Alien Lanes
by Guided By Voices

From meccalecca TOP 100 COMMENTER 05/05/2014 01:37 | #110840 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

My broken radio keeps switching stations, but I can’t complain when every song has been fantastic.

From planetneutral 02/14/2018 12:29 | #208162 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

It's not that I didn't like it so much as it didn't really impress me.

This is such a unique and brilliant way of approaching an album. Every song is a short snippet that never over stays its welcome and in most cases is also a brilliant song. This record definitely takes a few listens before you really grasp it but after that it is just 41 minutes of new, quick and exciting cuts. This makes it a very exhilarating album to experience. However, the criticisms on this record are very strong as well, with a lot of the songs sounding incomplete and if they were given a bit more time they could be incredible tracks but they are cut short. This is disappointing as all the factors of a fantastic album are present. Overall, if the track listing was trimmed down a bit and then that time put into fully developing the better songs this could be one of the greatest albums of all time but due to this not being the case it falls short.

The band's lo-fi sound is interesting, it's edgy and intimate. But too many of these tracks are just snippets that went undeveloped, so it's hard to get into. At times they seem to think sloppy playing and off pitch singing are cool, and I just don't see it that way. Plus putting an overdub of someone snoring, to me that's just stupid.

However, on a few tracks they show what they could accomplish when they set themselves to produce a good song, with very good results - e.g., "Closer You Are", "Motor Away", "Blimps Go 90", "Little Whirl", "My Son Cool". Too bad it didn't happen more often.

Still it is an interesting and unique album. I can see how it could be a grower, particularly when in the mood for something a bit sloppy.

From babyBlueSedan TOP 100 COMMENTER 01/06/2015 04:29 | #130888 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

Every time I hear this album I go through the same thought process: I think it's awful for the first 10 or so songs, and then from Motor Away on I think it's perfect. My favorite GBV album before listening to it is always Bee Thousand, and after listening to it my favorite GBV album is always Alien Lanes. What I'm saying is that it might be the most back-loaded album of all time. It takes fewer chances than its predecessor, but it also crafts some way more catchy songs. Motor Away is probably the band's best song, and Blimps Go 90, Always Crush Me, Game of Pricks, and Striped White Jets are all incredible as well. Not the blissful mess that Bee Thousand is but it's its own kind of fun.