Bee Thousand

iTunes Review

Though Guided By Voices had been recording for years, it was 1994's Bee Thousand that brought them to a level of notoriety that established them as a legitimate underground cultural force. Leader Robert Pollard had his Brit-rock affections channeled into the infectious grooves of his proudly lo-fi garage band for excited, unpretentious pop-rock that never runs short of harmonies or hooks. At 20 tracks, the album skirts by in a hurry, never settling in any one spot for long. The inspired moments of this Ohio combo are plentiful and plenty fun. "Hardcore UFO’s," "Kicker of Elves," "Echos Myron," "Gold Star for Robot Boy," "I Am a Scientist," and "Buzzards and Dreadful Crows" bristle with an energy bordering on the Beatles in their earliest days, dipped in stream-of-consciousness psychedelic lyrics that help explain Pollard's extreme songwriting pace. He's never met an idea he didn't like. Which is what makes Bee Thousand all the more surprising. There are no dead spots, just varying approaches, from full-on band attacks to the stripped down folkiness of "Awful Bliss." Fun throughout.