Guided By Voices, the mascots of antihero rock and four-track hackery, chart another couple afternoons in their basement on Alien Lanes. It's the band's ninth album and second since being unearthed from the rich Ohio clay ... more »a year or two ago. So now that lead voice Robert Pollard and buddies have quit their day jobs and late-bloomed into one of today's more successful indie rock institutions, what does the band's insistence on maintaining their signature muddy humming home recordings signify when they could obviously afford better studio-quality sound? Two possibilities. One: In order to continue delivering the stuff they have built a name on, Guided by Voices have descended from stardom to self-parody quicker than any band since the Doors. Or two: Do-it-yourself is not a romanticized economic necessity, but rather a conscious artistic choice--and hence reducible to merely this year's fad. Either way, Alien Lanes finds Guided by Voices in the frustrating position of a new-aesthetic Moses: They can lead us to the low-fi Promised Land but can't enter with us. Or in other words, the band is like a mass-marketed "homemade" cookie: a well-intentioned contradiction that has nevertheless outgrown its usefulness. But for everyone who still loves the music, there's a third possibility: Maybe the tape recorder is neither utility nor gimmick, but rather an irreplaceable piece of the band--even more so than any instrument or musician. That makes Alien Lanes simply a better-distributed chapter in the band's inimitable recast of classic psychedelic rock as sloppy postpunk; another collage with dozens of irresistibly cryptic song snippets shifting speeds and colors and not stopping (except for a disturbing homosexual slur half way through) until the last Beatlesque "all right" twenty-eight songs from go. --Roni Sarig« less
Guided By Voices, the mascots of antihero rock and four-track hackery, chart another couple afternoons in their basement on Alien Lanes. It's the band's ninth album and second since being unearthed from the rich Ohio clay a year or two ago. So now that lead voice Robert Pollard and buddies have quit their day jobs and late-bloomed into one of today's more successful indie rock institutions, what does the band's insistence on maintaining their signature muddy humming home recordings signify when they could obviously afford better studio-quality sound? Two possibilities. One: In order to continue delivering the stuff they have built a name on, Guided by Voices have descended from stardom to self-parody quicker than any band since the Doors. Or two: Do-it-yourself is not a romanticized economic necessity, but rather a conscious artistic choice--and hence reducible to merely this year's fad. Either way, Alien Lanes finds Guided by Voices in the frustrating position of a new-aesthetic Moses: They can lead us to the low-fi Promised Land but can't enter with us. Or in other words, the band is like a mass-marketed "homemade" cookie: a well-intentioned contradiction that has nevertheless outgrown its usefulness. But for everyone who still loves the music, there's a third possibility: Maybe the tape recorder is neither utility nor gimmick, but rather an irreplaceable piece of the band--even more so than any instrument or musician. That makes Alien Lanes simply a better-distributed chapter in the band's inimitable recast of classic psychedelic rock as sloppy postpunk; another collage with dozens of irresistibly cryptic song snippets shifting speeds and colors and not stopping (except for a disturbing homosexual slur half way through) until the last Beatlesque "all right" twenty-eight songs from go. --Roni Sarig
Dan S. (ChasSand) from WASHINGTON, DC Reviewed on 9/25/2015...
Ugh this album. SO GOOD IT HURTS ME. DEEP. First GBV album I ever got into, and my favorite. Awesome in such a distinct, wacky way. Tough to describe and do it any justice. Its like, great song, terrible song, 20 seconds of spaz, good song, great song, weird song, decent song, super great song, and so on and so on and so on. So there are definitely songs that I don't love, but when it all comes together its phenomenal. Its not good and it doesn't have to be, because its something else. Its awesome.
1 of 2 member(s) found this review helpful.
Tim P. (AlienLanes) from POCATELLO, ID Reviewed on 4/2/2008...
Last true "lo fi" album under the GBV moniker, the album after this is when Robert Pollard started heading the band down a more concise rock sound. I read in a interview with Pollard once that the album cost around 20 dollars to record, even though they were finally on a big indie. Matador offered a one hundred thousand dollar advance, one of the more expensive deals in Matador's history. This album is pretty similar to 1994's "Bee Thousand", very catchy beatlesque sounding pop songs recorded on small home recording equipment. This one is probably the most "polished" sounding album during the "lo fi" days. Personally, I feel this album overall is best flow of all the early GBV albums. What i mean by that is pollard is well known for his short songs. Sometimes they become annoying, which kills the overall flow of the album. This album even the less than a minute songs are really good, very concise flow to the whole album. This is my favorite album of all time, I can listen to the album all the way through all the time. "Bee Thousand" might have more memorable songs but i feel this album is most solid body of work for the band. The pop hooks off this album are so catchy, you will be humming the songs for days because you can't get them out of your mind. I Love Robert pollard and his whole entire body of work but i love this time period the best.
CD Reviews
Beware
Micah Newman | Fort Worth, TX United States | 06/20/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I recently caved in to some burning curiosity and got the pair _Bee Thousand_ and _Alien Lanes_ used, being given to understand that those are their two best. At first listen to them both, my reaction was "This is just junk! To put this in the same boat with, say, Yo La Tengo is just ludicrous!" And I couldn't be more amazed with how my outlook turned around after about the third listen.At first, when I was still getting into them, I thought I liked _Bee Thousand_ better, but when it really finally hit me, it was this one. I mean, _Bee Thousand_ has tons of great, great songs (I've yet to hear a GBV album that doesn't), but it's a little more on the acoustic side than I'd prefer, whereas _Alien Lanes_ just absolutely *rocks out* and *does not look back*! After the aforementioned third or fourth listen, I was addicted. The tunes here are amazing, and so incredibly prolific (on just one album out of so many!), I can hardly begin to name songs. These songs just grab hold of your brain and *do not let go*! The 'challenging' production really delays the effect as you get used to it, but once you do, it's like... like... well, like nothing I've ever experienced--like hearing music for the first time. I am not exaggerating. And now I'm hopelessly addicted to the incredible tune stylings and workmanship of Mr. Bob Pollard, dammit. ;) So, this is fair warning--don't start with them unless you're willing to shell out $150 or so (at least) when you get hooked and have to buy their entire discography.Commitment trailblazer... you are such a daredevil... and you are such a collector...
"
The greatest pop/rock album of the 90's?
David M. James | Kalamazoo, MI United States | 06/20/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Some people refer to "Bee Thousand" as Guided By Voices' crowning acheivement. I myself have to disagree. Alien Lanes has the same undefinable vibe that makes albums like The Beatles "Revolver" and White album so great. The songs flow together like one 40 plus minute mini rock opera. I don't think I can listen to songs like "Motor Away" w/o starting off with "Auditorium". Songs like "My Valuable Hunting Knife" and "Blimps Go 90" are songs that even the greatest songwriters of our time couldn't write in a million years. Even the songs that don't stand out at first you find yourself singing along w/ like the national anthem after the 30th listen. If you like pop music a la the Beatles, the Who, Big Star, R.E.M. and have a short attention span than this might as well be the only album you ever own."
The epitome of GBV
W. Beverly | 06/04/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"If you don't love this album, i seriously wonder about you. It is like one, long, nonstop beauty of pop. The 28 little pieces of perfection add up to one wonderful 41 minutes and 15 seconds. Once you pop this in, you WILL NOT stop it until it's done. You start seeing Robert Pollard as a genius, and wondering how he became so prolific. How come he is able to just spout out a million perfect melodies, one after the other? If you don't think lo-fi stuff is you, then you will after hearing this. It's messy, yes, but each little mess or note he hits off key, or off beat, becomes an essential part of the album's overall feel. It wouldn't be the same without it. And by the way, the lyrics are simply unparalleled wackiness! Just take a look at the song titles. "Game of Pricks", "Closer you Are", "My Valuable Hunting Knife," and "Blimps Go 90" are some favorites, and as with most of their songs, they're short and sweet, so much so, that you're actually disappointed when they end! You just keep wanting more, but you definitely get it all here. This will always be in my top ten list, and is the best cd to start with if you've never heard GBV. I know every word, every note of this cd. But it wasn't my fault i learned them, i just listened, and listened...."
Boy, the Amazon review sure missed the boat on this one.
W. Beverly | DC | 12/12/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Roni Sarig? Hello?
1. "Guided by Voices have descended from stardom to self-parody": at what point, please remind me, were they stars, and free of parody, self- and otherwise?
2. "Or in other words, the band is like a mass-marketed "homemade" cookie: A well-intentioned contradiction that has nevertheless outgrown its usefulness": O be still my beating pompousness. Usefulness? One thing about Bob Dylan, he sure was useful. When you mix up these metaphors, which blender speed do you prefer?
3. "Except for a disturbing homosexual slur half way through," which means that Dayton, Ohio, that bastion of decadence, must be the new Gomorrah, launching as they have the band The Giggling F-gg-ts (I hope that flies, Amazon auto-censors), with whom GBV claims merely to have ridden into town.
Four stars. This is a band incapable of making a five star album, and probably they'd loathe it if they did. Such as it is, for what it's worth, and what there is of it (as Pogo used to say), this record is a great, happy, apple-cheeked time, punning on art-rock, garage slop, and Led Zeppelin. If you can't dig "Closer You Are," "Motor Away," or the great ant-sized arena rockers "Little Whirl"/"My Son Cool," well, you and the stick you've chosen just don't like rock and roll very much, do you?
Nothing personal."
Consistently perfect album
Joseph Murphy | 06/22/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"GbV's "Alien Lanes", though not even their best album, is clearly their most approachable and most even-handed work. The lo-fi quality found on tracks like "Chicken Blows"... the stadium-rock bombast of "Alright" and the little songs under 30 seconds like "Hit" and "Gold Hick"... all combine in such a supreme balance of cool: economical yet powerful.If you're any kind of rock afficionado, you'll see right away where Robert Pollard gets his musical mojo from: early rock, Beatles, art-rock guys (I hear old Genesis all over this album), garagey "Nuggets"-punk, but his lyrics deserve a lot of attention on this album. "Watch Me Jumpstart", for example, is such a positive self-affirming lyric of change ('watch me jumpstart as the old skin is peeled / see an opening and bust into the field / hidden longings no longer concealed'). Pollard's legendary thousands and thousands of written, but as of yet unrecorded, songs seem to have sprung from whatever it is that he's thinking of, or looking at or walking past... whatever street he lives on at the moment... So, often you get some odd lyrics that go nowhere and have no meaning, but he very often redeems himself ably with little lyrical gems ("I speak in monotone / leave my f**kin' life alone") full of great imagery ("Post-punk X-Men parked his forklift like a billion stars flickering from the grinder's wheel"). Definite Captain Beefheart influence on the words.Bee Thousand is probably better, but only my a smidgen. Both are worthy of five-stars... both are very important works of 1990's rock. Buy it."