Among rock critics’ most tiresome clichés is “Bob needs an
editor.” The Bob in question is Guided by Voices’ guide-in-chief, Robert
Pollard. The body of work in need of editing is Guided by Voices’ consistently
stellar LP catalog. Really? What would you snip off Bee Thousand? Or even the track-stacked Alien Lanes? Or even even the critically and fan maligned Do the
Collapse, which is actually an incredible assortment of polished yet still fairly weird
pop from start to finish (and, yes, that does include the beautiful Lennon-esque ballad
“Hold on Hope”).
As much as I’d never imagine tampering with GBV’s proper
albums, their equally plentiful assortment of EPs, outtakes, oddities, and
B-sides collections is another story. Here an editor would be welcome to sift
through the go-nowhere experiments and sub-par song sketches to cull only the
most valuable gems, of which there are many. A small handful of these discs—King Shit and the Golden Boys or Sunfish Holy Breakfast, for example—are
solid and require no culling or pruning. But for the most part, even the best
of Guided by Voices’ collections—Suitcase
or Hardcore UFOs, for example—could
use a good set of shears.
In this second installment of Psychobabble’s Perfect Box Set Recipe, I humbly submit myself as
shears-wielder. I’ve pored through a mass of the band’s CDs to rescue 141
tracks for the perfect four-disc box set of Guided by Voices’s best outtakes,
exclusive singles, EP tracks, demons, painkillers, and pipe dreams. I did my
best to assemble the tracks in roughly chronological order, though the sketchy
info on some of the outtakes made this impossible, so I attempted to guess the
relative era of each mystery track.
I also included a few longer EPs—the Hold on Hope EP, The Pipe
Dreams of Instant Prince Whippet— in their near-entirety simply because
they’re really good, but I’m rarely inspired to put them in the CD player… and
because I had the extra space on these four discs to include so many of their
tracks. Hey, this isn’t science, and unlike Bob, I am not a scientist.
As always, I insist that these playlists be burned onto
actual CD-Rs and listened to on an actual CD player. To do anything else would make
a sham of Psychobabble’s Perfect Box Set
Recipe. This also means you need a box, so I hope you recently bought a
pair of Keds or something. I should also warn you that the volume levels of
these tracks can vary wildly. Just think of the constant volume-knob adjusting
you’ll have to do as “engaging in active interaction with your music.” The days
of lazily listening to your iPod on shuffle are over here, people. Get ready to
work for your entertainment.
But enough jabberstroking! Let’s get to that recipe!
INGREDIENTS
Here’s what you’ll need to get started…hope you have an
extensive Guided by Voices collection or really deep pockets.
4 Blank CD-Rs
Bee Thousand Director’s Cut
The Best of Jill Hives (EP)
Clown Prince of the Menthol Trailer
Darla 100 - Sixth Anniversary Compilation CD (various artists)
Fast Japanese Spin Cycles
Get Out of My Stations
The Grand Hour
Hardcore UFOs
Hold on Hope (EP)
I Am a Scientist (EP)
The Pipe Dreams of Instant Prince Whippet
Static Airplane Jive
Suitcase 1
Suitcase 2
Suitcase 3
Tonics and Twisted Chasers
Wish in One Hand
Bee Thousand Director’s Cut
The Best of Jill Hives (EP)
Clown Prince of the Menthol Trailer
Darla 100 - Sixth Anniversary Compilation CD (various artists)
Fast Japanese Spin Cycles
Get Out of My Stations
The Grand Hour
Hardcore UFOs
Hold on Hope (EP)
I Am a Scientist (EP)
The Pipe Dreams of Instant Prince Whippet
Static Airplane Jive
Suitcase 1
Suitcase 2
Suitcase 3
Tonics and Twisted Chasers
Wish in One Hand
DIRECTIONS
And now, the music…
Disc One
Disc Two
Disc Three
Disc Four
