Guided by Voices - Bee Thousand (Scat/Matador, 1994)

I used to tape the Adventure Club on Sunday nights and then listen to the show over and over during the next week looking for songs that would stick. I Am a Scientist was my honest introduction to GbV when I heard it on the Adventure Club (thanks Kevin) and it absolutely stuck. In fact, it was probably the strongest a song had hit me since I started seeking out new music. I went out and found that GbV had a lot more records than I was prepared for, but found which one had this track and bought it. I'll admit, I listened to the first few tracks, scratched my head a little, and then skipped to track 18 to hear the track that got me hooked and was initially disappointed. The version of I Am a Scientist I heard on the radio, as I would later find out, was a rocked out version released as an EP later and the one on the album was, well, a lot more subdued. What happened next was a true leap of faith that would change the way I would learn to love and accept different music. I started back from the beginning and concentrated, for once, on what was pouring out of the speakers and started to discover an ear I didn't have before.

Bee Thousand represents a marked transition where I started to try harder and find the big rewards that seem sometimes hidden. Song after song, I found sparks of genius and inspiration too many to list here as I would undoubtedly leave many out. I found something in EVERY song and usually they centered around the strength of Robert Pollard's anthemic lyrics. Later, I would realize the second chapter to each of these songs when blasted live - I swear not much compares to live GbV (check out the classic lineup reunion tour news here). The handmade feel of the liner notes made it obvious that Pollard and the golden boys had their hands in the artwork too. This is not the 33 1/3 review (which you should check out to hear what someone who can actually write and loves this album has to say about it) of Bee Thousand, so I will force some of the best from this record on you although it's brilliant in it's entirety.  

Buzzards and Dreadful Crows, Echos Myron, Awful Bliss, Smothered in Hugs, Gold Star for Robot Boy, Mincer Ray, Peep Hole, The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory

"and he tells you of the dreamers, but he's cracked up like the road, and he'd like to lift us up, but we're a very heavy load, and we're finally here and shit yeah, its cool, and shouldn't it be, or something like that" - Echos Myron