Class Clown Spots A UFO, by Guided By Voices

Class Clown Spots A UFO

by Guided By Voices

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Includes unlimited streaming of Class Clown Spots A UFO via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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Includes unlimited streaming of Class Clown Spots A UFO via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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	1.	He Rises! (Our Union Bellboy) 03:01
	2.	Blue Babbleships Bay 01:18
	3.	Forever Until It Breaks 03:16
	4.	Class Clown Spots a UFO 03:17
	5.	Chain To The Moon 00:59
	6.	Hang Up and Try Again 02:15
	7.	Keep It In Motion 02:06
	8.	Tyson's High School 02:35
	9.	They and Them 01:09
	10.	Fighter Pilot 01:00
	11.	Roll Of The Dice, Kick In The Head 00:46
	12.	Billy Wire 02:03
	13.	Worm W/ 7 Broken Hearts 00:50
	14.	Starfire 01:26
	15.	Jon the Croc 02:32
	16.	Fly Baby 01:42
	17.	All Of This Will Go 01:46
	18.	The Opposite Continues 01:37
	19.	Be Impeccable 02:56
	20.	Lost In Space 00:51
	21.	No Transmission 02:18

about

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 recorded 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 (definitive) 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 kind of sadder and wiser riposte to XTC's "Making Plans For Nigel" as performed by the Hollies. If that makes any sense at all (it will when you hear it, hopefully).

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, unusually, acoustic guitars, strings, and Bob/Toby singing together in a way not heard since "14 Cheerleader Coldfront" on 1992's Propeller. Possibly. (The song was one of a few that Bob recorded and sent to Toby at his home studio in Michigan for over-dubbing.) 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.<br><br>In between you get wah-wah guitar solos, a wide range of unusual recording techniques of varying fidelity (but, as referenced above, much less of the murk lurking on Let's Go Eat The Factory), and a generous helping of Alien Lanes-style snippets. In fact, the sequencing of Class Clown seems to hearken back to that landmark LP - as on AL, songs bleed into each other, fadeouts segue into fadeins, 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).

'Class Clown Spots A UFO' is available now. A side benefit of Pollard's for-now decision to call it quits on touring is that you get more Guided By Voices albums. It's really hard to see how that's not a great thing for everyone. Because it is a great thing for everyone. Obviously.<br><br>

credits

released June 11, 2012

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Guided By Voices Dayton, Ohio

Guided by Voices (often abbreviated as GBV) was an American indie rock band originating from Dayton, Ohio. Beginning with the band's formation in 1983 at the Northridge High School, it made frequent personnel changes but always maintained the presence of principal songwriter Robert Pollard. Guided by Voices initially disbanded in 2004. ... more

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Do you see ME ... ?? Like I see *YOU* ... ?? 😉 🐒 Smiley McGrouchpants Jr. Esq. III
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