Guided By Voices – Under the Buses Under the Stars

Originally released in 1996, Under The Bushes Under the Stars was the ninth release by GBV but at that point people had only been paying attention since Propellor (three albums earlier). In between those two, the band released what many considered to be their best albums, Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes. UTBUTS is a more sonically ambitious affair than its predecessors,  but that’s not saying much considering they’d allegedly spent $600 recording the last one.

This is a truly fantastic album. Frontman Rob Pollard’s ambition is apparent. The album is overflowing with eccentric, brisk Beatle-esque anthems. Pollard’s songwriting is as unconventional and unpredicateble as ever, but the album has a previously absent cohesion due mostly to a consitency in production previous albums lacked.

Under the Bushes Under the Stars would be the last album featuring the band’s “classic” line-up. Pollard hired a new group in the hopes of realizing whatever he thought the band’s unrealized potential was. They would eventually sign to a major label, release a pair of washed-out, over-produced albums and return to the indies in the hopes of regaining their former lo-fi glory.

For all intents and purposes, Under the Bushes is a Swan Song, and a beautiful one at that. I’ve listent to it hundreds of times and will listen to it again hundreds of more times. Don’t hesitate to check it out.