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From New York Times December 10 2000
By Neil Strauss

Guided By Voices
Suitcase: Failed Experiments and Trashed Aircraft
#6 in the Fading Captain Series


Listen to this and weep: here are 100 so-called "failed experiments" from
the home studio of Robert Pollard, the former elementary school teacher who
leads this revolving-door band from Dayton, Ohio. And, for the most part,
they are as clever, catchy and likable as his best work. The man can write
a classic rock song every time he blinks, then imbue it with enough
personality and recording-studio anti-technique to make it part of a
distinct body of work. Evidence of Mr. Pollard's irrepressible productivity
can be seen not just in the music -- two decades of scraps of everything
from British Invasion pop to meandering blues to progressive rock -- but in
the fact that he has invented a fake band name to accompany each song. Like
the songs themselves, the names are tossed off but still surprisingly
feasible (among them God's Brother, the Unfriendly and Too Proud To
Practice).