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The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
Copyright 1997 Southeastern Newspapers Corporation
July 19, 1997, SATURDAY By Bill Ellis
Who says a band can't make the album of its career with number 12? Guided By Voices has. The Dayton, Ohio, group (basically Robert Pollard and whoever is around) has devoted more than a decade to making records that sound like the Kinks cut in a basement. On his latest, Pollard has gone from the world of tape-hissing demos to high-octane rock, and it's his most rewarding work yet.
Pollard describes ''Mag Earwhig!'' (short for the equally perplexing ''Magnificent Earwhig!'') as an epic rock fairy tale. Indeed, the grandiose 21-song set comes off like low-fi's answer to ''Tommy'' or the White Album. Even if you can't figure out the concept, the music holds up on its own. In fact, Pollard's obsession with '60s and '70s British rock is a concept unto itself. Knock 'Em Flyin' has the melodic and harmonic perfection of the Beatles while Mute Superstar could be a lost Wire track (Elastica to anyone under 25). There's also Now To War, one of several songs that namecheck Pete Townshend's rock opera era. Pollard's non sequitur approach to lyrics remains powerfully oblique.''I'm not behind the fighter jet'' doesn't make much sense, yet put to music, it sounds like the best wake-up call to indolence since Smells Like Teen Spirit. (Whoa! ed.)
The biggest difference between Pollard's past albums and now is that he has a real band for a change. On board are Cleveland glamsters Cobra Verde, who ground Pollard's whimsical muse with rock and roll bite and muscle: Portable Men's Society is nothing less than the Midwest's answer to Megadeth (Midwest? Megadeth?).
GBV's last acclaimed album, ''Bee Thousand,'' may be a classic of low-fi, but ''Mag Earwhig!'' is a classic, period. Don't dare miss Pollard with Cobra Verde at Barrister's Tuesday.