Guided By Voices Podcasts

I have never gotten into Guided By Voices.  They are always on everyone's list of great indie bands and so I have always wanted to like them, and yet I haven't managed to get there.

Raj Bala is hell bent to change that with his Guided By Voices podcasts.  He plans to do a series of them, and has started with the first called An Intro To Guided By Voices (1986 - 1990).

I listened to it yesterday while walking around the city to various meetings and the like. 

I enjoyed the podcast, but can't help but think of Paul's comment to Janine in the Mass Hysteria podcast from February 2nd (16:49 into the show):

I have a love/hate relationship with Guided By Voices. Some of their songs sound as good as anything the Beatles ever did and some of their songs are just total garbage.

I wouldn't go so far as to call any of the songs on Raj's podcast "garbage" but there is an inconsistency to the work that I continue to struggle with.

Comments

[Raj Bala]

The problem with Bob Pollard is that he has no filter to his output. He continually releases everything.

Proper sifting is required to find the real gems out of his work.

His lo-fi stuff is classic, but the real songwriting talent has been in the recent 5-7 years in my opinion.

[samsdeal]

Consistency is a nice quality in hockey goalies but of no use in artists. Learn to mine for Pollard's "brown nuggets" and he'll provide a lifetime of thrills. I'm 12 years in and counting. -Sam