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Guided By Voices
Like shards of broken glass that are arranged into a stained-glass window, this is the record where all the pieces first come together for the musical collective known as Guided By Voices. "Bee Thousand" is their first album to enjoy mass distribution, which is to say that, unlike previous albums, more than 1,000 copies were manufactured. To be straight about it, it’s also their first album that is capable of withstanding scrutiny by the commercial marketplace.
Main songwriter Robert Pollard remains as inscrutable as ever, and the songs recorded herein remain decidedly low-fi in recording methods, but each of the twenty songs on "Bee Thousand" are not only fathomable as music, but have a hook. They also last just long enough for them to sink in, with no song lasting much more than three minutes, and yet all of them are thoroughly unpredictable in structure and content.
This is by no means a perfect album. The low-fi approach that Guided By Voices choose by design virtually guarantees that each performance can be analyzed for sloppy instrumentation, album notes, ridiculous lyrics….but that is what provides much of the appeal. If you can’t buy into that concept, then you’ll never be able to appreciate these guys. On the other hand, if you’re a fan of spontaneous invention and unbridled creativity – recording methods be damned – then you owe it to yourself to experience "Bee Thousand".
Grade: 
 
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