The first GBV album by their new lineup, which consists of leaders Robert Pollard and Tobin Sprout, backed by the entire lineup of Cobra Verde. This is a conceptual rock opera inspired by the Who's Tommy, the Pretty Things' S.F. Sorrow, Genesis' The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, and the Edgar Broughton Band's Wasa Wasa. Pollard is the main character in this sprawling narrative, an insectile cartoon figure named the Magnificent Earwhig, who interacts with a wild cast of characters in songs evoking nostalgiac memories of an Ohio boyhood, starting one's first band, and inhaling American roadside pop culture. 'Despite the progressive conceptual '70s mindset informing this project, the record is still a collection of beautifully twisted pop songs and can be listened to as either an opera or just a series of rock arias'.
Track Listing:
1. Can't Hear The Revolution - Guided By Voices (1.36)
2. Sad If I Lost It - Guided By Voices (3.1)
3. I Am a Tree - Guided By Voices (4.4)
4. The Old Grunt - Guided By Voices (1.28)
5. Bulldog Skin - Guided By Voices (2.59)
6. Are You Faster? - Guided By Voices (1.13)
7. I Am Produced - Guided By Voices (1.07)
8. Knock 'Em Flyin' - Guided By Voices (1.53)
9. Not Behind The Fighter Jet - Guided By Voices (2.13)
10. Choking Tara - Guided By Voices (1.24)
11. Hollow Cheek - Guided By Voices (0.32)
12. Portable Men's Society - Guided By Voices (4.17)
13. Little Lines - Guided By Voices (2.02)
14. Learning To Hunt - Guided By Voices (2.24)
15. The Finest Joke Is Upon Us - Guided By Voices (3.08)
16. Mag Earwhig! - Guided By Voices (0.4)
17. Now To War - Guided By Voices (2.44)
18. Jane Of The Waking Universe - Guided By Voices (2.26)
19. The Colossus Crawls West - Guided By Voices (2.14)
20. Mute Superstar - Guided By Voices (1.24)
21. Bomb In The Bee-Hive - Guided By Voices (2.03)
Year of Production: 1997
