Life Is Beautiful

I added Life Is Beautiful from Speak Kindly of Your Volunteer Fire Department to the playlist/box set. I've been playing it a bit lately, and that beautiful guitar riff won't leave my head.

Guided By Voices: Suitcase - Failed Experiments and Trashed Aircraft: DISC TWO (2000)

After being dazzled by some prime cuts in Disc One, I was a little disappointed with Disc Two. Though it still follows the pattern of focusing on outtakes from Bee Thousand, Same Place The Fly Got Smashed, and Do The Collapse, as well as grabbing songs from aborted albums Power Of Suck, Back To Saturn X, and Learning To Hunt, Disc One appears to have a better collection. The highlights of Disc Two include the beautiful Supermarket The Moon, which actually had a case for itself for inclusion in Bee Thousand, a wonderful version of Ha Ha Man, and another gem in Our Value Of Luxury. Hey, and it has the Back To Saturn X version of Damn Good Mr. Jam, so it is not without its charms...

Guided By Voices: Suitcase - Failed Experiments and Trashed Aircraft: DISC ONE (2000)

Disc One of Suitcase's greatest claim to fame is the inclusion of the incredible Bunco Men, a song which has no right being on a rarities collection. This should have been on Under The Bushes Under The Stars, and made a spectacular album even greater. Overall, Disc One is a decent album in itself, especially if you trimmed it of some of the fat. Hey, its better than some of the EPs, and way better than Sandbox! It turns out that 10 of these 25 tracks have made my playlist, which will hopefully shed some of the fears that some of you may have when considering investing in this box set. You need this boxset for at least Bunco Men, as no GBV collection is complete with that track. How about a fast version of Spring Tiger? Or how about some tracks form aborted albums Concert For Todd, Power Of Suck, Back To Saturn X, Learning To Hunt, and The Corpse Like Sleep Of Stupidy? All this and outtakes from Bee Thousand and Do The Collapse make up Disc One of Suitcase...

Demons Are Real

I added Demons Are Real from Bee Thousand to the playlist/box set. How could I have left this off the playlist!? Well, back to my work on Suitcase...

Guided By Voices: Hold On Hope (2000)

I've said it once, and I'll say it again, Hold On Hope is my favorite Guided By Voices' EP. Take the over-production away from Do The Collapse, and what you have left over is a more true to GBV sound, and an overall better product. I should note there are other versions of this EP which include a song called Perfect This Time, which I do not have. If you have this track, please leave a comment and let me know what it is like. Either way, the 9-track version of the EP is spectacular, and at the cheap price there is no reason why anyone who considers themselves even remotely a fan of GBV should not have it...