Class Clown Spots A UFO

Description

) The new Guided By Voices album is the best thing the band has recorded since the last album by the legendary Dayton, Ohio rockers. Thats not meant facetiously: the last thing Guided By Voices recorded was the rapturously received Lets Go Eat The Factory, and Class Clown Spots A UFO ups the ante raised by that stellar effort, both in terms of recording fidelity (boring!) and songcraft (not boring!) One could argue theres more depth and variety here than on Alien Lanes, that there are better songs here than on Bee Thousand, but thats an argument no ones ever going to win, at least definitively. And this album is a win, by any (definitive) definition. Class Clown is classic GBV, starting with the head-body-head combination of He Rises (Our Union Bellboy), Blue Babbleship Bay, and Forever Until It Breaks before finishing you off with the title track, a ridiculously catchy, melodically-complex, shot-through-with-melancholia song that serves as a kind of sadder and wiser riposte to XTCs Making Plans For Nigel as performed by the Hollies. If that makes any sense at all (it will when you hear it, hopefully). And thats just the first four songs of a 21-track album clocking in at just under 40 minutes. Weve yet to get to Keep It In Motion, a propulsive, drum-machine driven pop song which features, unusually, acoustic guitars, strings, and Bob/Toby singing together in a way not heard since 14 Cheerleader Coldfront on 1992s Propeller. Possibly. (The song was one of a few that Bob recorded and sent to Toby at his home studio in Michigan for over-dubbing.) Nor have we discussed galvanic rocker Jon the Croc, a clear single candidate, or Chain To The Moon, one of the saddest and (why not?) prettiest songs Pollard has ever written. In between you get wah-wah guitar solos, a wide range of unusual recording techniques of varying fidelity (but, as referenced above, much less of the murk lurking on Lets Go Eat The Factory), and a generous helping of Alien Lanes-style snippets. In fact, the sequencing of Class Clown seems to hearken back to that landmark LP as on AL, songs bleed into each other, fadeouts segue into fadeins, short bursts of melodic rock (Billy Wire, Roll of the Dice, Kick in the Head) jut against somber chamber pop (They and Them, Starfire). The last song, the anthemic No Transmission, if played at the proper volume, will in fact blow your mind (and your windows). The band is about to finish their third record since reuniting, because youll find out sooner or later. A side benefit of Pollards for-now decision to call it quits on touring is that you get more Guided By Voices albums. Its really hard to see how thats not a great thing for everyone. Because it is a great thing for everyone. Obviously.