Interviewed by the NME back in the mists of 1982, Jah Wobble once cogently commented that "alcoholics, religious maniacs and general nutters" made the best music.
Can't argue with the great man's line of thinking there, but he forgot one crucial category of outsider in his summation: the ex-Maths teacher. GUIDED BY VOICES' leader, Robert Pollard, of course, comes from this category and allegedly used to have his classes grind to a halt when discussions relating to the merits of different albums obliterated the supposed subject matter on the curriculum.
So yeah, Bob's definitely your reviewer's kinda guy: his workrate with GBV shames people less than half his age; he releases an average of around four albums per year (with GBV and solo) and has amassed a back catalogue most of us would give vital organs for. Not for nothing is Bob's publishing company called 'Needmore Songs' limited.
Even more exciting, though, is the fact that GBV continue to sound better than ever. Yeah, I know there are Tobin Sprout fans out there who will find this a contentious statement, and I love "Bee Thousand", "Alien Lanes" etc to death too, but I for one am glad that GBV now make records that can take on the big boys for sonic quality and do Bob's idiosyncratic songwriting genius (superlative warranted for once) justice. To these ears, the Ric Ocasek experiment with 1999's "Do The Collapse" was anything but a disaster. GBV have adapted and continue to forge ahead as only they can.
Last year's "Universal Truth And Cycles" contained glorious peaks, but a few troughs also, and while "Earthquake Glue" maybe doesn't contain anything as seismically catchy as either "Everywhere With Helicopter" or "Back To The Lake" (though "My Kind Of Soldier", "Useless Inventions" and the whipcrack riffs and Moon-esque drum bombast of the ace "She Goes Off At Night" come close) it's a pretty seamless listen, featuring none of the sometimes frustrating tossed-off thumbnails the band have often deemed as essential.
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Indeed, there's some truly memorable stuff here. "Beat Your Wings", for instance, is mysterious and epic and features a glorious Richard Lloyd/ Tom Verlaine-style guitar interface from Doug Gillard and Nate Farley. The way they mesh is almost supernatural, and they do it again and again: not least on the mesmeric "Dirty Water" - which also features a sly swampsnake of a bassline from Tim Tobias - or on classic slowburners like "The Best Of Jill Hives" and "Apology In Advance."
Typically, GBV still confound, too. Introduced by a funereal school brass band, the bizarre "My Son, My Secretary and My Country" will have you scratching your head and puzzling repeatedly, while some of Bob's titles ("A Trophy Mule In Particular" - like, unh?) require psychedelics to gain understanding. The feeling's always there, though, and however nonplussed you might be initially, you still want to take the trip anyway. However strange and challenging they may be, songs like "Dead Cloud" - with its' faltering, Wire-style metallic guitar and peculiar staccato tempo - and "Secret Star" are among the candidates in a corridor already overcrowded with cool tracks.
It's easy to be cynical and make snide cracks about there being "another one along in a minute" where GBV albums are concerned, and certainly your reviewer lost count some way back. However, Dayton's finest continue to sound like one of the most passionate, well-drilled rock'n'roll bands (in the truest sense of the term) we have in these pessimistic times and "Earthquake Glue" is perhaps their most consistently impressive tremor yet.
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