Alien Lanes

Guided by Voices

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Alien Lanes Review

by Mark Deming

It's surprising what a difference it makes when a musician knows someone will actually be hearing his work. After 1994's charmingly sloppy Bee Thousand gained Guided By Voices a nationwide cult following (instead of the local cult following they were accustomed to), 1995's Alien Lanes found Robert Pollard and his partners in hard pop cleaning up their act a bit. For the most part, Alien Lanes isn't radically different from Bee Thousand -- it was primarily recorded on a four-track cassette machine (and sounds like it), and Guided By Voices was still a garage band with more in the way of inspiration than chops. But the musicians have put a bit more care and focus into their performance on this set; the playing is tighter and sharper, and the band plays toward their strengths, pushing their occasional sloppiness into a harder, more rock-oriented direction. And if Pollard and Tobin Sprout were still obsessed with tiny fragments of pop song wonderment, they also rounded up a more consistent collection of them; there aren't quite as many obvious masterpieces as on Bee Thousand, but also fewer obvious mistakes, and the sequencing gives the album a more consistent flow than before. Pollard also made genuine inroads into more lyrically cognizant material (though don't fret, "Auditorium" and "Blimps Go 90" are as cryptic as ever), and "Watch Me Jumpstart," "Striped White Jets," and "Motor Away" are simply superb pop/rock songs. (Sprout also gets a few shining moments on "A Good Flying Bird" and "Straw Dogs.") Both Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes sound like they were made by a band of inspired amateurs with great ideas; the difference is that Alien Lanes suggests that Guided By Voices wanted to prove that they could turn pro some day.

Track Listing

Title/Composer Performer Time Stream
1 Guided by Voices 01:29 SpotifyAmazon
2 Guided by Voices 00:58 SpotifyAmazon
3 Guided by Voices 02:24 SpotifyAmazon
4 Guided by Voices 00:51 SpotifyAmazon
5 Guided by Voices 01:37 SpotifyAmazon
6 Guided by Voices 01:13 SpotifyAmazon
7 Guided by Voices 01:33 SpotifyAmazon
8 Guided by Voices 01:34 SpotifyAmazon
9 Guided by Voices 01:07 SpotifyAmazon
10 Guided by Voices 00:18 SpotifyAmazon
11 Guided by Voices 00:42 SpotifyAmazon
12 Guided by Voices 00:56 SpotifyAmazon
13 Guided by Voices 01:56 SpotifyAmazon
14 Guided by Voices 01:02 SpotifyAmazon
15 Guided by Voices 02:06 SpotifyAmazon
16
Hit
Guided by Voices 00:23 SpotifyAmazon
17 Guided by Voices 02:00 SpotifyAmazon
18 Guided by Voices 00:30 SpotifyAmazon
19 Guided by Voices 01:35 SpotifyAmazon
20 Guided by Voices 02:15 SpotifyAmazon
21 Guided by Voices 01:06 SpotifyAmazon
22 Guided by Voices 01:40 SpotifyAmazon
23 Guided by Voices 01:17 SpotifyAmazon
24 Guided by Voices 02:21 SpotifyAmazon
25 Guided by Voices 01:46 SpotifyAmazon
26 Guided by Voices 01:41 SpotifyAmazon
27 Guided by Voices 01:44 SpotifyAmazon
28 Guided by Voices 02:56 SpotifyAmazon
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