Since it’s my birthday I just had to go with Bee Thousand. Admittedly I was not one of the cool kids when it came to Guided By Voices. God how I wish I was. You know, one of those guys that just knew a band was awesome from the start, even though no one else knew of them or someone who would go to the record store for sole purpose of scoring a self-printed 7-inch. Unfortunately when Guided By Voices hit the indy music scene, I was busy with raising little kids and fixing up an old house in SW Minneapolis.
I’m pretty sure I’ve related this story before but it bears repeating because I think it’s common with GbV fans. I didn’t hear Bee Thousand until 2006 and for that I have to blame/thank Mary Lucia (DJ 89.3-The Current) for turning me on to Guided by Voices. Sometime in the summer of 2006 Mary Lucia played the song Motor Away and made some quip that GbV was her one of her favorites. Now of course I’ve probably heard Motor Away and I Am A Scientist over 100 times but I thought to myself “now there’s a band that I really don’t know very well.” So I downloaded a couple of songs, liked them; started reading up on the band, and pretty much decided that Bee Thousand was the album to take the plunge. It took a few listens but six years later I am a total GbV geek with over five hundreds of songs on my I-pod and GbV-related CD's, DVD’s and books scattered around my house like a tossed-aside Robert Pollard lyric. I regularly check the GbV websites, and am waiting for the day when I can actually buy one of those hand printed 7-inchers.
Call it lo-fi, indy rock, DIY, or just plain weird, Bee Thousand (rhymes with Pete Townsend?) is all that but so much more. Guitars drop in and out in the middle of solos, songs break off after one chorus, and the album sounds like it was recorded in someone’s basement on a four-track machine – which of course it was. Arcane lyrics, fuzzy guitars, and off-key harmonies predominate. Even though there are 20 songs…with the longest song only 3:09, and many more under 2:30... it clocks in at a lean and sublime 37 minutes.
But oh what a glorious 37 minutes! If you can imagine infectious little songs with a Midwest twist on British Invasion-era pop you kind of get the idea of what you’re in for with Bee Thousand. If there was any justice in the pop music world, songs like Hardcore UFO’s, Tractor Rape Chain, Echos Myron, Queen of Cans and Jars, and I Am a Scientist would be as familiar as any song by the 60s/70s-era Kinks, Raspberries, Bad Finger, or from any Brill Building song writer. Alas, Bee Thousand will have to conquer the world one unsuspecting listener at a time. The good thing is that it is doing just that. A virtual cult has grown up around this album with books, blogs, listening parties, and groupies all dedicated to any and everything Bee Thousand.
Now I’m part of the cult and proselytizing on its behalf. If you want your music so slickly-produced that it can sell accounting services on TV with lyrics that are poll-tested and easily deciphered, well then Bee Thousand probably is not for you. However if you want to hear something that was written and sung for the love of music, that is both quirky and familiar, momentous yet fun, I implore you to check out Bee Thousand. Careful though, you might end up like me. I'll give the last word to Robert Pollard (from Echos Myron):
Most of us are quite pleased
With the same old song
And all of a sudden I’m relatively sane
With everything to lose and nothing to gain
Or something like that
I think it has been mentioned before but my first GBV album was Do the Collapse. I was just finishing up high school when the album came out and it was getting a lot of play on the "new rock show" on Buffalo radio. I loved the single, Teenage FBI, but the rest of the album didn't quite do it for me right away. As the years went on I came to enjoy the album and after hearing older guys talk about how this album sucked and their previous albums were way cooler, well, I did what any self respecting hipster in his early 20's would do. I started buying up all of the GBV albums I could.
While I don't love them to free levels, or as much as the bartenders at the cool bars in town, these guys are pretty cool in my book. The sound might not be for everyone but it is a sound worth spinning a few times. You might just find something you like underneath all of the fuzz.
I saw thee guys on Letterman the other day and they were pretty cool, but played a really short song. For some reason, I thought Guided By Voices was some emo band.
I saw that too. I usually turn to CBS to catch Craig Ferguson, and sometimes that means I catch Dave's musical act. I usually don't bother with it, but I stopped because I knew you were a huge GbV guy, free. Except for the odd video here or there you've posted, I don't know any GbV. I wasn't smitten right away, but I heard enough to not turn me off completely. Maybe Bee Thousand should be on the list.
You gotta admit it was pretty funny when the bass player fell down.