What the hell is this?! Atmospheric Love-style slow burner with flamenco guitar and strings? OK! It works, but this has to be one of the most surprising GBV openers. High In The Rain follows in more straight modern-GBV style, but again features some very big strings. Itās nothing to write home about, but is fairly solid radio rock I guess. And sounds pretty great production-wise. Dance Of Gurus is more of a hit. If tracks 1 and 2 donāt quite make the grade here itās hard not to get behind this one with its insta-hook, catchy lyrics and great Doug take-āem-home guitar outro.
Flying Without A License begins to sound more like the kind of GBV we expect from this era. Fairly minimalist slow rocker. A lot like the stuff on Styles We Paid For. But it certainly has a vibe. Psycho House continues in this vein. And so does Maintenance Man Of The Haunted House. Of the three, the latter is the more interesting cut, with spooky ambient synths and some pretty sludgy riffage and heavily delayed Bob. Itās pretty grungy. And I dig it.
I Share A Rhythm is another one of those solid, perky, unearthed Suitcase numbers a la Bunco Men. Itās cool. About as simple as they come. Great lyrics. The ever-divisive Razor Bug arrives next but, whatever, itās like a minute long. And I quite dig it as the end to Side A.
I Wanna Monkey opens very promisingly. Interesting drumbeat, then guitar, then bass and Bob sounds cool. I love the harmonic guitar bit, before another fairly by-numbers bit, then back to the beatā¦ by the time it gets to the payoff itās kind of outstayed itās welcome, but thereās certainly some decent moments in there. Cherub And The Great Child Actor could be off any GBV record really. Itās a very solid album track with Bobās voice captured perfectly and an ominous unresolved ending leading intoā¦ Black And White Eyes In A Prism. This is definitely one of my favourites on the record: āNo longer viewing in black and white, everything in-between is alright.ā
People Need Holes is OK. The hook doesnāt massively do it for me. I much prefer The Bell Gets Out The Way with itās laid back jangle and world-weary Bob ā and the brass and strings outro is very nice. Chain Gang Island has the same problem as People Need Holes. The hook is ultimately weak ā but itās not bad. And the ambient noisescape outro is decent. My (Limited) Engagement is a perky single and the closer, here. Great little pop tune, really. Kind of an odd choice for a closer as it would break up some of the more atmospheric stuff if it came earlier.
Overall I think Them suffers a bit in the same way Styles does in that a reorder and one or two quicker, perkier tracks a la Made Man or Childs Play would really elevate it. That said, I think itās a great record. The production sounds excellent on vinyl and, to be honest, when it comes to GBV I often donāt notice a whole lot of difference between the experience of listening to digital, streaming or wax. Even on the deliberately āhi-fiā albums. Thereās a lot to love here. Some interesting instrumentation, good lyrics, and darker atmospheres. Itās fuckinā Guided By Voices!
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