**** stars (out of five)

This indie-rock cult band has heretofore hidden its light under a bushel of purposefully low-fi
recording technology and myriad lineup changes. Credit former cars leader Ric Ocasek for
helping to bring Guided By Voices into the 1980s (that's not a typo) with his production of
Do The Collapse. Audiophiles won't exactly be trampling over each other to savor its highlights,
but sonically it is leagues beyond its ten predecessors.

Somewhere between art rock and arena rock, Do The Collapse parades big hooks that serve to frame
Robert Pollard's amazing vocals. (transcriber's note: it's about frickin' time someone said that)
in the current talky/shouty climate of hip-hop and offhanded, like-minded rock, it's easy to
forget what a lost art actual singing has become. Pollard simply pins notes like a dart finding
the board's bulls-eye in "SurgicalFocus" and "Wrecking Now," with their fluid, arcing melodies.
(And what of melody, another lost art?) Memorable songwriting is a hallmark of this 16-track
album, whose other standouts include "Mushroom Art," with its full-bodied chords and declamatory
vocals, and "Strumpet Eye," a rocker with some nifty lane-changing, key-shifting moves. Best
of all is "Hold On Hope," a (dare I say it?) power ballad that doesn't leave a saccharine
aftertaste because the sentiments are real and the music pretty.