GUIDED BY VOICES OUT-BEATLES THE FAB FOUR
Grade: A
by Jake Stuiver (Collegian Arts Writer)
Three weeks ago, nostalgists all around scrambled for copies of the newly released _Beatles Anthology 2_. Those who are searching in vain to rekindle the spirit of John Lennon through overdubs of unfinished songs from three decades ago should redirect their efforts.
Lennon's spirit is alive and well and in habiting the corporeal form of Robert Pollard, lead singer/songwriter of the indie-pop world's rising star, Guided By Voices.
Rather than clinging to the past, fans of the greatest legacy of popular music should move with Guided By Voices into the future. Pollard has picked up on that legacy, he has the raw talent and lyrical genius to inject it with meaning. After almost 10 years of dabbling in the raw purity of home recording, GBV has finally stepped into the studio and come to fruition on _Under the Bushes, Under the Stars_.
When rumors went around last year about Guided By Voices working on an actual multi-track studio album with, ahem, "crisp" recording by precision-production deity Steve Albini and low-fi queen Kim Deal, gasps were heard all around the indie world.
Does GBV really possess the musical technical skills to come across in high level production without sounding like idiots? Do Guided By Voices, as Albini would say, "got the rock?"
_Under the Bushes, Under the Trees_, is a resounding "YES!"
Twenty-four tracks. Not in the studio, dummy. On the CD. 24 WHOLE songs on one CD. No, not the one-minute fragmented ditties that characterized earlier releases. Most of the songs on _Bushes, Stars_ clock in at well over three minutes, some around five. And they're ALL good. Most are great.
One after the other, brillant gems keep pouring out of this heavenly mine. The painfully cathcy "Ghosts of a Different Dream" best consummates the benefical effect studio recording has had on GBV --- as meticulous as it is amplified.
"To Remake the Young Flyer" entails all the murkiness if the first side of _Abbey Road_. Murky, not dreary. A seahorse. A starfish. Something beautiful but immersed in dark waters.
The R.E.M.-ish "Acorns & Orioles" exposes the wonders of the album's acoustic side, just as "Cut-Out Witch" is a reminder of GBV's punk appeal.
"Don't Stop Now," incorporating both a piano and a viola, is solid evidence of the band's evolution to sophistication. But the true, solid heart of _Bushes, Stars_ is divided between two songs --- "The Offical Ironmen Rally Song" and "Atom Eyes," two of the catchiest, most lyrical songs in music right now and proving that not all the geniuses are dead.
Guided By Voices' 1994 album, _Bee Thousand_ featured brillantly written songs that simply did not al work well under their recording level. The follow-up, _Alien Lanes_, was a step up in terms of recording, but overly self-conscious with regard to song content. _Under the Bushes, Under the Stars_ is a talent coming to maturity.
_Beatles Anthology 2_ is a great way to revel in talents past --- but even those two special songs aren't really new. Accept that it's not blasphemy to credit to a modren day talent among the ranks of Lennon, McCartney, and so forth. GBV isn't really _Under the Stars_...it's up in the heavens.