typed so nicely by Edward Kinsella

WORDS OF WIT

An oasis of lyrically competent bands

July 11, 1997

by Rafer Guzman
The Buffalo News

        Intelligence can be a liability in pop music.  Often, it keep perfectly
salable bands off the charts or dooms them to marginal cult status.
Pulp, the Go-Betweens, Billy Bragg  --- they’ve had their 15 minutes,
but mega-platinum sales of Alanis Morissette will always elude them.
        Americans in particular like their rock ‘n’ roll free of wit.  For us,
rock exists to give voice to our basic,  animalistic feelings: anger,
lust, pain, freedom.   As catharsis, rock ‘n’ roll has no equal.  But it
often proves inadequate at defining the finer nuances that make up our
lives.
        Now, with instrumental electronic music growing in popularity, some
critics fear that lyrics are as endangered as paper products in the
computer-dominated age.  Yet, there will always be artists, though
perhaps not as hugely famous ones, concentrating on songwriting and
lyrical craft.
        Guided by Voices, considered by some to be as much contemporaries poets
as pop-singers, has released “Mag Earwhig!” the much-anticipated
follow-up to last year’s “Under the Bushes, Under the Stars.”  In the
interim, main members Tobin Sprout and Robert Pollard released solo
efforts, but “Mag Earwhig!” finds them creatively chafing against each
other once again.
        Sprout’s pop sense and Pollard’s poetic sensibility are what make GBV
so delightful.  “I Am Produced” is classic Pollard, a first-person
narrative told by a commodity.  “Bulldog Skin” benefits from Sprout’s
sprightly backing vocals and a Stonesy “hoo, hoo!” thrown in for good
measure.
        GBV’s last album had a handful of solid songs amid Pollard’s amusingly
half-baked ditties.  “Mag Earwhig!” has fewer centerpieces, but “Jane of
the Waking Universe” alone is worth the price of the disc.  Only GBV
could create a bright, jangly pop song with the lyrics, “The devil’s
bride is calling all toward her skirt/ And in the loving folds there we
will hide inside.” Rating: ***  (I don’t know how many they give, but
the other 3 albums reviewed got 2 and 3 stars)