- Alien Lanes
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Alien Lanes Studio album by Guided by Voices Released 4 April 1995[1] Recorded 1995 Genre Indie rock Length 41:00 Label Matador Producer Mr. Japan at Collider X-L Guided by Voices chronology Bee Thousand
(1994)Alien Lanes
(1995)Under the Bushes, Under the Stars
(1996)Alien Lanes is a 1995 album by lo-fi band Guided by Voices, their eighth full length album.
Pitchfork Media included Alien Lanes in their 'Top 100 Albums of the 90s' polls, at No. 27.[2] Magnet named it the best album of 1995.[3]
The album was GBV's first release with Matador Records. According to James Greer's book Guided by Voices: A Brief History: Twenty-One Years of Hunting Accidents in the Forests of Rock and Roll the advance for the record was close to a hundred thousand dollars, one of the more expensive deals in Matador's history. In contrast to the lucrative deal, Greer mentions that "The cost for recording Alien Lanes, if you leave out the beer, was about ten dollars."
Contents
Track listing
All songs written by Robert Pollard unless otherwise noted.
- "A Salty Salute" (R. Pollard, Tobin Sprout) – 1:29
- "Evil Speakers" – :58
- "Watch Me Jumpstart" – 2:24
- "They're Not Witches" (Greg Demos, Jim Pollard, R. Pollard) – :51
- "As We Go Up, We Go Down" – 1:37
- "(I Wanna Be a) Dumbcharger" – 1:13
- "Game of Pricks" – 1:33
- "The Ugly Vision" – 1:34
- "A Good Flying Bird" (Sprout) – 1:07
- "Cigarette Tricks" (Demos, J. Pollard, R. Pollard, Sprout) – :18
- "Pimple Zoo" – :42
- "Big Chief Chinese Restaurant" (J. Pollard, R. Pollard) – :56
- "Closer You Are" – 1:56
- "Auditorium" (R. Pollard, Sprout) – 1:02
- "Motor Away" (R. Pollard, Sprout) – 2:06
- "Hit" – :23
- "My Valuable Hunting Knife" – 2:00
- "Gold Hick" – :30
- "King and Caroline" (R. Pollard, Sprout) – 1:36
- "Striped White Jets" – 2:15
- "Ex-Supermodel" (R. Pollard, Sprout) – 1:06
- "Blimps Go 90" – 1:40
- "Strawdogs" (Sprout) – 1:17
- "Chicken Blows" – 2:21
- "Little Whirl" (Sprout) – 1:46
- "My Son Cool" – 1:41
- "Always Crush Me" – 1:44
- "Alright" – 2:56
Reception
Professional ratings Review scores Source Rating Allmusic [4] Robert Christgau [5] Rolling Stone [6] Mark Deming of Allmusic feels the record is similar to Bee Thousand, though without "as many obvious masterpieces" and "fewer obvious mistakes".[7] Matt Diehl in a 1995 review in Rolling Stone described the album's music as "hooky rock that infuses songwriting smarts and a love of melody with a sometimes spiky, sometimes whimsical sense of experimentation".[8]
Cover versions
Tracks from the album have been covered by various artists since its release. These include:
- "Game of Pricks", covered by American pop punk bands Magnapop from the German version of their album Mouthfeel and Jimmy Eat World released on the deluxe edition of Bleed American. "Game of Pricks" was also covered by British post-Grunge band, My Vitriol.
- "My Valuable Hunting Knife" was covered by Motion City Soundtrack.
- Opener "A Salty Salute" was covered by New York City band The Strokes.
References
- ^ Alien Lanes at the Guided by Voices database
- ^ "Top 100 Albums of the 1990s". Pitchfork. http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/5923-top-100-albums-of-the-1990s/8/. Retrieved 2009-07-06..
- ^ http://acclaimedmusic.net/
- ^ http://www.allmusic.com/album/r212244
- ^ http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=Guided+by+Voices
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20090421002248/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/guidedbyvoices/albums/album/199561/review/5946481/alien_lanes
- ^ Mark Deming (2011 [last update]). "Alien Lanes – Guided by Voices | AllMusic". allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/album/alien-lanes-r212244/review. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
- ^ Matt Diehl. "Guided By Voices: Alien Lanes : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone". http://web.archive.org/web/20090421002248/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/guidedbyvoices/albums/album/199561/review/5946481/alien_lanes. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
Former members Nate Farley • Doug Gillard • Jim Pollard • Chris Slusarenko • Kevin March • Jim Macpherson • Don Thrasher • James GreerAlbums Devil Between My Toes (1987) • Sandbox (1987) • Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia (1989) • Same Place the Fly Got Smashed (1990) • Propeller (1992) • Vampire on Titus (1993) • Bee Thousand (1994) • Alien Lanes (1995) • Under the Bushes Under the Stars (1996) • Tonics and Twisted Chasers (1996) • Mag Earwhig! (1997) • Do the Collapse (1999) • Isolation Drills (2001) • Universal Truths and Cycles (2002) • Earthquake Glue (2003) • Half Smiles of the Decomposed (2004) • Let's Go Eat the Factory (2012) • Class Clown Spots a UFO (2012)EPs Forever Since Breakfast (1986) • The Grand Hour (1993) • Static Airplane Jive (1993) • Get Out of My Stations (1994) • Fast Japanese Spin Cycle (1994) • Clown Prince of the Menthol Trailer (1994) • I Am a Scientist (1994) • Tigerbomb (1995) • Sunfish Holy Breakfast (1996) • Plantations of Pale Pink (1996) • Wish in One Hand... (1997) • Plugs for the Program (1999) • Hold on Hope (2000) • Dayton, Ohio–19 Something and 5 (2000) • Daredevil Stamp Collector: Do the Collapse B-sides (2001) • The Pipe Dreams of Instant Prince Whippet (2002)Box sets Box (1995) • Suitcase: Failed Experiments and Trashed Aircraft (2000) • Hardcore UFOs: Revelations, Epiphanies and Fast Food in the Western Hemisphere (2003) • Suitcase 2: American Superdream Wow (2005) • Suitcase 3: Up We Go Now (2009)Compilation The Best of Guided by Voices: Human Amusements at Hourly Rates (2003) • Crickets: Best of the Fading Captain Series 1999–2007 (2007)Related articles Robert Pollard
solo albumsNot in My Airforce (1996) • Waved Out (1998) • Kid Marine (1999) • Motel of Fools (2003) • Fiction Man (2004) • From a Compound Eye (2006) • Normal Happiness (2006) • Standard Gargoyle Decisions (2007) • Coast to Coast Carpet of Love (2007) • Superman Was a Rocker (2008) • Robert Pollard Is Off to Business (2008) • The Crawling Distance (2009) • Elephant Jokes (2009) • We All Got Out of the Army (2010) • Moses on a Snail (2010) • Space City Kicks (2011) • Lord of the Birdcage (2011) • Mouseman Cloud (2012)Carnival Boy (1996) • Moonflower Plastic (1997) • Let's Welcome the Circus People (1999) • Lost Planets & Phantom Voices (2003) • Categories:- 1995 albums
- Guided by Voices albums
- Matador Records albums
- English-language albums
- 1990s rock album stubs
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