Reviews
 Keep It Simple
Van Morrison
Roger McGuinn @ the Huntington IMAC, Long Island, NY - April 4, 2008
Emily Saxe @ the Allen Room/Jazz at Lincoln Center - April 5, 2008
Another Country
Tift Merritt
Be Your Own Pet
Get Awkward
Paul McCartney – The McCartney Years (DVD)
Juno – Music from the Motion Picture
Various Artists
Yes - Their Definitive Story
Day and Night Driving
Seven Mary Three
InterMedia Arts Center 2/2/08
Huntington, NY
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Guided By Voices
One universal truth is that Guided By Voices make one hell of a lot of music. Another universal truth is that when it comes to quality, it varies like crazy. As for cycles, it seems as though GBV had played out their ‘low-fi’ stage until it became as much a burden as a means of identity. Eventually, they moved more and more toward the mainstream, causing some old fans to grumble, and some new fans to run screaming when they heard how the band used to sound. Ever the populist (?), frontman Robert Pollard stayed the course, remaining true to his own songwriting methods, while altering bandmembers and production styles in search of the blend that would make everybody happy.
Well, is everybody happy? Universal Truths and Cycles is the closest that Guided By Voices has yet come to straddling the ever so fine line between cult and pop culture. All claims from older fans who feel that Pollard and co. have sold out is simply sour grapes, or a severe case of misunderstanding the band they purport to have once loved. As far as material and songwriting, Robert Pollard has not changed one iota from the first GBV album nearly twenty years ago until now. Nearly every song still sounds as though it were composed in the time it took to play it, with subsequent arrangements and lyrical adjustments providing the only means of tampering with his spontaneous creativity. Few people in the known universe could claim to have written half as many songs as Pollard. Granted, a little bit of self-editing would be nice, but this is the way he has always operated. It hasn’t changed. Every now and then, he happens upon something glorious, like the Beatle-esque melody of the title song, or the creepy genius of “Skin Parade.” Elsewhere, he spits out “Cheyenne” and “Back to the Lake”, sounding like forgotten top 40 pop songs from another generation.
Robert Pollard has figured out a way to appease his muse by releasing albums by the dozen, all under various aliases. Some are great. Some suck wind. His work with the Tobias brothers (producer Todd and bassist Tim are on this record) are among his best collaborators. If you think he sold out, then go ahead and buy the double album Acid Ranch – “Some of the Magic Syrup was Preserved”. It consists of abandoned tracks recorded in his bedroom, back in the day. It also sucks monkey banana. Pollard is as musically prolific as a human being can be. Is he consistent? Hell, no. But has he sold out? It’s ridiculous to even suggest it.
Grade: 
 
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