Guided by Voices: Bee Thousand

Guided by Voices: Bee Thousand

1994

Scat Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl and Compact Disc

Track Listerine (gargle): 1. Hardcore UFO's  2. Buzzards and Dreadful Crows  3. Tractor Rape Chain  4. The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory  5. Hot Freaks  6. Smothered in Hugs  7. Yours to Keep  8. Echos Myron  9. Gold Star for Robot Boy  10. Awful Bliss  11. Mincer Ray  12. A Big Fan of the Pigpen  13. Queen of Cans and Jars  14. Her Psychology Today  15. Kicker of Elves  16. Ester's Day  17. Demons Are Real  18. I Am a Scientist  19. Peep-Hole  20. You're Not an Airplane




True Story (not that it's fantastically unbelievable or anything): When I first got this album I put it on and about a song or two in, my girlfriend calls. I turn it down slightly and let the album continue to play in the background. We talk for awhile and then she notices I'm not speaking anymore. 
"Hello? Hello? Are you still there?" she asks worriedly. 

"I'm sorry," I reply (awestruck). "I'm listening to the most fucking incredible song I've ever heard..."

The most incredible fucking song I'd ever heard? It was "Echos Myron." Just a magnificent beast of a British Invasion pop song. Its hooks reached across the room and right through my conversation, grabbed my ears and demanded, "STOP EVERYTHING! LISTEN TO ME!!!" (By the way. "Echos Myron" isn't "Echos Myron" to me without "Yours to Keep" attached to it. I never listen to them separate. That moment when "Yours to Keep"s  mournful acoustic picking is pounced by "Echos Myron"'s celebratory opening chords is a magic moment. It just makes the unbridled joy pop that much more. )

When asked what the best GBV album is, most fans will point to ":Bee Thousand." It's probably not my personal favorite, but it's pretty damn close. Here are some of the reasons that "Bee Thousand" resonates with  me:

The locale. Dayton, Ohio 19-something and 4. As someone who grew up in the midwest (in the ashes of the fallen automobile industry) this unexpected setting is endlessly appealing. Lyrically (and often musically) "Bee Thousand" scans to me as being derived from the "psychedelic" era.  Far-out, seemingly nonsensical imagery that nonetheless follows an internal logic and inventing a poetry all its own. Psychedelia (as a musical form (not necessarily pharmaceutically speaking)) works best when juxtaposed against reality. When it offers a view of the world as it is and also helpfully provides a key for escape. Most often psychedelic lyrics were based in a reality that seems alien to me (the tea parties and pictures of the Queen in British psychedelia, the grimey, politicized Haight Street aesthetic of San Francisco psychedelia, the dangerous, shot-gun infested backwoods of Texas psychedelia) but here was fantastic imagery set in an utterly un-fantastic place. (Note: As much as I hear large amounts of psychedelia in these lyrics, there's also the unmistakable presence of bone-dry, post-psych prog.. The sort of profound fantasy nonsense you'd find in a Yes or ELP record. Another reason I love this album). 

The melodies and song-construction are also immensely appealing to me. I remember looking at those Beatles Anthology albums on a shelf at the record store and my mind entertained the thought, "What if these are all outtakes or demos of songs I'd never heard..." My mind reeled at the thought of all the treasures that could be contained within. Where you could rummage through fragments of unfinished greatness. But then I turned the cover over and saw a bunch of different takes of "Strawberry Fields" (still, nothing to scoff at, mind you). Well, "Bee Thousand" is that album I was imagining! I swear to you there are so many songs here that are indeed worthy of the supposedly untouchable icons of rock past...My initial dig through it was like finding a brilliant bootleg of lost Beatles, Who and Yes songs that was only known by a  secret society of tape traders. All covered in beautiful, authentic tape hiss...The fact that "I Am a Scientist" and "Gold Star for Robot Boy" aren't well-known radio staples isn't due to any the band's shortcomings, but the eroded (and stale) taste of the radio-listening pubic...

I also love the confidence they exude on this album. The big opener "Hardcore UFO's" is plagued by guitars dropping out but does anybody go back and punch them in? Fuck no. Why should they?!?! Because it's awesome as is. And after a couple of listens you can't imagine the song without the fuck-ups. And the years of obscurity make a song like "I Am a Scientist" work. There's a real sense of accomplishment there. You can tell Bob knew he was good and when other people started to realize it too, he decided  to do a casual slum-dunk, just to let us know he knows. The other moment where you hear this is on the "Shit yea it's cool..." line in "Echos Myron." 

Bottom line, if you still have a sense of wonder about the colorful world of rock n' roll, you're going to love this record. If thumbing through countless unknown, bizarre and fantastic album covers still gives you a thrill, you're going to love this record. If you treasure the moment when an unexpectedly great rock song comes out of nowhere and slaps you across the head, you're going to love this record. I love the living fuck out of this record. 

Here's the up-to-date ranking. No surprise, "Bee Thousand" goes to the top of the list. The best album they'd made to this point:

1. Bee Thousand

2. Propeller

3. Same Place the Fly Got Smashed

4. Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia

5. Vampire on Titus

6. Sandbox
7. Forever Since Breakfast
8. Devil Between My Toes

Let's listen to some music. Here's "Queen of Cans and Jars" by Guided by Voices. Enjoy...