Sometime after
Welshpool Frillies came out, I realized that I really hadn't paid attention to
Guided by Voices much at all. Robert Pollard really doesn't slow down with music he releases and I was only a cursory fan of the classics. So, earlier this year I challenged myself to give all their albums a listen from start to finish and assign a score. They even released an album last week (!) while I was going through this project thinking I was almost done.
Below is my top 10 along with the entire list I used to rank. Anything below the top 10 I'd be randomly selecting based on the score, and ideally I'd need more listens to really judge. Which entirely defeats the point of the first-time judging.
Scoring: Each album started at 6/10. As I was listening I added each a half a point (0.5) if I liked something along the way, and deducted half a pont if I didn't. If I had heard the album before it's marked with an asterisk (*).
Some thoughts:
- Their first few albums I judged harshly but I might come around to them with additional listens.
- Their classic period is classic for a reason.
- When they started writing longer songs with more structure they released some really good albums. Earthquake Glue and Half Smiles of the Decomposed are quite good.
- Back in 2012 I remember being extremely excited for their return, along with everyone, and really liking Let's Go Eat the Factory and Class Clown Spots a UFO. I didn't like them at all this time around. I feel like they were trying to replicate their classic period with shorter songs and little ideas but it's mostly bad. When Bob started to write more structured songs in subsequent albums they got better.
- Everything since their reunion has been mostly fine. Earth Man Blues is pretty bad but not terrible. Nothing has really wowed me, but is enjoyable. It's Not Them. It Couldn't Be Them. It Is Them! is a truly amazingly hilarious and awesome album name that I gave it an extra half point just because.
Top 10 list:
- Alien Lanes
- Bee Thousand
- Under the Bushes Under the Stars
- Vampire on Titus
- Isolation Drills
- Mah Earwig!
- Do the Collapse
- Half Smiles of the Decomposed
- Propeller
- Earthquake Glue
Full Discography list:
(previously listened albums are marked with an asterisk (*)
- Devil Between My Toes (1987) - 5/10
- Sandbox (1987) - 6.5/10
- Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia (1989) - 7.5/10
- Same Place the Fly Got Smashed (1990) - 5.5/10
- *Propeller (1992) - 8/10
- *Vampire on Titus (1993) - 8.5/10
- *Bee Thousand (1994) - 10/10
- *Alien Lanes (1995) - 10/10
- *Under the Bushes Under the Stars (1996) - 9/10
- *Tonics & Twisted Chasers (1996) - 6.5/10
- *Mag Earwhig! (1997) 8.5/10
- *Do the Collapse (1999) - 8/10
- *Isolation Drills (2001) - 8.5/10
- Universal Truths and Cycles (2002) - 7.5/10
- Earthquake Glue (2003) 8/10
- Half Smiles of the Decomposed (2004) 8/10
- *Let's Go Eat the Factory (2012) 5/10
- *Class Clown Spots a UFO (2012) - 7/10
- The Bears for Lunch (2012) - 7.5/10
- English Little League (2013) 6.5/10
- Motivational Jumpsuit (2014) 6.5/10
- Cool Planet (2014) - 6/10
- Please Be Honest (2016) - 6.5/10
- August by Cake (2017) 7/10
- How Do You Spell Heaven (2017) - 7/10
- Space Gun (2018) - 6.5/10
- Zeppelin Over China (2019) - 6/10
- Warp and Woof (2019) - 7/10
- Sweating the Plague (2019) - 8/10
- Surrender Your Poppy Field (2020) - 8/10
- Mirrored Aztec (2020) - 6/10
- Styles We Paid For (2020) - 6/10
- *Earth Man Blues (2021) - 5.5/10
- It's Not Them. It Couldn't Be Them. It Is Them! (2021) - 7.5/10
- Crystal Nuns Cathedral (2022) - 7/10
- Tremblers and Goggles by Rank (2022) - 6.5/10
- La La Land (2023) - 6.5/10
- *Welshpool Frillies (2023) - 7/10
- Nowhere to Go But Up (2023) - 6.5/10
has some really good songs including Daysleeper, Lotus 
, Walk Unafraid and At My Most Beautiful but unfortunately the album as a whole is slightly uneven and overstuffed. The record lacks identity and direction imo. That said, I still like it and listen to it 20 years after its original release.