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Dayton Daily News Ron Morris
Guided By Voices
SUNFISH HOLY BREAKFAST
Matador

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When Rolling Stone reviewed the solo albums by Guided By Voices
Brainiacs Robert Pollard and Tobin Sprout last fall, it asked: Does such an
Incredibly prolific band really need to release every single thing it records?

It seemed an odd question, posed against the excellent solo CDs, but
with Sunfish Holy Breakfast , it makes sense. The answer is: probably not.
This 23-minute EP is 10 bits swept from their last full-length album,
Under the Bushes Under the Stars. "Swept" is the operative word - there's a
disappointing tossed-together feeling, compared to the Dayton band's
usually scintillating output.

Not that this is a bad record. Sprout's Jabberstoker is cheerfully
lo-fi even by GBV's basement standards. Stabbing A Star sounds like a frantic
White Album outtake, with Pollard wildly Lennonesque. He plays a sugary sweet
McCartney in If We Wait . Canteen Plums is a spare, sly British Invasion nod of the
Sort we've come to expect. There are other fine moments.

But that's all they seem: moments. Even accepting a 120-second flash
as a long GBV song, we're used to more than something that feels like a
shrugging afterthought. Guided By Voices

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