It's been just a few months since Guided By Voice's faux rock
opera Earth Man Blues garnered four-star and five-star reviews,
with Rolling Stone proclaiming that it 'squarely hits all the
marks that make Guided By Voices great-again and again and
again.'
'Again and again and again', is perhaps GBV's credo, with
Robert Pollard's never-ending supply of fascinating and
supremely catchy rock. Just when one thinks one's got them
pinned down, album number thirty-four opens with bizarre
percussion, mariachi trumpets, strings and acoustic guitar.
The adventurous spirit pervades yet another killer album from
the greatest and most versatile GBV line-up. The golden boys
(Doug Gillard, Bobby Bare Jr, Mark Shue, Kevin March)
can do no wrong.
Hooky singles 'My (Limited) Engagement', 'High In The
Rain' and 'Dance of Gurus' intermingle with occasionally dark
lyrics and the oddest of GBV oddballs, the ridiculous 'Razor
Bug', 'Psycho House', and the 'Maintenance Man Of The
Haunted House'. The horns and strings return intermittently,
with 'The Bells Get Out Of The Way' going full Burt Bacharach.
It's Not Them. It Couldn't Be Them. It Is Them! is a creative tourde-force full of surprises from the most prolific and captivating
band on the planet.
