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Rockpile
Peter Bothum

Guided By Voices
Isolation Drills   
TVT

Rating: Five out of five bombs

Forget about everything that ever has been said about this band -
the revolving door of members that the band has become, the monumental
amount of alcohol consumed at its shows, the story of Robert Pollard,
the grade-school teacher-turned rock star.

Toss it all aside, fans of all things rock, and listen up: Isolation
Drills is a record you should buy. Now. 

Kids hopped up on Gimp Fuzkit and Spleen Day won't appreciate the
hopeful longing of "Twilight Campfighter" or "How's My Drinking," the bitterly
sarcastic response to critics of Pollard's drunken stage behavior.
But the older, wiser kids will notice a song-cycle here -- brought
into clear-but-crunching hi-fidelity by producer Rob Schnapf -- that
deals with the grueling emotional rollercoaster of life changes.

They'll notice how opening sugar-pop rockers ("Fair Touching,"
"Chasing Heather Crazy") flow into slower sonnets of self-doubt ("Sister
I Need Wine"), rebound into anger and skid into swooning hymns of hope
("Unspirited," "Privately").

File this one next to Blood On The Tracks and Who's Next in a bin
labeled: "Personal pain bleeds into masterpiece."