I moved to Hawaii in 1994,
It came to the point when I was very desperate to hear new music.
Beside Hawaiian music which I was not a fan of,
there was a Classic Rock station, playing the usual stuff
over and over again.
One day at the magazine stand I found a magazine
called CMJ New Music, which included a cd sampler
of new music by, from the most part, new performers.
I first saw the name Guided By Voices,
in articles within the magazine, but I had no clue who or what they were.
The May 1995 issue included a two page article on the band
and the song “Squirmish Frontal Room” on the sampler disc.
Making it the first Guided By Voices song I ever heard.
I did not pick up “Box” for a couple months,
I bought “Alien Lanes” first.
but once I got used to “Alien Lanes”, I got GBV Fever
and bought “Box.”
The first disc I really got into was the bonus disc
“King Shit and the Golden Boys” because I knew “Squirmish Frontal Room.”
Being that “Squirmish” was perhaps the weirdest of the songs on the album,
it made the rest of the album sound down right accessible.
The tracks on this album were recorded in 1988, 1991 and 1993.
Keep in mind this was before I heard “Propeller”, “Vampire on Titus”,
“Bee Thousand” and any of the eps.
Clips of “Fantasy Creeps” and “Sopor Joe” would appear on “Back To Saturn X Radio Report”
from Propeller, which I bought a few months later.
Which set me on a course to search for the rest of the songs
included within “Back To Saturn X Radio Report”.
A rerecorded version of “Don’t Stop Now” will appear on their next album,
“Under the Bushes Under the Stars”.
A clip of “At Odds With Dr. Genesis” appears on “Bee Thousand.”
“Deathtrot And Warlock Riding A Rooster”, “Please Freeze Me”, “Scissors”,
“Don’t Stop Now” and “Postal Blowfish” are among my favorites.
“Postal Blowfish” will be rerecorded for a soundtrack and “Crocker's Favorite Song”
would be rerecorded and retitled as the title track of their 2013 album, “Class Clown Spots a UFO.”
Great album for new and old fans. |
