Indie (Classic) Rock: Guided By Voices

I first heard Guided By Voices at the age of 13, right around the time that their 2nd major label effort, Isolation Drills, hit stores. I devoured that album, playing it for weeks, not being able to imagine anything better. But man, I was wrong. Over the next several years I poured over much of GBV's expansive recording history (To this day I've only got through a few hundred of their thousands and thousands of song,) and I discovered classic after classic. Alien Lanes remains one of my favorite albums of all time. I recently bought "Under The Bushes Under The Stars" on vinyl and have been falling in love with it all over again.

I got to see Pollard and his band live 3 years ago at Irving Plaza in NY. The show was completely ridiculous, probably one of the longest concerts I've ever been to, as Pollard chugged no less than 30 beers on stage and totally rocked out. Though GBV broke up two years ago, Pollard has continued to tour until very recently, when he officially announced that he would be retiring from touring. His recording career is far from over though, as he plans to release 8 (!) new albums in 2007.

So to pay a very quick and unworthy tribute to a band that wrote more great songs than I could ever hope to count, here are my five absolute favorite GBV songs:

5. Fair Touching (From "Isolation Drills")
4. A Good Flying Bird (From "Alien Lanes")
3. Cut Out Witch (From "Under The Bushes, Under The Stars")
2. I Am A Scientist (From "Bee Thousand")
1. Game of Pricks (From "Alien Lanes")