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Guided By Voices
How in the world can this package exist? These guys, leader Robert Pollard in particular, release something like 100 tracks in any given year, and most of them sound like they were rushed out without too much regard for polish or perfection, so how could there have been another 100 tracks sitting around unused? This 4-CD set comprises exactly 100 tracks, 25 per disk, of songs that were lying around, overlooked, tossed aside or didn’t seem to fit properly elsewhere. Like I said, though, I just don’t get the logic of it, since virtually all GBV disks sound like a random assortment of stuff that was, well, lying around. The main difference is that this box is even moredisjointed than most GBV albums, as it contains leftovers and out-takes from what certainly must be one of the most haphazard catalogs of all time. The glue that holds it together (albeit tenuously) is the fertile mind of Robert Pollard, who tosses out song ideas and melodies like Keebler makes cookies. The point, though, is whether or not it’s worth your time and money to invest in this and spend time with it. The answer is…. maybe.
Guided By Voices are the real Not-Ready-For-Prime-Time Players. Their audience is limited to those who can sit through impossibly dense, apparently unfocused rants in order to locate the bits that penetrate through the fog. Not everybody can do this, or would want to bother. I buy and listen to things like this so that you don’t have to. I suffer for you. As a fan, I was compelled to immerse myself in this box. I was hoping for an embarrassment of riches, but must say that an awful lot of this collection is simply an embarrassment. The box’s subtitle can be taken quite literally and if nothing else, represents truth in advertising – "Failed Experiments and Trashed Aircraft." The quality ranges from the excellent to incredibly bad. On the bad side, half-baked ideas share space with horrendous, unlistenable trash; if I never hear "Hold On to Yesterday" or "Big Trouble" again, I will consider myself lucky. That’s unfortunate, though, because they sit side by side with some truly great (although very raw) stuff, like "I’m Cold", "In Walked the Moon" and "Wondering Boy Poet". I’m convinced that some other band could make a good living simply by polishing up songs like these and re-releasing them. GBV could do it themselves, but it’s all too obvious that they are far too busy just trying to keep up with themselves as it is.
The truth is that most of this never should have seen the light of day, at least not for mass market release, but GBV aren’t really for the mass market, so there’s the conundrum. If the best bits were compiled onto one disk, this would be a great collection. But it’s four disks, and the bad stuff is so fucking horrible that it makes it impossible to recommend this box to anyone except fellow GBV obsessives and the socially deprived, especially since it retails at over $50.00. For that money, I’d suggest buying any three of their single CD releases instead. Either that or form a band, learn these songs by heart, and give them the attention to detail that they deserve.
Grade: 
 
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