Special Feature: When You Lose Your Favorite Band
Day 3 - To Remake The Young Flyer: Guided by Voices

DUDES, day 3. We are deep. Some might say we are too deep, but I look at those people and laugh, and say "Sometimes, buddy, you just have to dig THAT deep." I feel like this is good for me and like part of my destiny to write this in depth thing about this band. I know that sounds cliched and stupid, but that's how this awesome life is sometimes, cliched and stupid...STUPID AWESOME.

We left after Guided by Voices had released two of the greatest albums of the 1990s and had become one of the biggest and most talked about bands in the indie rock world. The expectations were raised for these middle aged midwesterns and to step up their game GBV decided that they would record their heavily anticipated follow up to Alien Lanes in a big studio, the first time in three plus albums that they had recorded outside of their basements. They headed to a Tennessee studio with Pixie and Breeder, Kim Deal, who had been a big proponent of the band. The Breeders had appeared in GBV's "Shocker in Gloomtown" video, Deal and Pollard had done a duet of the classic tune "Love Hurts" for a soundtrack, and Pollard had written a song for The Amps (Deal's weird sorta post Breeders band) surprisingly awesome Pacer disc, that somehow went uncredited (even though the song, "I Am Decided," is obviously a Pollard penned gem). So, they hit the studio with first time producer (except for her own records) and record an albums worth of material. There is some speculation that it wasn't the best of times, because fairly soon after that both sides stopped having nice things to say to one another. They had a record from these sessions, but Pollard who always goes through tons of versions of records wasn't quite pleased and so the dudes went up to Chicago and recorded with that Albini dude, you know...In Utero and junk. They did a bunch of recording with that guys, and the record had to be ready at point right. Well, as has happened quite often with GBV records, Pollard hits a last minute batch of inspiration and a ton of new songs come out right before the record is supposed to come out. To record this new batch of songs GBV hit Cro Magnon Studios in Dayton and produced the material themselves. Cro Magnon would become a second home for Pollard throughout the following years, a place where he became very comfortable and so much of his best stuff came from that place. Under the Bushes Under the Stars was finally completed and released. The album was received with mixed reviews. It is a very different album that Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes, and because of this some people rejected it. It is now looked back on by most as a wonderful album. It is a progression in songwriting as all the songs are a bit more crafted. Even the shorter songs which were previously just lost fragments are now short complete songs. The album doesn't have the energy and hyperactivity of the previous two albums, that is to its detriment but also its benefit. One odd thing about the album is that on the back cover there are only 18 tracks listed, but on the cd 24 songs play. The last 6 songs are not listed for some reason, 5 of which are either Deal or Albini produced tracks. It's weird. Out of the rest of the there are only 3 or 4 more Deal or Albini tracks. The Deal tracks are some of the best. She is responsible for "The Official Ironman Rally Song," which was the first single, and other great gems like "Sheetkickers," which just oozes Kim Deal's production. Under the Bushes Under the Stars was not the success at the time as the previous two albums, but deserves as much attention.

The next project for the GBV dudes was solo albums from Robert Pollard and Tobin Sprout to be released on the same day by Matador. I'm not really sure how these albums came about and I would be really interested in finding out because the idea of the albums started a fair amount of speculation, as two seperate albums will (ie Outkast), about the band's future. Robert Pollard's Not In My Airforce and Tobin Sprout's Carnival Boy made things clear about what GBV really was, as Pollard's album sounded like the interesting ever changing and incredibly dinstinct beast that is GBV, and Sprout's album sounded like...well...it sounded like indie rock of the everyday variety. Actually, Carnival Boy is a pretty solid album, and definitely worth listening to, but it just doesn't have near as interesting as on Not In My Airforce which is actually one of my favorite Pollard works ever. Top 5 Pollard releases (including GBV releases) and that is saying something with this dude. It is full of hits, and then when you think the album is over after 15 great songs then Pollard threw on 8 really weird off key acoustic songs. So weird, but somehow it works.

A great Guided by Voices EP followed the two solo albums. Sunfish Holy Breakfast is a great album for anyother band, as it is 10 great songs all putting forth a specific mood. The EP opens with a scant few dudes clapping and cheering for "ONE MORE!! ONE MORE!" That's what the dudes got, as this one more EP was the last GBV release for the "Classic Lineup" of Sprout, Mitchell, Fennell. Sunfish Holy Breakfast has the perfect vibe for a last release, some sad songs, one truly triumphant songs ("If We Wait"), and it goes out with a beautiful whimper.

The speculation was correct, or maybe the speculation helped prove itself correct, you know, like fed the fire. Some people think Pollard broke up the band because he was feeling insecure about the band and wanted everyone to know it was his band. Others think that Sprout/Mitchell/Fennell weren't really in for the long haul and didn't have the committment that Pollard did about making it a career and doing the band all the time. Either way about it, the breakup was truly a shock to the system. It seemed so weird as a fan. Those dudes were all we knew since we had really only known the band for 3 or 4 years, but Pollard had been doing the band for a solid 14 years at that point, and only with those guys for like 5, so it was a big deal, but the band existed before, and it could exist afterwards. And now, knowing what has happened since it surely doesn't seem like nearly as big of a deal as it was at the time, but it really seemed weird. The word was that he had replaced the dudes with the members of a band from Cleveland called Cobra Verde.

Mag Earwhig hit in May of '97. It was clear that this was a different GBV. The band sounded different. The band looked different. These guys looked like rock'n'rollers as to where those old dudes just looked like dudes. It was a little alienating at first. Was Pollard abandoning what made him so interesting, his everydudeness?? The album was a rocker, seriously, hard rock. The songs were longer, the riffs were riffier, it was more driving rock. It was still Pollard, though, the melodies were there, the words were weird, and there was feeling. In fact, the press release for this album proclaims that Mag Earwhig is a rock opera, I didn't see that promoted too much beyong that press release, because it would be incredibly hard to actually interpret the narrative of the opera for reviewers, but it follows the Magnificent Earwhig on some great rock quest. Pollard showing that he was not a ruthless band dictator like some had been claiming had "I am a Tree" as one of the album's singles which was a song written by new band member Doug Gillard. The album, has some great tracks and I would still recommend it, but it is not one of GBV's standouts.

Later in the year, GBV released an album just to their fanclub called Tonics and Twisted Chasers which was something that Pollard and Sprout recorded just the two of them and a drum machine in '95 I believe. It's an interesting artifact from those two and has some great songs on it, like "Key Losers," "Ha Ha Man," and the "Unbaited Vicar of Scorched Earth." The album has a real dead sound of just direct distorted guitar and weird noise and a crummy drum machine. Man, it's good.

The next year was fairly quiet for GBV as '98. Waved Out, a new Pollard solo album, was the only release of note. Waved Out was the most independent Pollard had ever been making a record. He recorded the vast majority of it on his own. It's a really sorta druggy damaged album, moreso than any other Pollard release. The retarded strut and swagger of "Whiskey Ships" is really awesome, and the passage that follows with "Wrinkled Ghost," "Artificial Light," and "People Are Leaving," is probably the most vulnerable lyrics Pollard had written to date. "People Are Leaving" is a bit of foreshadowing of Pollard's collaborations like his albums with Doug Gillard, Go Back Snowball, and more where he takes people's songs and writes and records melodies on top. "People Are Leaving" was a song written by Stephanie Sayers (whoever that is) and Pollard wrote and recorded 2 different very distinct melodies on top of the songs. It's really stunning. Waved Out is a really idiosyncratic record.

A few very productive but change filled years for Guided by Voices ending with the relatively quiet 1998. Why was it so quiet, probably because GBV was negotiating deals, because by the end of the year they would be signed to TVT Records, a major label(well, technically not one of the huge conglomerates but a mega indie that acts like a major label). Blaspheme, you say. Blaspheme. Well, we will see won't we, but how can a band be The Greatest Band of All Time and not be on a major label. Every great dictator needs an empire.