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Jason Thornberry

Guided By Voices
Benefit for the Winos

A double-vinyl live “authorized” bootleg of some homecoming show the band 
did in Dayton, Ohio, around the time 1995’s Alien Lanes came out. The cover 
of this record has a newspaper article review of the show glued to it, 
criticizing GBV for being so inebriated onstage (Duh…haven’t they ever seen 
this band live?). There’s a little paper inside with all 33 songs that were 
included listed, and a Letters to the Editor rebuttal, telling the crusty 
rock scribe that they’re no doubt confusing Guided by Voices with some 
open-mic amateur band who have to “prove themselves” every time they climb 
onto a stage. I’ve heard half a dozen live shows of theirs on vinyl, and 
cassette, and the true sound quality (i.e. the crispness of the snare) is 
secondary to experiencing such great songs as My Valuable Hunting Knife, 
Quality of Armor, Tractor Rape Chain, Game of Pricks, The Goldheart 
Mountaintop Queen Directory, Mesh Gear Fox, I Am a Scientist, or Shocker in 
Gloomtown. Having witnessed the euphoria, and wide-eyed stupor of several of 
their shows, Benefit is reminiscence to me, and only makes me want to see 
them again. ASAP.