Monday, July 23, 2012

Guided by Voices Monday: Big Boring Wedding

Propeller, Bee Thousand, Alien Lanes, and Under the Bushes, Under the Stars are in my opinion the four best Guided by Voices albums. The aforementioned albums were released from 1992 to 1996, starting with Propeller, and ending with Under the Bushes, Under the Stars. This is considered the 'classic' Guided by Voices era, and it shows on all of the albums. Some fans have complained that the 'classic' era was not so classic, but I respectfully disagree. As much as I love this band, I can honestly say they never came close to duplicating the greatness of 1992 to 1996. Sure, they had some great songs and some very good albums, but I challenge any GBV fan to tell me that Do The Collapse, Mag Earwhig!, or Half Smiles of the Decomposed is better than any of the four albums.

One of my favorite tracks from Under the Bushes, Under the Stars is 'Big Boring Wedding'. Fortunately, I was raised 20 minutes north of Dayton, Ohio and I discovered Guided by Voices after Bee Thousand was released. I had the opportunity to see the band some 35 times from 1995 until 2001, and out of the 35 shows, I have only heard 'Big Boring Wedding' once, which is something of a bummer because I attended plenty of shows where they played a heavy rotation of songs from Under the Bushes, Under the Stars. This is GBV at their best and pass the word, the chicks are back.






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