Bee Thousand poll

Tractor Rape Chain, duh.

I couldn't find a thread for this album and it's just about the closest thing I have to a "desert island album", so I'm interested to hear ILM's take on it. Does it still hold up against Crooked Rain Crooked Rain, There's Nothing Wrong With Love and all those other indie pseudo-classics from around the same time? Is it better than Alien Lanes? Is the intentional sabotage of the recordings really that important to the overall effect of the album? (Except for Vampire on Titus, none of their albums prior to this one sounded quite this mutilated). I'd answer yes to all of these but I'm curious what those who aren't hopelessly fascinated by this album have to say.

I'm placing my vote for "Peep-Hole"

I'm looking inside your brain
and Christ it's a cluttered mess
I love you I must confess

smothered in fucken hugs

"Hot Freaks!" uhhh, I mean "Tractor Rape Chain!" No, I mean "Mincer Ray!"

Does it still hold up against Crooked Rain Crooked Rain, There's Nothing Wrong With Love and all those other indie pseudo-classics from around the same time?

Yes. Those albums are also good, but B1000 is better.

Is it better than Alien Lanes?

It's tied with Alien Lanes. In a pinch I'd pick Alien lanes because there is so much more of it.

Is the intentional sabotage of the recordings really that important to the overall effect of the album?

Anyone who says yes is a dweeb.

I actually voted for "Hot Freaks."

Some college friends had a short-lived band called Thigh Man. When I said, "ah a 'Hot Freaks' reference, eh?" the bassist nudged the drummer hard and emphatically said "SEE???" I guess their girlfriends and co-workers weren't making the obvious connection (hardy har har).

"Gold Star For Robot Boy," but only because I forgot "Tractor Rape Chain" was on this.

Yours to Keep ----->Echos Myron

I'm finding this pretty impossible

Mostly stuck between "Echoes" and "I Am A Scientist"

Queen of Cans and Jars

there should be a SIDE ONE or SIDE TWO option

Buzzards and Dreadful Crows is my choice.

Oh jesus man. Why don't you just force me to pick which of the life-sustaining breaths I've taken is my favorite.

Hard one, but "Echos" beats "Gold Star" by virtue of the last "something like that."

tractor rape chain

If we were going by sides, Side One would win this.
At least, I would choose it.

KICKER OF ELVES U TWERPS.

SO HARD. oh wait this is not a pet shop boys poll so I choose Demons Are Real.

I am a Scientist: Pop genius beamed down from some other planet.

robot boy

I like to imagine a world (possibly a much better one) where the only marker that Guided by Voices existed is the track Hot Freaks, which can only be found on some version of Nuggets released in the year 2055. Little is known about this garage band from Ohio, and no recording information is available. This song was the b-side of their only single, of which only 2 copies are known to exist.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB91xOkn3b4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZveDF0Biv7Y&feature=related

Missed this, but that ringing open string on robot boy...

That song would have got my vote

I wanna know who the other people are that voted for 'Smothered in Hugs'. You are my best friends for life

too bad this poll didn't take place a few years earlier so we could have had dozens of posts about how much people hated gbv

such a shame the tobin songs didnt get votes

hi lorax

i was one

I like Tobin's songs on Alien Lanes a lot more than the ones on Bee Thousand.
Especially "Little Whirl."

Hardcore UFOs is one of those GBV songs that is like A+++ best song ever if it gets in yr head but the recorded version is kind of disappointing to listen to (see also Teenage FBI and probably 6000 cooler more obscure picks that I can't remember now). Should still have got more than one vote, but I realise there was plenty of other awesome to vote for here.

I am sitting here staring at a 2-year-old poll going "oh! it's THAT one... no, it's THAT one... oh no way, it's gotta be...", which is maybe not the best use of a Monday morning, but hey.

I am a Scientist: Pop genius beamed down from some other planet.

― Emily S.

I think that describes the entire album.

The 'Directors Cut' version of BT is a true, modern psychedelic joy.

in the first place
it's probably just paranoia

Her psychology today
Is
To play the crying game

love the stop-starty drums during that part

And he tells you of the dreamers
But he's cracked up like the road
And he'd like to lift us up, but we're a very heavy load
And we're finally here and shit yeah it's cool
And shouldn't it be - or something like that

...

GUITAR

Every time I saw GBV in Philly he always played Echoes Myron because of the Liberty Bell line and everyone would go apeshit like it was an Eagles game.

Which is probably 5-6 times.

I just got suitcase 4 a few weeks ago and it’s pretty cool to hear a lot of these songs in their embryonic form. Some of them are kinda more straight forward than what they became eg “walls and windows” compared to “hardcore ufos”.

Hot freaks came on at the bar
I inhaled deeply

“This one is on the house”
If you say so

happy 30th

Playing solos til ten

we should re-poll

speed up slow down
go all around in the end

give me the cost of the albatross

The 33 1/3 book for this is really really great if you’re a big fan

Like, it’s only ridiculous if you don’t unequivocally believe in the bee thousand magic,

but plenty of actual good first hand information too (sorry for 3x post)

“pollard / sprout” ftw, up there at least poetically with the best songwriting duos of all times

I think the matador vinyl was red maybe? I can’t remember

red/blue/clear pressings

Dope

i had the CD and would talk about it with anyone who would listen (surprisingly few people but dear ones to this day <3)

so many are called; so few are amplified to rock

otm!

Maybe you’re just hoping for a contact. Could be

Shit yeah it’s cool —— and shouldn’t it be?????

“gold star for robot boy” strikes me as their quintessential ditty three days

It’s an achievement that there are so many songs on this album and none are skip worthy

Wasn't around--"Gold Star for Robot Boy" for sure, the first GBV song I ever heard when someone put it on a mixtape for me.

this is always been my fave but put on side one of alien lanes last week and was blown away at how catchy it was--less weird than this one. i still prefer this one. it's magical.

Her psychology today
Is
To play the crying game

if i waited
for lessons
and true confessions
that could take all day
but i'm here to stay