Guided By Voices' Bee ThousandBloomsbury Publishing USA, 2006 M10 2 - 144 pages Marc Woodworth's book covers the album's long and unorthodox period of writing, recording, sequencing, and editing. It includes interviews with members of the band, manager Pete Jamison, web-master and GBV historian Rich Turiel and Robert Griffin of Scat Records. At least sixty-five songs were recorded and considered for the album and five distinct concepts were rejected before the band hit upon the records final form. One late version, very nearly released, contained only a few of Bee Thousand's definitive songs. The rest were left out and nearly ended up in the boxes of cassette out-takes cluttering up Robert Pollard's basement. The story of Guided By Voices transformation from an occasional and revolving group of complete unknowns to indie-rock heroes is very much part of the story behind the making of Bee Thousand. In addition to providing a central account of how the record was made, Woodworth devotes a substantial chapter to the album's lyrics. Robert Pollard's lyrics are described by critics, when they're described at all, as a brand of tossed-off surrealism, as if his verbal sensibility is somehow incidental to the songs themselves. Nothing could be further from the truth. Woodworth offers a sustained discussion of Pollard's work as a writer of often sublime, beautiful, and very human lyrics. The third key section of the book covers aesthetics. Woodworth considers the great appeal of the do-it-yourself nature of Bee Thousand and reflects on the larger importance of the strain of alternative rock for which this record is a touchstone. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 23
Page
... Live at the Apollo by Douglas Wolk Stone Roses by Alex Green Aqualung by Allan Moore The Who Sell Out by John Dougan OK Computer by Dai Griffiths In Utero by Gillian Gaar Let It Be by Colin Meloy Loveless by Mike McGonigal Led Zeppelin ...
... Live at the Apollo by Douglas Wolk Stone Roses by Alex Green Aqualung by Allan Moore The Who Sell Out by John Dougan OK Computer by Dai Griffiths In Utero by Gillian Gaar Let It Be by Colin Meloy Loveless by Mike McGonigal Led Zeppelin ...
Page 2
... live there ( which you can't because you haven't really built the place itself but a reproduction of it : a work of art ) . The real playground is behind the school in a township called The Past where you can never go again ( there are ...
... live there ( which you can't because you haven't really built the place itself but a reproduction of it : a work of art ) . The real playground is behind the school in a township called The Past where you can never go again ( there are ...
Page 4
... live at the Old Vic , the sixties , " Waterloo Sunset , ” Wire , pop , “ Wichita Line - man " ) both inform and enable the making of new art , of powerful art . There is no easy formula to trace the evolution from the very quotidian ...
... live at the Old Vic , the sixties , " Waterloo Sunset , ” Wire , pop , “ Wichita Line - man " ) both inform and enable the making of new art , of powerful art . There is no easy formula to trace the evolution from the very quotidian ...
Page 6
... live at all . Fiction , Man & Hardcore Facts Part One It's tempting to make a myth out of the Guided by Voices story , to turn the reality ( like any reality always more messy and vibrant than the tale that recounts it ) into a by - the ...
... live at all . Fiction , Man & Hardcore Facts Part One It's tempting to make a myth out of the Guided by Voices story , to turn the reality ( like any reality always more messy and vibrant than the tale that recounts it ) into a by - the ...
Page 15
... live . I'm not going to do that for anyone . People ask , " Why don't you write more songs like ' Echos Myron ' ? " and I think , “ Because I already wrote ' Echos Myron . " As a songwriter , you've got to please and challenge yourself ...
... live . I'm not going to do that for anyone . People ask , " Why don't you write more songs like ' Echos Myron ' ? " and I think , “ Because I already wrote ' Echos Myron . " As a songwriter , you've got to please and challenge yourself ...
Contents
1 | |
3 | |
4 | |
6 | |
12 | |
13 | |
Listener Response 5 | 36 |
A Correspondence with Lewis Klahr | 37 |
Fauna | 110 |
A SonnetMade from Bee Thousand Fragments Themselves Often Fragments | 111 |
Robert Griffin | 112 |
States Of Being | 117 |
Fiction Man Hardcore Facts Part Four | 118 |
Dan Toohey | 130 |
Listener Response 12 | 132 |
Dayton Ode | 135 |
Fiction Man Hardcore Facts Part Two | 44 |
Listener Response 6 | 54 |
Don Thrasher | 55 |
Fiction Man Hardcore Facts Part Three | 64 |
Desire Its Limits | 70 |
Kevin Fennell | 72 |
Listener Responses 7 8 | 81 |
Spatial Representation 9 of Bee Thousand Action Motives | 84 |
On Robert Pollards Lyrics | 85 |
Listener Responses 911 | 109 |
Listener Response 13 | 137 |
Kicks | 138 |
Greg Demos | 142 |
Generation | 144 |
Tobin Sprouts Tascam Portastudio 1 FourTrack ElectroHarmonix Memory Man | 145 |
Tobin Sprout | 146 |
Listener Responses 1416 | 154 |
Fiction Man Hardcore Facts Part Five | 155 |
Acknowledgments | 159 |
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Common terms and phrases
actually album artist band basement bass beautiful became become Bee Thousand better called changes comes connection couple create culture Dayton desire didn't dream drums early Echos everything example experience fact feel finally four-track friends give going Guided by Voices guitar guys happened Hardcore UFO's head hear heard Hot Freaks human idea imagine interesting It's kick kind knew language later listening live lo-fi looking lost matter means melody move never noise offer once opening play Pollard pretty Queen reality record release remember Response result Robert rock seemed sense singing sometimes song sound Star started story tape tell that's There's things thought took track turn understand wanted what's writing wrote לל