Guided By Voices – Earthquake Glue Posted by AlMachine on Wednesday, August 27, 2003 They say that less is more, and that is certainly a turn of phrase that cult ‘guiding voice’ Robert Pollard doesn’t seem to understand; he’s apparently released 47 albums since 1980 (not all under the guided by voices banner, but never the less a rather impressive tally to have notched on your bed post!!) With such a prolific release rate, quality control won’t quite be up to the same standards as say, The Stone Roses (5 years between albums!), but this particular release hardly has a dud track on it. This time round there’s nothing as instantly appealing as “Teenage FBI”, but the songs are all toe tapping, particularly opening track, “My Kind of Soldier”, “Useless Inventions” and “The Best of Jill Hives”, sung with fragility and emotion over a mellow backbeat. Only at its tail end does it feels like it starts to slip into standard indie guitar fair. At least five of these tracks would probably appear on guided by voices greatest hits volume 12!! The band has a well documented association with The Strokes, and the younger band could certainly pick up a few tips here, not least a few hints about the time span between album releases! Ironically, if this record had been the debut release by a quartet of New York twenty-somethings then this CD would be ‘super-hyped’ and the band would certainly be earmarked as the next big thing. Thankfully with Guided by Voices you should be able to listen to a quality band without having to endure all the usual marketing hype from the music press, so you can enjoy and digest the music at your own pace, and not have it rammed down your throat. Greg Thomas