2nd GBV album recorded with the reunited lineup of Robert Pollard, Tobin Sp… Read Full Bio ↴2nd GBV album recorded with the reunited lineup of Robert Pollard, Tobin Sprout, Mitch Mitchell, Greg Demos, and Kevin Fennell. Original release date was to be 5/22/2012 but it was pushed back due to the success of Let's Go Eat The Factory.
Original Release Notes:
The new Guided by Voices album is the best thing the band has recorded since the last album by the legendary Dayton, Ohio, rockers. That’s not meant facetiously: the last thing Guided by Voices did was the rapturously received Let’s Go Eat the Factory, and Class Clown Spots a UFO ups the ante raised by that stellar effort, both in terms of recording fidelity (boring!) and songcraft (not boring!) One could argue there’s more depth and variety here than on Alien Lanes, that there are better songs here than on Bee Thousand, but that’s an argument no one’s ever going to win, at least definitively. And this album is a win, by any definition.
Class Clown is classic GBV, starting with the head-body-head combination of “He Rises (Our Union Bellboy),” “Blue Babbleship Bay,” and “Forever Until It Breaks” before finishing you off with the title track, a ridiculously catchy, melodically complex, shot-through-with-melancholia song that serves as a sadder and wiser riposte to XTC’s “Making Plans for Nigel” as performed by The Hollies.
And that’s just the first four songs of a 21-track album clocking in at just under 40 minutes. We’ve yet to get to “Keep It in Motion,” a propulsive, drum-machine-driven pop song which features acoustic guitars, strings, and Robert Pollard and Tobin Sprout singing together in a way not heard since “14 Cheerleader Coldfront” on 1992’s Propeller. Possibly. Nor have we discussed galvanic rocker “Jon the Croc,” a clear single candidate, or “Chain to the Moon,” one of the saddest and (why not?) prettiest songs Pollard has ever written.
In between, you get wah-wah guitar solos, a wide range of unusual recording techniques of varying fidelity and a generous helping of Alien Lanes-style snippets. In fact, the sequencing of Class Clown hearkens back to that landmark LP—as on Alien Lanes, songs bleed into each other, fade-outs segue into fade-ins, short bursts of melodic rock (“Billy Wire,” “Roll of the Dice, Kick in the Head”) jut against somber chamber pop (“They and Them,” “Starfire”). The last song, the anthemic “No Transmission,” if played at the proper volume, will in fact blow your mind (and your windows).
Original Release Notes:
The new Guided by Voices album is the best thing the band has recorded since the last album by the legendary Dayton, Ohio, rockers. That’s not meant facetiously: the last thing Guided by Voices did was the rapturously received Let’s Go Eat the Factory, and Class Clown Spots a UFO ups the ante raised by that stellar effort, both in terms of recording fidelity (boring!) and songcraft (not boring!) One could argue there’s more depth and variety here than on Alien Lanes, that there are better songs here than on Bee Thousand, but that’s an argument no one’s ever going to win, at least definitively. And this album is a win, by any definition.
Class Clown is classic GBV, starting with the head-body-head combination of “He Rises (Our Union Bellboy),” “Blue Babbleship Bay,” and “Forever Until It Breaks” before finishing you off with the title track, a ridiculously catchy, melodically complex, shot-through-with-melancholia song that serves as a sadder and wiser riposte to XTC’s “Making Plans for Nigel” as performed by The Hollies.
And that’s just the first four songs of a 21-track album clocking in at just under 40 minutes. We’ve yet to get to “Keep It in Motion,” a propulsive, drum-machine-driven pop song which features acoustic guitars, strings, and Robert Pollard and Tobin Sprout singing together in a way not heard since “14 Cheerleader Coldfront” on 1992’s Propeller. Possibly. Nor have we discussed galvanic rocker “Jon the Croc,” a clear single candidate, or “Chain to the Moon,” one of the saddest and (why not?) prettiest songs Pollard has ever written.
In between, you get wah-wah guitar solos, a wide range of unusual recording techniques of varying fidelity and a generous helping of Alien Lanes-style snippets. In fact, the sequencing of Class Clown hearkens back to that landmark LP—as on Alien Lanes, songs bleed into each other, fade-outs segue into fade-ins, short bursts of melodic rock (“Billy Wire,” “Roll of the Dice, Kick in the Head”) jut against somber chamber pop (“They and Them,” “Starfire”). The last song, the anthemic “No Transmission,” if played at the proper volume, will in fact blow your mind (and your windows).
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Class Clown Spots A UFO
Guided by Voices Lyrics
All Of This Will Go It's getting harder to take this I know Waiting to see…
Be Impeccable I can see you though Lift me up and go No concerns…
Billy Wire It wants to live but it can't go on It needs…
Blue Babbleships Bay Get out your blue bathrobe Get out the blue babbleships bay …
Chain To The Moon Rise and fall Chain to the moon Breaker broke, I'll build us…
Fighter Pilot The fighter pilot Oh he's rollin over (Oh spider fighter)…
Fly Baby Dream fingers flipping The me-first machine All is done an…
Forever Until It Breaks We walked along the water We walked along the water We wal…
Hang Up and Try Again I tried to find you I waited all night Don't have an…
He Rises! Our Union Bellboy Ride the red bus Ride it with us Come and wash the…
Jon the Croc Popular coastline Sniffing the gales Popular shoreline Dr…
Keep It In Motion Keep it in motion Keep it in line Keep it in motion Keep…
No Transmission No transmission Not from the start No transmission In you…
Starfire We saw the starfire As it was landing We're told to hold…
They and Them When the days are older Yay-yay they and them Yay-yay they…
Tyson's High School You can't go back and enroll now I cannot root for…