Guided By Voices - Let's Go Eat The Factory
(Guided By Voices Records)
(Guided By Voices Records)
Seeing older acts come out with new material can be scary. When The Feelies said they were gonna put out Here Before in 2011 I couldn't help but think "Why?" With their back catalog so loved why risk it, why smear a great history? Well, they're artist. They're not out to be commercially successful. They simply want to make music cause that is what they do, and they do it well. And when Here Before came out I loved it.
So when I heard that Guided By Voices was coming out with a new record I forgot all about the lesson Here Before had taught and felt that sense of dread. I didn't want one of my favorite bands to get back together (after a tour that one could argue was cashing in on itself) and put out a lame record. Should this record just be considered another release of 2012? It's different then when a band simply comes out with a new record after putting one out the year before. Papers and thesis's have been written about GBV. I've seen a girl weep during "Red Men and Their Wives". I've bonded with people about lines from "Echos Myron". So, yes, GBV is treated differently.
And here it is, Lets Eat The Factory and it's...... good, really good. After hearing this record I thought to myself "that IS how an older GBV would sound". it's filled with more of the mellower composition they're known for. There is no "Game of Pricks" on this record. filling it instead with songs that are lovingly produced and thought over. On tracks like "Doughnut for a Snowman" you can almost hear the shit-eating grin on their collective faces. The lyrics are still amazing. Still full of wit and sarcasm, Pollard and Sprout can still make you rewind your record to double check what they said. From "The Unsinkable Fats Domino" How's your life and cycles/ compared to your next rival?/ a '59 revial?/a '005 Survival? it's just fun stuff. Pick this record up, play it with some friends around and hang out, it'll be a good time.
So when I heard that Guided By Voices was coming out with a new record I forgot all about the lesson Here Before had taught and felt that sense of dread. I didn't want one of my favorite bands to get back together (after a tour that one could argue was cashing in on itself) and put out a lame record. Should this record just be considered another release of 2012? It's different then when a band simply comes out with a new record after putting one out the year before. Papers and thesis's have been written about GBV. I've seen a girl weep during "Red Men and Their Wives". I've bonded with people about lines from "Echos Myron". So, yes, GBV is treated differently.
And here it is, Lets Eat The Factory and it's...... good, really good. After hearing this record I thought to myself "that IS how an older GBV would sound". it's filled with more of the mellower composition they're known for. There is no "Game of Pricks" on this record. filling it instead with songs that are lovingly produced and thought over. On tracks like "Doughnut for a Snowman" you can almost hear the shit-eating grin on their collective faces. The lyrics are still amazing. Still full of wit and sarcasm, Pollard and Sprout can still make you rewind your record to double check what they said. From "The Unsinkable Fats Domino" How's your life and cycles/ compared to your next rival?/ a '59 revial?/a '005 Survival? it's just fun stuff. Pick this record up, play it with some friends around and hang out, it'll be a good time.
No comments:
Post a Comment