Telegraph
November 2, 2003
By Andrew Perry

Guided By Voices
Human Amusements at Hourly Rates
Matador Records

Guided By Voices
Hardcore UFOs: Revelations, Epiphanies and Fast
Food in the Western Hemisphere
Matador Records

It has often been said of the Ohio-based alternative rockers Guided by Voices that what you really need is a decent compilation of their best moments. Their singer, Robert Pollard, is without question one of the most prolific songwriters of our time. So it would be fair to call Human Amusements at Hourly Rates eagerly anticipated, collating as it does some of Pollard's finest tunes, with equally perplexing titles like My Valuable Hunting Knife, Bulldog Skin and I Am a Tree. Make no mistake, these aforementioned are among the catchiest numbers produced within the indie sector in the past two decades (no wonder the Strokes are such vocal fans). That the compilation has 32 tracks perhaps defeats the point, but it fairly replicates the mood rollercoaster of your average GBV album.

Human Amusements also makes up the first disc of Hardcore UFOs, a five-CD box set that summons up one mighty splurge of GBV ephemera, including rare singles, compilation tracks and some fine live stuff. Incredibly, there's a whole disc of unreleased songs, which shapes up better than many first-choice rock albums recorded this year.