Guided By Voices have been firing out uneven bursts of Pixies meet Nirvana - sudden glorious melodies amid intense guitars and eccentric lyrics - since the mid-'80s. Cars mainman Ric Ocasek has been drafted in to lend production polish to their most disciplined effort yet and things get off to a fabulous start with Teenage FBI, a self-conscious love song in the best tradition of US pop-rock (Dwight Twilley, Shoes etc.). The rest doesn't quite live up to that - there are lapses into unfocused indie rock with some great tunes obscured by noisy murk; writer/vocalist Robert Pollard's oblique lyrics remain patchy; and more emotional light and shade would help. But the rousing guitars, offbeat cleverness and involving songs - the plangent Things I Will Keep, the plaintive Hold On Hope - triumph to put this multi-layered grower high on any must-hear list.